Where anxiety starts

Anxiety is a stress response we all experience to some degree or another and in various forms. Anxiety does not always have to carry a negative connotation. It can be very useful to sometimes have and assist in creating benefits in our lives. There are moments when clients/patients ask where anxiety comes from, and usually, I will ask, “How do you know you are anxious?”. These questions begin an internal journey for the individual to understand first, how they know they are anxious, and two, where their anxiety starts. This will give us a starting point in exploring their anxiety better.

Anxiety has a multitude of places from which it can start. I have had individuals share their anxiety starts in the “gut”; others share it begins in their hands, shoulders, neck, or even head. Others will have less of a somatic answer as to where their anxiety begins and will say it starts in their mind by how they perceive a specific situation. Anxiety can also be learned and therefore “start” in one individual just as it started in someone we're emotionally bonded with. Anxiety usually comes from our current assessment of a future-based situation. In this example, anxiety begins in the present and is projected into the future based on our “evaluation” of self as currently existing. Anxiety starts from internal doubt of self.

Internal doubt of self is commonplace for many where anxiety starts from. It’s the perceived sense of insecurity that is the birthplace of anxiety. Anxiety starts as a “messenger” of some kind to let us know some aspect of self or life needs attention, reassurance, and grounding. Therefore, it starts as a need to resolve an imbalance of some kind. The imbalance may be rational or irrational; however, stit ill requires attention to resolve the lack of balance of self-being created. This is a good example of how anxiety serves a positive purpose in our lives and starts as a “tool” for us to use rather than become frightened about. Whenever possible, always take time to learn and understand how your anxiety starts to use the added awareness to manage it better.