Anxiety, Worry, Fear, Panic

How are these conditions related?

Is there such a thing as an Anxiety Continuum that would look like Worry > Anxiety > Fear > Panic? No, not officially, but it is interesting to consider. Even though all four conditions are defined as being different from one another, it does make sense when you think about someone who worries about something.

The more they worry and focus on what they are worried about, the more likely they will get anxious. The more anxious they get, the more it would be possible to become fearful.

And the more fearful they become, the more likely the possibility of having panic attacks.

All four conditions, while defined differently, have the common denominator of triggering the “fight or flight” response with different levels of intensity.

I don’t know if that has anything to do with it but, believe it or not, these four conditions are some of the easiest mental/emotional problems to release with the therapies and methods I use.

The following are examples of how I worked with different clients on each of these four conditions:

Anxiety Crippling Performance

Peter* was 19 years old and had great difficulty in his first year of college away from home. He had problems with social anxiety, low self-esteem, and a lack of confidence in social situations/relationships.

Going away to college just made things worse. He had smoked pot for a couple of years before going away to school to alleviate his anxiety in social situations. Since he went to college, his pot smoking became more of a regular habit which caused him to isolate himself more and more.

He became addicted/obsessed with video games and watching TV movies until 3 am. He then started a pattern of being late or absent from classes, not completing homework, etc.

It got so bad that he eventually had to take several incompletes and decided to go back home. His college guidance counselor and his parents decided he needed to take a “gap” year to collect himself, and that’s when we started working together.

Being the adolescent that he was, Peter was initially resistant to the idea of therapy. This went on for only a very brief time, however, because he quickly realized that the methods I used, especially the Brainspotting, gave him some rather quick relief from some of his anxiety.

His motivation and enthusiasm increased over time because of his feeling better and better as our sessions continued. Over time, his anxiety around social situations reduced significantly, his pot smoking stopped, he reported that he felt like he was more grown-up than when he started, and he no longer stays up to 3 am playing video games or watching TV.

He joined a gym and worked out every day. And he changed his diet from a lot of junk food to a healthy diet that he continued.

And the best news perhaps, he was able to resume his college education the following year. The parents said, “Many people have commented on and are very impressed with his change in behavior… and the college committee was very impressed in how he presented his case, as was the Dean of Admissions in her separate meeting with him…”

Worry Creating Havok

Anthony* was in his early 40s and spent several years working hard to get to a management position in a large business in the city. He felt good about being where he was in the company, and his bosses seemed to like him as well.

That is until about 7-8 months ago. Anthony usually was very good with those workers he managed, but about a year ago, problems started developing with one employee who he eventually ended up firing without going through the proper protocol for doing so.

His bosses were very displeased with him and told him he wouldn’t be getting a bonus that year because of his impulsive action. This really hit him hard emotionally.

He began to worry about making another big mistake like that. He started thinking about other wrong decisions he made in his life that may come back and “bite” him. The more he thought and worried about these things, the more anxious he got.

His anxiety turned into fear, thinking the “other shoe is going to drop” and he is going to have to pay for all his past mistakes one way or the other.

This kind of thinking then turned into panic attacks and sleepless nights the closer it got to “judgment day” and him thinking he would lose all the money he has saved over the years for his retirement or worse.

This is when he came to me. The panic attacks and sleepless nights were wearing him out and starting to affect his work.

We started by releasing his current panic attacks, which took a few sessions. It turned out that he was traumatized by his bosses “overreacting” the way they did by taking away his bonus.

Using Brainspotting, Anthony processed this issue and could eventually connect his current situations to when he was a child and how he had to maintain peace by pleasing his parents “to the tee” or receive rather extreme consequences.

As he processed these issues, his panic attacks eventually stopped, as did his fear that the other shoe was going to drop. Anthony realized he made a mistake, and he will learn from that mistake –but it’s not the end of the world.

Fear of Driving

Morrisa* was in her early 30s. She had been in a couple of bigger accidents in her younger years that always made her uneasy about driving or even traveling in a car. Recently she had a couple of fender benders that weren’t too serious but exacerbated her previous trauma.

She came in because she was “exhausted” with resisting having to drive. She tried to find ways not to drive, but sometimes she couldn’t get out of it.

We worked on releasing the fear and negative charge to her recent fender benders, but more important by far were the two accidents she had when she was younger, each significant.

As she continued working on releasing her fear from these past incidents, she reported she kept feeling less and less fear after every session and feeling more and more comfortable driving home each time.

It took several sessions, but Morrisa was eventually free of her fear of driving. She was very grateful and for that result, saying that it felt “surreal” and had never remembered a time when she wasn’t afraid of being in a car, driving, or otherwise.

She was free of her fear – and it never came back.

Petrified and Can’t Get Out of Bed

And then there’s the amazing story of Loretta, a middle-aged woman who was virtually bed-ridden for six months because of her constant fear and continual panic attacks caused by an accumulation of traumatic events that happened throughout her life – but especially in her recent past. Her past accumulated traumas got triggered by more trauma six months prior.

She was not able to leave her bed without experiencing debilitating fear or panic. Even while in her bed, she would have extremely negative thoughts that would repeatedly lead to fear and panic.

She got very little sleep and was on edge all the time. She had family members cooking for her and helping her with her daily hygiene needs.

After a few sessions of E.M.D.R, she was able to get out of bed and go to the bathroom (off her bedroom) without overwhelming fear.

After a few more sessions, she was able to sleep better and go downstairs for an hour at a time.

After even more sessions, she was able to go to doctors’ appointments, escorted by family members.

And after more sessions, she was able to enjoy sitting on her back porch by herself, something she had not been able to do in over six months.

Sessions continued with Loretta until she returned to a sense of normalcy for her, spending time with her family and enjoying engaging in her creative pursuits around the house. Eventually, she returned to work in her home office business.

Testimonial

“All those negative feelings, all that anxiety and fear, all that craziness is not in my body anymore. I can’t believe it. The Brainspotting helped me to simply let go of those feelings, and thoughts, that were bothering me about my life. That’s incredible.”
A.W.