Читать книгу The Anxiety Getaway - Craig April Ph.D - Страница 14

What Anxiety is NOT

✻A phase: An anxiety disorder is not some child-like developmental difficulty that will vanish on its own.

✻Something you can distract or breathe your way out of: You’ve probably already tried these ineffective strategies.

✻A disease: It’s not like the flu. You’re not stricken by anxiety, and you’re no leper for having it either!

✻Personal: It’s not your identity. It’s a brain issue.

✻What you deserve: You’re not being punished, though it might feel this way.

✻Your destiny: No one is destined for a life filled with anxiety (unless they choose not to follow the proper strategies to overcome it).

✻The end of days.

A Dip in Your Family’s Gene Pool?

Your anxiety most likely has genetic roots. For example, many people that I treat at my center tend to have a family history of phobias, panic attack struggles, or OCD. The genetic connection can be close and obvious, like a parent, or less direct, like a second aunt or a great grandfather. To put it simply, this means that those with anxious wiring tend to be more prone to potential anxiety issues than those without. However, this propensity for developing an anxiety issue by no means suggests that it’s a foregone conclusion. It just means the table has been set, should you take certain actions to sit down and eat! This is analogous to someone with a genetic predisposition toward alcohol abuse. Even though the pull might be strong, you only become an alcoholic once you abuse alcohol.

Now this might come as a surprise…

Anxiety Is Also an Illusion

Most respond defensively to this construct, at first. They often remark, “But it feels real. Shouldn’t I trust my feelings? Don’t my feelings matter?”

I’m not dismissing how you feel. As a psychologist, I’m willing and able to validate anxious feelings. Just don’t ask me to validate parking! But my validating your anxious feelings only goes as far as offering understanding that you feel the way you do. Again, I’m not dismissing how or what you feel. Struggling with anxiety symptoms can be a challenge, at best. At worst, anxiety can be so destructive that it shuts down a life (only with your avoidance and without the tools in this book, of course). So allow me to clarify this “anxiety is an illusion” statement…

Anxiety Is Your Brain’s False Fear Message

That’s right. There’s no real danger. But there is danger in the false fear message you’re reinforcing and hearing loud and clear. So we’ll be discussing how to outsmart these messages in detail, in short order.

Anxiety Getaway Tip

Your anxiety symptoms can’t kill you. Here’s some proof: Ask yourself how many times you’ve been anxious. How many times have you experienced these anxiety symptoms? And yet, here you sit reading this book. So, anxiety symptoms can’t kill you. They can, however, make life rather unpleasant.

Reading this book demonstrates your readiness to break free from anxiety’s grip and move forward. So congratulations! You’re taking the first important step toward living with more freedom, opportunity, and joy. And on that note, let’s move forward.