Where Does Anxiety Come From?

Anxiety is an instinct that tells us we may be in danger.

What is anxiety? Where does it come from?

Anxiety is an instinct that tells us we may be in danger. This is our brain's way of signaling to our body to prepare for fight or flight.

While this biological instinct may be helpful when say, being faced by an angry grizzly bear or a moose, once the danger passes (e.g. the bear or moose moves on), our anxiety levels are supposed to drop. Instead, in our modern lives things that don't endanger our lives can keep anxiety levels up. E.g. being stressed about a project at work that goes on for weeks.

Therapy Notebooks explains it very well by describing it like this: "When danger is actually imminent, (our anxiety responses are) helpful, but when this neural mechanism gets overused and overapplied to non-threatening scenarios, we're left with a bodily response that doesn't quite fit the situation."

Anxiety can show up in many ways, but anxiety is not…

While anxiety can be many things and look unique to different people, anxiety is not:

✔️"Just having a bad day." : Everyone feels stressed or worried every now and then, but feeling anxious occasionally doesn't equal an anxiety disorder. Individual experiencing anxiety for months have consistent symptoms.

✔️ Something you can just "snap out of" : When we're told to just "snap out of it" it indicates that we haven't tried that already or "tried hard enough". Anxiety is a real condition that isn't changed by sheer force of will. It can be incredibly discouraging and insensitive to be told to "just snap out of it".

✔️ It isn't the same for everyone: Every person is unique so experiences of anxiety aren't going to be exactly the same. Be kind to each other.

✔️ It isn't rational : Anxiety affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, ages, etc. It isn't picky or logical. People with anxiety know that some of their fears may be irrational but it doesn't make it less real. Telling a person with anxiety it is "irrational" doesn't help and is insensitive.

How our brains react to change and transition:

With pregnancy for example. many pregnant women and new moms feel worried at some point. Pregnancy and becoming a mom is a huge change and naturally comes with its share of concerns. Will I be a capable mom? Can we afford another child? Will I be able to bring a baby to term this time round?

Anxiety can present itself slightly differently in different situations. The uniting factor is that our brain’s main job is to keep us safe. Our brains naturally see ambiguity around change and transition as a potential threat. This is why change, such as pregnancy, or losing a loved one, or deciding to move cross-country to start a new job, can feel so stressful. Our brains can see it as a potential threat, even if the overall situation is a positive one.

There’s normal worry and then there’s anxiety - persistent stress, feelings of overwhelm and anxiety that doesn’t go away. This is where our autonomic nervous system comes into play. When we’re constantly in a state of dysregulation, our brains feel unsafe.

In September, some of our research on how pregnancy affects the brain and mental health will come out in book form. Click here to preorder ‘Your Brain on Pregnancy’.