Learning to be anxious starts very early in life - in infancy, otherwise before. You learn to sense worry when a parent signals disapproval with gestures for example frowning, tightening the lips or jaw, grimacing, or pointing fingers at you. Anxiety is a very uncomfortable feeling, and being around an anxious person can make you are feeling anxious, too. In this sense, anxiety is contagious.
Being an infant, you learned what displeased or created anxiety in your parents, and as a result you fashioned your behavior, and perhaps even your personality, to impress them. You also acted in the way they approved because it reduced your anxiety - the calmer these were, the calmer you were. You learned the "good me", the "bad me", and also the "not me".
According to Harry Stack Sullivan, a feeling of anxiety is most likely to occur in situations in which your dignity and prestige are threatened by others, and from which you are unable to escape. This includes embarrassing or unfamiliar settings.
There are varying degrees of anxiety. Your ability to function would depend on the level of discomfort you experience. Mild anxiety can be a positive thing. Without it, youd be constantly drifting off to sleep, probably couldnt hold a coherent discussion or achieve some of your goals. Mild anxiety is essential for learning to occur. As mild anxiety increases, it can lead to sleeplessness, restlessness, hostility, belittling, and misunderstandings.
As anxiety increases, your perception of what is going on around you decreases. Your hands or underarms may start to perspire, pulse and respiration increase, you may have "butterflies" in your stomach, diarrhea, frequent urination, tension headaches, fatigue, and/or increased muscle tension. You might speak more quickly, or more slowly, than normal.
When severe anxiety occurs, you start to pay attention only to parts of experiences and begin to block out the threat you feel. Learning does not occur at this level of anxiety, and your attention span is short. Your likelihood of understanding what is happening to you or of taking reasonable action are nil. You might focus on one small detail or on scattered details from many experiences.
You may perspire profusely, and your pulse and blood pressure rise even higher. You might breathe rapidly in the upper part of your chest, and your lips and mouth may be quite dry. You might stammer, speak loudly, rapidly, in a high-pitched voice, or perhaps be hesitant. You may tremble, shiver, hold a rigid posture or clench your fists.
Panic is the most extreme level of anxiety. You might blow things way out of proportion, may feel terror and feelings of unreality and become unable to communicate with other people. Because the higher levels of anxiety are so distressing, you might convert your anxiety to anger, which can bring you back to feeling in control again, despite the fact that your anger is unreasonable.
You can also convert your anxiety into withdrawal by calling in sick, canceling appointments, or retiring to bed. You might convert your anxiety into physical symptoms such as high blood pressure, tension headaches, diarrhea, fatigue, or other physical symptoms.
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