The Anxious Personality
A person with an anxious personality experiences an overreaction to threatening stimuli in his or her environment, resulting in the body having a greater stress response than another person might have to the same event. The anxious person is less able to tolerate the normal uncertainties about the future and the “dangers” that may arise. This may be about external events – such as terrorist attacks or planes crashing – or relationship or health issues: “What if he doesn’t really love me?” or “What if I’ve got cancer?”
People with anxious personalities tend to have a general, although often subliminal, belief that the world is a dangerous place and that they must always be on guard to prevent or control any threat to their body and psychological well-being. Their thoughts are frequently dotted with ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’.
Their behavior is motivated by an attempt to reduce or get rid of the stressor that is causing them to feel stressed. For example, the anxious person may always say, “Yes” if asked to take on extra work by the boss and is thought to be obliging. It could be however, that he is anxious about being criticized or being disapproved of if he says, “No”.
Occasionally an anxious personality does not even know that what he feels is anxiety. The body experiences discomfort, and often any changes to the gut or bowel, or problems with the immune or nervous system, are seen as physical problems that need to be tested and treated rather than any cognitive (thinking) processes.
Often, every anxious or negative thought (which then becomes the stressor) can cause adrenalin to rise in the body. Adrenalin is the stress chemical with the ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ mechanism in case the situation is dangerous. This adrenalin gets stored in the muscles leaving the person feeling ‘on guard’ in the event of any danger. This stress feeling may result in the person having an overreaction to a small event due to the build up of adrenalin already in the body. Others may be surprised by this intense reaction.
Many anxious people are sensitive, and are commonly known as worriers. The sensitive person has a brain that is sensitized to threat, and instructs the body to produce adrenalin at the first hint of there being a stimulus that could in any way be dangerous to the person. This could be external stimuli (heat, noise, unpleasant smells, crowds, bright lights, scratchy clothing, food with strange textures) or internal perceptions especially pertaining to being disapproved of, disliked or criticized.
Anxious people are prone to adrenalin floods – a strong physical/adrenalin response to raised voices, cross tones, any hint of conflict between people, even if the conflict does not involve that person. Anxious people may startle easily.
Adrenalin arouses the nervous feeling, which is interpreted as the anxious feeling, before the person has a realization of the situation. Once the brain recognizes the fear feeling (adrenalin arousal) it stays on guard for the danger and the thinking then is, ‘what if’ this and ‘what if’ that. The brain is trying to find a reason for the fear and will dwell on a person’s vulnerability, which may at that time be about their health, finances, relationships, children, work, being disliked, being inadequate. It will always find something to justify the feeling.
All the best, Karen Gosling