The science of anxiety can be complex. Luckily, there is a model we use in CBT to help us keep our bearings.

Most anxiety problems consist of three components:

• Feelings:  Research suggests that feelings are anxiety’s core — the part that presidents share with penguins. There are two subtypes of anxious feelings.
  • Emotion: keyed-up apprehension or dread
  • Physical sensations: e.g., muscle tension and dizziness*
• Thoughts: Thoughts also play a major role in anxiety issues. Two thinking errors are especially important: overestimating the chances of bad things happening and underestimating our ability to cope with it.
• Behavior:  Behavior transforms anxiety into anxiety problems, and avoidance is the behavior that drives this transformation.

The three components work together in a coordinated dance. Anxious feelings lead to anxious thoughts. Anxious thoughts lead to anxious feelings. And avoidant behavior acts as the glue, holding the problem together.

*Panic attacks involve other physical sensations, such as shortness of breath, accelerated heart rate, sweating, shaking, and chest pain.

Dylan M. Kollman, PhD
www.realanxietysolutions.com
dkollman@realanxietysolutions.com