Autumn is a beautiful time of year. The trees are painted with rusty, amber hues, there’s a slight chill in the air, and Floridians finally get some respite from mosquitos and sweltering, sub-tropical heat. I cherish the fall because we get to celebrate some of my favorite things: hot tea, sweaters, scary movies, and candy. It’s the time of year where our days grow shorter and the night seems to creep in ever closer, stealing sunlight out of the sky bit by bit.
Fear of the dark (or nyctophobia) is one of the more common fears. Most children sleep with a nightlight, and after a scary movie even the most rational adult may mistake a shadow for something more monstrous. The dark can represent the unknown, and it’s easy to project our worst fears onto what we can’t see. A feeling of panic may start to set in, imagination running wild thinking of all the spooks and specters that may be lurking in the shadows, leading to the dreaded question: “What am I going to see when I turn on the light?”
But why do our minds do this? Why do our bodies respond how they do to the things that make us afraid?
Worry is a function of our fear. In other words, worry serves us an important purpose by helping us pay attention to things that matter. If we didn’t feel fear, we wouldn’t have the instincts to protect ourselves and get out of dangerous situations. Fear is a reaction to stress and it’s normally a quick and unconscious response to stimuli. Our fear is an instinctive response to keep us safe and normally doesn’t have a rhyme or reason to it.
Worry is what happens when we put time and effort into our fears. This helps us remember to lock our doors before we leave, ensures that we don’t forget to let the dog out, and double check that the important email we were supposed to send actually went through. Worry also shows that we care. Our worries are how we analyze situations, solve our problems, and prepare for important events.
If worry is normal, at what point does it get excessive?
1. You have trouble relaxing in your typical environment
2. It becomes difficult to execute your normal tasks and responsibilities
3. You can’t sleep at night because your thoughts are keeping you awake
4. You avoid certain situations because of things that may happen
When worry has no way to resolve itself, this is what becomes anxiety. This is when the worried thoughts become entwined with the physical responses of fear. Anxiety is what causes you to generate all of those “what-if?” scenarios that play out in your head. Anxiety is what we feel when we board a plane or when the professor calls on you in class. You start running through the scenarios in which something bad happens or where you get hurt, and instead of working through the problem, you wish you could sprout wings and fly away so that you never have to confront it.
There are two key players involved in anxiety: the Prefrontal Cortex and the Amygdala. The Prefrontal Cortex (of PFC) is part of our forebrain and is in charge of our higher order functioning like logic, reasoning, and emotional processing. The Amygdala is part of our limbic system and is known as the fear response center. The PFC is unique to humans and is what allows us to think in the abstract and complex ways that we do. The amygdala, however, is housed in the most primitive part of the brain a.k.a. “Lizard Brain.” When these two parts stop communicating, fear runs wild and we have difficulties processing why we feel so nervous and afraid. Basically, our PFC loses control of the lizard and can’t make a decision on how to wrangle it back in the tank.
Our fear is nothing to fear, but there’s no thrill in living in a constant state of distress. Thinking about the things that matter to you shouldn’t feel like a jump scare. As much as I love horror movies, I wouldn’t want my everyday life to feel like I’m in one. If your anxiety is going bump in the night, try these tips!
1. Keep reminders and planners on hand to relieve your mental load
2. Keep a journal by your bed and write about the thoughts that keep you awake at night
3. Thought stopping – hit the breaks on negative thinking, find a positive distraction
4. Talk to someone (a friend, your therapist, anyone that you trust)
5. Accept the things that you can’t control
6. Breathing techniques such as restorative breathing and diaphragmatic breathing may help
7. Try meditation and/or Yoga
8. Get an evaluation by a psychiatric clinician
9. Try transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy for anxiety
Written by Cana Cravens
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