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Anxiety

Befriending Anxiety: An Integrative Approach

by Brianna Diorio | August 2, 2021

Anxiety has received a lot of press over the last few years; in fact, we have seen the prevalence of all different types of anxiety increase. Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental illnesses in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults (roughly 18 percent) ages 18 and older. What is interesting to note about anxiety disorders is that they can be quite manageable, yet only around 36 percent of those suffering from anxiety receive treatment.

We hear things like “Sunday Scaries,” commitment anxiety and even social anxiety, and while anxiety isn’t fun, it can sometimes be useful if given the right attention and understanding.

Everyone experiences stress and anxiety at one time or another. The difference between them is that stress is a response to a threat in a situation, while anxiety is a reaction to the stress.

What Exactly Is Anxiety?

According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome, while the American Psychological Association defines anxiety as an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes (like increased blood pressure, sweating and increased pulse rate).

Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality and life events.

If we look at the similarities between both definitions, we can see that anxiety mostly starts with our thoughts, which means there is some aspect of anxiety that we do in fact have control over. This is good news because this means we can slowly start to release the metaphorical death grip we have on our obsessive thoughts (which likely stem from an attempt to control something that is out of our control) and take a break from the mental ping-pong we play all day long.

Anxiety is technically considered a “disorder,” which means a disturbance in normal functioning of the mind and body. That’s right, the mind and the body are indeed connected, which is why you can quite literally feel anxious in your body. Maybe you get heart palpitations, feel shaky or get butterflies in your stomach/a nervous tummy. Perhaps you might find yourself going on a mental shame spiral of uncontrolled thoughts, worrying and creating false narratives in your mind that will never happen. Secondarily, this will cause a physiological response in the body which will make you once again feel anxious—quite a viscous cycle!

To take it a step further, anxiety is really an umbrella term that deals with a group of disorders, which means you can experience different kinds of anxiety; in fact, there are between five and seven different kinds of anxiety disorders.

With most any area of health, there is somewhat of a sliding scale, and you might identify with one or several of the following anxiety disorders. You might find at different times or stages you experience more intense types of anxiety, (a level seven as opposed to a level two when maybe you are juggling some other things in life) or you might even find that as you develop a few new coping mechanisms, some forms of anxiety can become completely manageable or even dissipate.

Try not to focus too much on the label (i.e., which type of anxiety box you can check off) but rather what symptoms manifest most for you personally when experiencing bouts of anxiety— because believe it or not, our body is always talking to us, and anxiety is kind of like a child who is just trying to be heard. It will keep “talking” to us until we listen.

Different Kinds of Anxiety

The most common kind of anxiety is generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), which affects 6.8 million adults and is characterized by chronic anxiety and exaggerated worry and tension (even when there is little or nothing to provoke this level of anxiety). This is the kind of low-grade anxiety most of us deal with daily—you know, worrying about worrying, thinking about things that probably won’t ever come to fruition, having anxiety about your job, finances, relationships and how your gym crush hasn’t responded to your text message in six minutes even though you responded immediately.

Next up we have obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which is characterized by recurrent, unwanted thoughts (obsessions), and/or repetitive behaviors (compulsions). This can include repetitive behaviors like counting, checking, cleaning etc. (or some like to reframe this and call them “rituals”), which provide temporary relief to the person engaging in this behavior (although if not performed, this can lead to increased anxiety). OCD has a rather broad sliding scale, as many people joke about having OCD (regarding cleanliness mostly); however, most people are diagnosed by about age 19, typically with an earlier age of onset in boys than in girls. These repeated thoughts of those with OCD can lead to compulsive behaviors or feeling the urge to do something in response to that original obsessive thought(s).

Panic disorders are the kind of anxiety that you can generally most intensely feel. Panic disorders are characterized by unexpected and repeated episodes of intense fear, which are often accompanied by physical symptoms that might include chest pain, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness or GI (gastrointestinal) distress. Many times, panic disorders can be triggered by something as simple as hearing a song that reminds of you something or someone, or even being in an environment that is triggering and makes you feel uneasy.

Post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) can develop after exposure to a stressful or terrifying event that may have resulted in physical harm, but also can include emotional abuse, neglect and mental stress. Some areas of research also include Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) in the PTSD category of anxiety. This basically means that something that happened to you very early in life (which you likely had no control over or includes an extremely stressful event, intense emotional turmoil or sexual, physical or even emotional abuse) can increase the likelihood of developing anxiety disorders later in life.

Lastly, social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, is characterized by overwhelming anxiety in everyday social situations (although sometimes I use this as an excuse to get out plans I said yes to when I really wanted to say no, but I digress). Social phobia can include speaking in both formal and informal situations (which can even include simply hanging out with a new group of people) or even just being around people in front of whom you have to eat or drink (food anxiety).

Research has found that people who have an overactive amygdala (part of the brain that deals with fear/emotions) may have a heightened fear response, which can cause increased anxiety in social situations. Social anxiety disorder may also be a learned behavior, meaning that some people may develop significant anxiety after an unpleasant or embarrassing social situation.

Reframing Anxiety

While anxiety mostly gets a bad rap, reframing anxiety can be helpful first step in the creation of a holistic healing protocol. As stated earlier, our bodies are always talking to us (in the form of symptoms such as anxiety), but we need to start listening to what they are trying to tell us.

