Our anxious mind - How anxiety turns into addiction

Anxiety is a common complaint among people of all ages. The sources of their anxieties varies with each person. Some are anxious about everything, while others are anxious about a specific, narrow life issue such as job and money. Anxiety is generally not negative as long as (1) it’s mild and; (2) the patient is conscious of their thoughts.
Here I am talking about anxieties that do not arise from some kind of trauma.

Anxiety and worry are tied to our day-to-day and moment-to-moment thought processes whether we are conscious of them or not. Mild anxiety can be a natural human reaction to the unknown and unpredictable. Anxiety may help us to be alert and respond to our environment in a timely manner.

Humanistic Psychologist, Rollo May (1996) stated, “Anxiety is essential to the human condition. The confrontation with anxiety can relieve us from boredom, sharpen the sensitivity, and assure the presence of tension that is necessary to preserve human existence.”

However, the anxious mind becomes problematic when it becomes dominant in our rational mind. When this happens, anxiety can become much more problematic, affecting the patient’s job, relationships, and other important life elements.

Some people develop chronic anxiety. People with chronic anxiety appear to have “worry addiction” as if they can’t live without worried thoughts all the time. Like food, spending and video games, anxious thoughts can become habitual. Worried thoughts can become addictive as a person repeats them in his/her mind every day. Eventually our anxious and worried thoughts become automatic, stronger and uncontrollable in our mind.

Chronic anxiety often manifests as physical symptoms. Common symptoms of chronic anxiety are feelings of of tension, recurring worried thoughts and physical symptoms such as a rapid of heartbeat, sweating, trembling, and dizziness.

The good news is that we can significantly reduce anxiety using Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and relaxation training. CBT has two components – cognitive and behavior training.
The cognitive element of CBT can help you identify triggers to anxiety and modify your anxious thoughts into more rational and realistic ones. The Behavior element of CBT can help you discover those behavior patterns that continue to feed your anxious thoughts and responses. It will change your problematic behavior with new, alternative behavior that you choose consciously. Relaxation training includes breathing exercises, progressive relaxation, meditation, visualization, and self-hypnosis.

There is no overnight solution to chronic anxiety.
The root cause of anxiety may have to be worked on via depth psychotherapy. However, CBT can help you understand how your thoughts, emotions and behavior work together and then work to deal with anxiety effectively when it arises. Doing this can allow us to regain control over our anxious mind.

Reference:
The meaning of Anxiety (1996), May, R., W. W.Norton & Company