How Stress Contributes to Anxiety and Panic Attacks - Part 1
Anxiety and panic attacks often are the result of stress. Whether it is too much stress in day to day life, an inability to deal with stress or thought patterns and habits that make even small stresses unbearable, one of the best things you can do for yourself and your health is to eliminate as much stress as possible and learn how to better manage the rest.
In this series of articles we’ll look at thought patterns that increase the amount of stress you feel. As you begin to recognize these thought patterns and notice them when they are happening you can also begin to change them and deal with stress in a more healthy and positive way. As a result your anxiety can decrease and you may find that you have more peace and happiness in your life.
Factor #1 - Negativity
One way that many of us make stress worse is by having a negative outlook on life and just about everything in it. The “glass is half empty” approach to life can make mildly stressful situations seem worse and can cloud your perspective so that life can seem overwhelming and unfair.
Every person experiences negativity at some point or another. However, when it becomes a habitual way of thinking and viewing the world it can dramatically increase stress and along with it increase anxiety levels - often to the point where you can experience panic attacks as well.
If you have been looking at life with a negative perspective for a long time it can be difficult to change this all at once since it is a habit. In fact, it can even be difficult to know when you are being negative because you have become so used to it.
One way you can gauge whether a thought that you are having is positive or negative is by the way it makes you feel. If you think a thought and have negative feelings such as sadness, anger, fear, or a tightening feeling in your stomach odds are it is a negative thought.
When you catch yourself thinking something negative you don’t have to cram the thought down and pretend it never happened or try to cover it up with a happy positive thought. This doesn’t really erase the feeling. Instead, one easy way you can turn it around is to ask yourself what you would like instead and think about that. Here’s an example.
Say you have to go to a party and are uncomfortable in social situations. You may find yourself thinking of all the things that can go wrong - worried you will say the wrong thing, that you will stand out, that people might make fun of you. When you catch yourself thinking these thoughts stop and ask yourself what you would like instead. Envision the party going well, that you know all the right things to say and that you blend seamlessly in with the other guests.
If that is too much of a stretch for you to imagine than focus on something good in your life right now. Perhaps your dog or other pet, a good book you are reading or anything else that can stop the negative feelings and stress that they create. The more you practice this the easier it will become and the more you will start to notice the positive things in your life. As that happens your stress levels will fall, your anxiety will lessen and your health will start to improve as well.
Tomorrow we’ll look at Factor #2, which is perfectionism. Until then, stay positive!
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[...] first thought pattern that we looked at yesterday was negativity. Today we will address the second thought pattern that increases stress, which is [...]
[...] parts of this article we looked at how stress can contribute to anxiety and panic attacks and how negative thought patterns and perfectionism increases stress. We also talked about ways to begin thinking more positively and [...]