Do you feel anxious every time you are around a certain person? Do you start to get a nervous stomach every time you think about going to a job you dread? Do you feel uneasy saying yes to something you really want to say no to? Are you ignoring your gut instincts? All of these are clues when we start to engage in the anxiety dance and begin to reframe (or interrupt anxiety prodding thoughts) our relationship with anxiety.

Some additional questions that can be helpful when reframing anxiety include the following:

Is this thought/feeling true? Is it helpful? Is it factual or a story I am creating? Is there something that is triggering to me? How much of what is a trigger can I control? Will worrying change anything about the outcome of this situation?

All emotions are language of the body, so when you feel anxious think of it as an “emotional pebble” being thrown at you and your body, before a huge boulder hits you. Anxiety (and all emotions) is what teaches us to pay attention, it can be a call to action, a biological signal that nudges you in in the direction which you need to go or that will result in beneficial change, especially when it comes to your overall health!

Complementary and Alternative Approach

If you have identified your triggers and reframed your relationship with anxiety but are still looking for some additional support, then you might want to consider adding in the below integrative approaches to dealing with anxiety.

Acupuncture

The World Health Organization has recognized acupuncture as being effective for at least two dozen conditions, while the U.S. National Institutes of Health recommends acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention for complementary medicine.

Several small studies have shown that acupuncture can help with anxiety symptoms, although one session likely won’t be enough. Research has found that more than five sessions are needed to have the most effect.

Acupuncture can also reduce stress hormones. A study in the Journal of Endocrinology measured blood hormone levels secreted by the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenal glands, also known as the HPA axis. The interaction between these organs regulates stress, digestion, mood, immune health and emotions. The researchers also measured peptides secreted during the fight-or-flight response to acute stress. They found that electronic acupuncture blocks the chronic, stress-induced elevations of the HPA axis hormones and stress-associated peptides.

Herbal Support

Skullcap is known for its ability to relax and soothe the nervous system. Stress, tension, anxiety, nervousness and panic attacks are all indications for this broadly useful herb. Energetically speaking, skullcap is a bitter and cooling herb. It is especially indicated for people who tend toward a warm constitution. It also provides relief during situations of excitability and overstimulation, such as stress, anger and panic attacks.

Skullcap excels at relieving acute and intense situations of stress and anxiety. It’s calming and soothing to the nervous system. While it works well for acute situations, it can also be taken long term to broadly support the nervous system and help to reduce the negative effects of chronic stress. As a nerve tonic, it can help people who have been through prolonged periods of stress and feel like their nerves are constantly on edge.

Lobelia essentially decreases adrenaline. It is a vagus nerve stimulant or 10th cranial nerve stimulant. It will stimulate a parasympathetic or relaxation response transmission and decrease adrenaline level. As a result, lobelia can help conditions that may be aggravated or caused by adrenaline stress. This relaxation effect will help other parasympathetic actions such as stimulate digestive enzymes, relax a spastic and irritated bowel, lower blood pressure, lower the respirator rate, help hyperactivity in adults and children and assist sleep (all of which can be impacted while experiencing anxiety).

Night blooming cereus can slow the pulse and alleviate rapid heart palpations, nervous irritability and compulsive thinking, while pulsatilla can help to lower heart rate and respiration that is related to anxiety. Pulsatilla is indicated for those who experience intense highs and lows and can be useful for emotional hypersensitivity and can improve emotional health.

Extra Credit

As always, optimizing sleep, modulating stress and even keeping an eye on triggering foods and beverages (such as caffeine, sugar and alcohol) can all be helpful when dealing with anxiety. Incorporating exercise (or play or movement in general) can also be an added bonus for helping with anxiety related symptoms and making sure you have all of your core nutrients in check (vitamin D3, omega fatty acids, B vitamins and magnesium). If you are feeling extra hippy dippy you can try out a weighted blanket, yoga, hypnosis and biofeedback training. VR

References:

Chand SP, Marwaha R. Anxiety. [Updated 2021 May 1]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470361/.

Craske, M. G., Rauch, S. L., Ursano, R., Prenoveau, J., Pine, D. S., & Zinbarg, R. E. (2009). What is an anxiety disorder?. Depression and Anxiety, 26(12), 1066–1085. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20633.

Liu, L., Liu, C., Wang, Y., Wang, P., Li, Y., & Li, B. (2015). Herbal Medicine for Anxiety, Depression and Insomnia. Current Neuropharmacology, 13(4), 481–493. https://doi.org/10.2174/1570159×1304150831122734.

Sniezek, D. P., & Siddiqui, I. J. (2013). Acupuncture for Treating Anxiety and Depression in Women: A Clinical Systematic Review. Medical Acupuncture, 25(3), 164–172. https://doi.org/10.1089/acu.2012.0900.

Brianna Diorio is a graduate from Monmouth University and the Universidad de Cadiz, where she received her B.A. in Spanish, while also receiving two minors in communications and health studies. She continued on to graduate school and received her Masters of Science in human nutrition from the University of Bridgeport. She is also a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner (FDN), an herbal practitioner through the Herbal Academy, a NASM Certified Personal Trainer, and a holistic lifestyle coach from the C.H.E.K Institute. She is currently enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Natural Medicine, pursuing her doctorate in natural health sciences. She also has created a podcast platform of education, called the Brianna Approved Podcast, which covers a variety of wellness topics.

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