The Components of Anxiety Physiological, Cognitive and Emotional, Behavioural

It’s just after 6am in early May and the sun is already pouring through the bedroom curtains. I ease myself out of bed and tip-toe down the stairs so not to wake anyone up. I make a cup of coffee, give my dog – Rocket – a pat on the head as he settles down next to me, and sit down ready to write. I’m in the middle of writing this book, the one you’re reading right now. While drinking my coffee I decide to have a quick look at the news before getting to work on the draft. A story about the slowing economy catches my eye and I immediately start to think about my decision to leave my job at the university the previous year. Before I can catch myself  I’m imagining a scenario in which I won’t have enough money to pay the mortgage, which is followed by thoughts of the house being repossessed. It probably won’t happen, I think, but what if it did?

Just as I’m pondering this, Rocket – a  highly strung terrier – sees our neighbour’s cat jumping onto the garden fence, and as quick as a flash, jumps up against the patio door barking loudly and furiously. Startled, my whole body is activated with a surge of energy and I turn quickly to see why he’s barking, knocking my arm against my cup of coffee. I react and catch the cup before it falls over, then see the cat on the garden fence. My heart is pounding, but I’m safe.

The events in the above scenario illustrate the main components of anxiety, along with the two different pathways that lead to it. This is because anxiety can be produced from two different areas of the brain; the cortex, which produces anxiety based on what we think about, and the amygdala, which reacts to what is happening in our environment. We’ll discuss these two pathways in more detail later on the Chapter 3, but it would beneficial to start with the components of anxiety. If we know what our anxiety is made up of, we can reflect on what is going on inside us, make sense of our experiences, and then manage it more effectively.

Researchers and clinicians have identified three basic components of anxiety:

1. Physiological
The first of these components is physiological arousal. This is what happens when our fight, flight, or freeze reaction kicks in and adrenaline starts pumping, producing a cascade of physiological symptoms.  These symptoms may include: shortness of breath, muscle tension, sweating, dizziness or light-headedness, stomach upset, tremors and twitches, headaches, and frequent urination or diarrhoea. Physiological arousal can be helpful when we’re in a genuinely dangerous or challenging  situation, but it can also be detrimental to our physical and mental health when we respond  frequently  in  this way to  non-life-threatening situations.

2. Cognitive and Emotional
The second component is the cognitive and emotional part of anxiety. This is the future-orientated thinking and fear, and the accurate and inaccurate risk appraisal.  So it’s ruminating about what could go wrong and how awful that will feel. It’s not that all future orientated thinking is wrong – it’s important for us to think about the future and plan for what may go wrong, this is what makes us such a successful species – however, much of the time it can be inaccurate and unhelpful.

3. Behavioural
The final basic component is the behavioural aspect of anxiety – the avoidance behaviour and rituals – in essence, the things we do in order not to feel anxious. We may avoid the anxious situation or task altogether, or distract ourselves from it with social media, alcohol, eating, or a number of other behaviours. It’s understandable that we try to avoid anxiety because we find it very unpleasant. However, in avoiding anxiety we often restrict our lives, or end up causing ourselves more problems. We can sometimes, with the right mindset, respond to anxiety in a positive way, such as doing extra preparation if we feel anxious about an interview or a test, but often we respond in a way that is unhelpful.

Exercise: Recognising the Components of Anxiety

Before reading further I’d like you to complete a quick exercise, it’s only going to take a few minutes.

Step 1

Take a moment to think of something that makes you feel moderately anxious. Something real, not imagined. Maybe it’s a task or job you need to do, a situation you’re involved in, or an up-and-coming event that provokes some anxiety in you.  Imagine you have to do that task or job right now, deal with that relationship right now, or involve yourself in that situation right now.

Step 2

Now see if can you be aware of, and identify, those three basic components of anxiety.

Firstly, is there a physiological response? Maybe your breathing has changed, your heart is beating faster, your stomach has butterflies, or your muscles have become a little tense.
Secondly, is there a cognitive or emotional response? Some future-orientated thinking, a scene of what could happen in the future? A feeling of fear?
Finally is there a behavioural aspect to it? Are you thinking of ways to avoid it, put it off, or distract yourself from it?

That is all you need to do for now, be aware of the components. Later in the book we’ll talk about how to manage anxiety, but it’s important initially that we learn to notice it and become mindful of what is happening, rather than falling into automatic pilot. Over the following days, see if you can start to become aware of when you’re feeling anxious, and when you do notice, try to identify the three components.

The general overall experience of anxiety is not very pleasant, if it was I’m sure you wouldn’t be reading this book. We often want to get rid of anxiety as we don’t enjoy experiencing these components, and some of us will go to great lengths to avoid them. If we find anxiety so troublesome, why have we evolved to experience it? What is its purpose in our lives? To understand the role of anxiety we need to take a journey into our past.