Being anxious is like being horny.

[o2G2o]

If you think about it, being anxious is no more of a "disease" than being horny. Being anxious when a lion is running after you is perfectly natural and helpful. Being horny when you're getting undressed for bow-chicka-wow-wow is fine, but maybe not during a job interview at the bank. Anxiety and sexual arousal are very, very similar. Both have an effect on blood flow, chemical changes, flooding the body with feelings... Anxiety is Horny's fearful cousin.

[Beevee]

They are the same. The only difference between the lion and lyin’ on the bed (pun intended) is the person’s reaction to that rush of adrenalin.

It terrifies anxiety sufferers whereas those without inappropriate anxiety don’t think too much about it. It doesn’t bother them. That rush of adrenalin is limited and goes away. That is the only difference. Perception. It terrifies the anxiety sufferer so what do they do? They recoil in fear which ( yep, you guessed it) produces more adrenalin which frightens them even more.

If you are feeling upset, are you happy? When you are feeling happy, are you sad about it? You cannot change an emotion. It’s automatic. You cannot force yourself to be happy and you cannot force yourself to feel sad. You have little control over your emotions, they just change in line with things going on in your lives. So, why do those with anxiety (just another emotion designed to protect us from danger) try and change that so they stop feeling it? They fear it, that’s why. Can they change it? No. Can they make it go away? Yes, by allowing it to go away all by itself and not doing anything about it. By not doing anything about it, they treat the root cause of anxiety which is sensitisation of the involuntary nervous system, which controls the emotions. Sensitisation exaggerates all the emotions which can be scary. What used to be an easily solvable problem, now seems insurmountable. Daily chores that used to be errrr, chores now seem like a mountain to climb without any ropes.

By not fighting the symptoms and trying to change the way they feel ( mentally exhausting) they give their mind and body the chance it has been craving to desensitise. For normal thoughts and feelings to return. This will happen because it is the natural healing process of the human body. It simply fixes itself. The sufferer doesn’t have to do anything except watch from the sidelines and to stop interfering with the process by constantly fighting it.

[kborge]

This was actually "weirdly" helpful lol.