Anxiety: The False Alarm System in our Brains

A recent helpful metaphor I’ve been using to help clients better understand their anxiety has been comparing it to a fire alarm. We all have fire alarms in our homes to protect us in the case of an emergency, yet they can go off when there is no fire. In a similar way, we have anxiety wired into our bodies for protection and safety, yet often our alarm goes off when we aren’t in actual danger.

Our bodies are wired to have this alarm system so that we can survive a potential threat. Think about how your body would respond if you were in real danger…likely your heart would be racing and your adrenaline would be flowing! Our bodies do such a good job of protecting us, but sometimes we have to compassionately remind our bodies that we are, in fact, safe.

Here’s an example of a recent conversation I had with my client, Julie (name changed for confidentiality). Julie recently started college and told me how her social anxiety seemed to be taking over in moments when she wanted to make new friends. She shared, “I’ll see a group of people sitting together in the cafeteria and part of me will want to go up and talk to them, but then all of a sudden I am overwhelmed with anxiety in my body and can’t do it.” She shared her thoughts are spinning, her heart is racing, and her palms are sweating. What we went on to conclude is that this was, in fact, her body trying to help her in this moment! Although her brain knew she was “safe,” her body was thinking, “Okay, hmmm…new situation, potential threat, possible danger? I NEED to be ready, so let’s release the floodgates of cortisol and adrenaline!”

What Julie came to realize was that her brain’s threat system was detecting possible danger when there wasn’t, in fact, danger. Through this realization,  Julie was able to change her thoughts and say, “Okay, this may be my body trying to help me, but I can remind my body that I am actually okay. It’s just a new situation out of my comfort zone.”

Other phrases some of my clients have used to remind themselves of the false alarm are…

• “I am safe here with my body and breath.”
• “My anxiety is trying to protect me, but I can remind myself that I am safe even while this situation is uncomfortable.”
• “If I stop and calm myself down, then I can get through this.”

I’ve had people say but what if there is danger?! And yes…that’s possible. Yet likely we are overestimating the potential danger and underestimating our ability to cope. So It might be helpful to ask yourself,

• “Could my anxiety be overestimating the possibility of something going wrong?”
• “Could my anxiety be underestimating my ability to cope if the worst-case scenario did happen? “

I’ve also referenced the scene in the fabulous movie Inside Out 2, where the character Joy encourages the character Anxiety to take a seat on the recliner and drink a cup of tea. Joy kindly explains to Anxiety that, should potential danger come up, she will absolutely let Anxiety take over.

So when it comes to our anxiety, we might need to say something like, “Thank you so much for trying to keep me safe, but this is actually a false alarm. I’m okay and I’ll let you know if and when I need you.”

If you would like to learn more about how to deactivate your body’s anxiety alarm system and signal safety to your body, one of our trained therapists would love to walk alongside you in this endeavor!