It is a quantifiable truth that women suffer from anxiety at a rate much higher than men. What is not understood is the underlying reason why. There are many different theories that are out there.
Some of the theory deals with evolutionary psychology, the need to be hyper-vigilant due to raising children and being not as large as men and needing a natural way to avoid violence. The experts are not sure of the reasons but they are sure that anxiety is a huge problem for females. The odd thing is that most people in general are not aware of how they truly experience anxiety. They know that they have it but they cannot get down to the key triggers. In this article we will go over the three major anxiety symptoms in women.
More important than a trigger is the need to be consciously aware of what the body experiences during an anxiety attack or when facing general anxiety. Most people do not know that anxiety has a nervous system based trigger. So when the goal is to know the symptoms of anxiety, paying attention to what is felt in the body is very important. Most people might experience anxiety in the stomach, the sternum or the chest, they feel tightness, uneasiness and this is a trigger that they are having issues with anxiety. One solution that is circulating in various circles among experimental psychologist is eliminating those physical sensations and how that might be able to lower the impact of anxiety.
Avoidance and procrastination are anxiety symptoms in women. Most females who have suffered from anxiety know this all too well. They might not have words or images in their head and recognize these behaviors as stemming from anxiety but they are. Avoidance and procrastination are often used to alleviate the symptoms of localized anxiety. It is the mind’s way of staying out of harm’s way, of not adding more wood to the fire and making anxiety worse. It might be wise to pay attention to the times when you are practicing avoidance and procrastination because it might signal that you are experiencing anxiety.
Nervous energy is definitely a sign of anxiety. Most people have experienced this and it might feel as jittery as when too much caffeine has been consumed, a general sense of uneasiness, a rush of energy that is hard to control, and an inability to calm down and think things through and it might even take on some of the characteristics of hypomania.
Lastly, one thing that is very interesting about the concept of dealing with the mind is understanding the nature of feelings vs emotions and how they are not the same thing. This is important when it comes to issues like anxiety because being able to be mindful while dealing with anxiety and differentiating between feelings from emotions is also very important. Shortly, emotions are mental constructs and feelings are physiological. Being able to divide and conquer, and go to war with each one of those separately will help people overcome anxiety.
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