“Leaving the hazards of the traffic aside, most people would not perceive getting out of the (protective environment) house and venturing on to the public road as an adventure.  But to some people it is not far removed from the experience of leaving the safe cave and exposing themselves to the mercy of the dangers lurking in the jungle.  They may not actively and consciously think in that way but their body, the basic physiology reacts as if it is placing itself in grave danger and therefore prepares itself to meet that threat.  While the individual is living in a built up location, the body is still in the cave in the jungle”.

“Hence the heavy breathing to get more oxygen into the blood, the fast beating heart to pump more blood to the muscles so that they can work more effectively in the fight or flight reaction to follow”.

“What is useful in a particular situation would be unhelpful and even a hindrance in an unwanted situation.  What may have been a useful preparation to fight or to run away from a dangerous animal would be a hindrance and hazard to health in a peaceful urban environment”.

“This type of anxiety where the body is being constantly prepared for a non-existent threat is not only unnecessary but also harmful if the anxiety becomes persistent and long-standing.  The blood pressure that is being raised to meet the energy needs of an immediate danger is now persistently high and leads to damage of various organs of the body.  The raised blood sugar level that would have provided the short burst of energy needed for fight or flight now leads to persistent raised blood sugar, that is diabetes”.

Mild anxiety at the appropriate time and situation is helpful as for example at an examination or at an interview.  It increases one’s alertness and performance.  But when prolonged or present at unnecessary situations anxiety becomes pathological – that is a disorder unhelpful for the well being of the individual.

How to overcome anxiety

Being able to recognize that one becomes anxious in certain situations is the first step.  If there is no self awareness it is difficult to initiate any remedial techniques.  Developing the ability to recognize the symptoms is therefore essential.  A subjective feeling of fear or a feeling that there is some threat to oneself is usually the first stage of the distress and this needs to be recognized.

A sudden feeling of being under threat, not necessarily of physical harm but most often of being ridiculed is the feeling that hits one.  This is accompanied by a thumping heart, a feeling that the chest is being compressed, shortness of breath,  giddy feeling and a feeling that one might faint or worse, that one might urinate or defecate in public and thus bring on great ridicule on oneself.  The point to be noted is that, it is very seldom that such fears turn out to be true.  However, it must be acknowledged that such fears exist in those situations.

Therefore the first step is reassurance.  The sufferer must realise that none of the fears are going to materialize.  Sit down on a nearby bench or go to a quiet corner and actively concentrate on the breathing.  Take slow deep breaths instead of short shallow ones.  Gradually the panic feeling will pass off.  Physiologically no panic attack lasts more than twenty minutes or so.  The human physiology sees to that.  So all one needs to do is to survive the twenty minutes.  Having survived the attack, make the experience a positive one.  Fully take in the fact that you have not collapsed or died in the attack and that the unpleasant feeling and experience does pass away after some time.  So the next time it occurs remind yourself of the outcome last time.

Prolonged and persistent anxiety feeling probably needs professional advice.  Cognitive and behaviour therapy techniques are more useful than drug (medication) treatment, though in some severe cases medications may be unavoidable.  Like learning to swim, the therapist was saying, you can get in at the shallow end and gradually move deeper and deeper.  This is called the desensitization technique, he said.  Or alternatively, someone pushes you into the deep end and you thrash about for your life and somehow or other float and survive.  That is you face the difficult situation, full scale straight away.  Even though very stressful, ninety nine percent you will survive the experience and thereafter have less and less anticipatory anxiety. A technique called implosion therapy, he said.

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