A common problem is what we call free floating anxiety. Free floating anxiety is the anxious feeling that people get when there is no apparent reason for it, hence ‘free floating’. Now it is perfectly natural to feel anxious from time to time. For example getting lost late at night in a strange town would cause a certain amount of anxiety in most people. It is nature’s way of motivating us to get to somewhere safe. However when anxiety becomes chronic to the point where it is affecting your ability to socialise, sleep, go to work, do a good job when at work, or even leaving you fearful of leaving the house, then it is time to seek professional assistance

The fight or flight response is one of our most basic natural responses, which without going into too much detail, exists for one reason and one reason only, to keep us safe from danger by preparing us mentally and physically to face or run away from danger. The fact that it is a perceived danger and largely metaphorical does not dampen our minds response to it.

A panic attack makes perfect sense if you look upon it as a good thing if you have to escape a danger, panic adds wings and literally allows you to run faster than if you were in your normal state. It is a bad thing if the danger is a perceived danger and the response is inappropriate to the situation.

Part of the problem with the fight or flight response is that it changes the way our brain functions, many practitioners call the associated panic attack a brain hijack! This happens because during a panic attack the parts of the brain that we use to think clearly and communicate experience reduced blood flow as the parts of the brain concerned with immediate survival are prioritised.... Simply put, the parts of the brain involved in thinking and speaking lose their ability to function properly under stress unless the stress reaction is controlled.

 

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