Hamilton Spa ~ Avalon Mist

Medical science is beginning to narrow in on both the causes of an Anxiety Disorder itself, as well as the attacks than can occur when living with the condition.   Learning to research and pin down the causes and pre-conditions of Anxiety Disorder is the subject of another article – here we are dealing primarily with triggers – the specific causes of spiraling anxiety toward and into an attack.

Most people ‘trigger’ their own anxiety levels and attacks with their subconscious mind – letting a past, negative experience and its negative outcome to pre-condition our thoughts about the situation we find ourselves in at the moment.

While we all believe that we are smarter than our subconscious mind – the reverse is actually true.  The subconscious is extremely powerful and exerts its influence on our thinking with such automatic and all-encompassing effect that we seldom see how powerful it can and should be.  It is simply part of our defense mechanisms and we are as evolved a species as we are due to its continued application in our daily lives.  The extreme reported examples of the subconscious mind’s influence on our anxiety level is particularly extreme if the past experience(s) are ones in which the conscious or cognitive ‘solution plan’ was flawed and that level of error in judgment nearly cost the individual’s life.

However, it is not only the subconscious mind that can be a trigger to initiate an anxiety attack.  There also exists a strong effect from our cognitive side that automatically compares – by conscious thought – what the current circumstances might mean in terms of life-risk or escape. It is now recognized that when both the cognitive and subconscious functions combine – and forecast the same outcome, that a generalized level of anxiety can escalate into a panic attack.

Because we all live with increased anxiety in our lives – in many forms and with increased regularity, it is not wonder that the more extreme examples of negative life-experience may individually be triggers themselves.  If you have had reason to believe that your job may not be secure, and you hear about the possibility of future layoffs, then your anxiety-level may be expected to react to such news.  If you have an anxiety-prone condition as well, the two may combine to produce a panic attack right then and there.

While we have learned a great deal in recent years about the pre-conditions that set the stage for an Anxiety Disorder, we are also now beginning to master the process pre-recognition of an oncoming level of anxiety which could lead to an attack.  Learning to research and pin down the causes and pre-conditions of Anxiety Disorder is the subject of another article – here we are dealing primarily with triggers – the specific causes of spiraling anxiety toward and into an attack.

For most people triggers are much more often caused by the subconscious mind simply doing its job in associating an expanding experience with the memory of prior, similar experiences and what the outcome or challenges might have been.

While we all believe that we are smarter than our subconscious mind – the reverse is actually true.  The subconscious is extremely powerful and exerts its influence on our thinking with such automatic and all-encompassing effect that we seldom see how powerful it can and should be.  It is simply part of our defense mechanisms and we are as evolved a species as we are due to its continued application in our daily lives.  The extreme reported examples of the subconscious mind’s influence on our anxiety level is particularly extreme if the past experience(s) are ones in which the conscious or cognitive ‘solution plan’ was flawed and that level of error in judgment nearly cost the individual’s life.

However, it is not only the subconscious mind that can be a trigger to initiate an anxiety attack.  There also exists a strong effect from our cognitive side that automatically compares – by conscious thought – what the current circumstances might mean in terms of life-risk or escape. It is now recognized that when both the cognitive and subconscious functions combine – and forecast the same outcome, that a generalized level of anxiety can escalate into a panic attack.

Because we all live with increased anxiety in our lives – in many forms and with increased regularity, it is not wonder that the more extreme examples of negative life-experience may individually be triggers themselves.  If you have had reason to believe that your job may not be secure, and you hear about the possibility of future layoffs, then your anxiety-level may be expected to react to such news.  If you have an anxiety-prone condition as well, the two may combine to produce a panic attack right then and there.

While we have learned a great deal in recent years about the pre-conditions that set the stage for an Anxiety Disorder, we are also now beginning to master the process pre-recognition of an oncoming level of anxiety which could lead to an attack.  Learning to research and pin down the causes and pre-conditions of Anxiety Disorder is the subject of another article – here we are dealing primarily with triggers – the specific causes of spiraling anxiety toward and into an attack.

For most people triggers are much more often caused by the subconscious mind simply doing its job in associating an expanding experience with the memory of prior, similar experiences and what the outcome or challenges might have been.

While we all believe that we are smarter than our subconscious mind – the reverse is actually true.  The subconscious is extremely powerful and exerts its influence on our thinking with such automatic and all-encompassing effect that we seldom see how powerful it can and should be.  The subconscious is simply doing its job in protecting ourselves from failure to recognize a prior life-threat, and we are lucky that our subconscious works as well as it does.   The extreme reported examples of the subconscious mind’s influence on our anxiety level is particularly extreme if the past experience(s) are ones in which the conscious or cognitive ‘solution plan’ was flawed and that level of error in judgment nearly cost the individual’s life.

However, it is not only the subconscious mind that can be a trigger to initiate an anxiety attack.  There also exists a strong effect from our cognitive side that automatically compares – by conscious thought – what the current circumstances might mean in terms of life-risk or escape. It is now recognized that when both the cognitive and subconscious functions combine – and forecast the same outcome, that a generalized level of anxiety can escalate into a panic attack.

Because we all live with increased anxiety in our lives – in many forms and with increased regularity, it is not wonder that the more extreme examples of negative life-experience may individually be triggers themselves.  If you have had reason to believe that your job may not be secure, and you hear about the possibility of future layoffs, then your anxiety-level may be expected to react to such news.  If you have an anxiety-prone condition as well, the two may combine to produce a panic attack right then and there.