Pathological Anxiety Makes Us See The World Differently

It is always important to clarify that there are basically two forms of anxiety. One of them is adaptive anxiety, and its job is to prepare us to face a danger or imminent situation. In other words, it’s an instinctive reaction and a sensible response that helps protect us from potential risk.

Another type of anxiety is psychological or pathological. Pathological anxiety also arises in situations where there is no real risk. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that it arises in the face of imaginary or exaggerated threats that are almost always undefined. It is as if the danger exists, but it is not possible to determine where it is or what it is.

Anxiety is expressed in many ways. What these manifestations have in common is that fear or a feeling of fear is completely exaggerated. Sometimes it leads to constant chewing and an avalanche of negative thoughts. Sometimes it ends up in the onset or closure of a panic attack and isolation from the rest of the world.

Pathological anxiety and cognitive distortion

Pathological anxiety presents with cognitive distortion or a changed perception of the world. This means that attention is focused or paid only on the information that explains or may explain the sense of threat. In the same way, this information is misinterpreted and in an anxious sense, things like this are always easier to remember.

Someone who, for example, is concerned about their relationship with other people only sees certain traits in others. For example, he can pay close attention to other people’s gestures that point to rejection, even if they are completely minimal. Silence can be interpreted as a sign that others don’t like him or that they don’t want to talk to him. An anxious mind does not give signs of value, acceptance, or interest unless they are exceptionally visible.

If the pathological anxiety is more vague, someone who suffers from it may see “fatal signs” in any natural phenomenon, for example. A very colorful sunrise can lead to the feeling that “something is happening”. Too bright a moon, on the other hand, can create fear in the anxious mind without one knowing why.

The theory of four factors

Michael Eysenck, a professor emeritus and psychologist at the University of London in England, has created a conceptual theory on the subject called “The Four Factors Theory”. Its job is to define the main paths that the anxious mind goes through based on its own perception. Each of these pathways is associated with cognitive distortion. These four factors are:

• Distorted perception of a particular stimulus. This happens when pathological anxiety specifically targets a target or some very specific aspect in reality. This leads to so-called phobias. If anxiety is related to one’s own behavior, it is called social phobia.
• Distorted perception of one’s own body and its physiological reactions. This occurs when the organism itself becomes a battlefield. Body functions and reactions are perceived as a sign of danger. It in turn leads to anxiety disorder.
• Distorted perception of one’s own thoughts and personal ideas. In this case, what is considered a risk or threat is what happens in your own mind. This in turn can lead to obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
• Global distorted perception. This corresponds to cases where anxiety affects all of the above factors: certain elements, one’s own behavior, one’s own body, and one’s own mind. When this happens, we are talking about generalized anxiety disorder.

Each of these manifestations of anxiety results in the anxious mind seeing reality completely biased. They either strongly oppose or even have the utter impossibility of introducing information that questions the validity of a distorted reality in the mind of an anxious person.

Correction of cognitive distortions

All anxiety disorders can be treated, even in severe cases. Therapy to overcome these symptoms aims to help the patient being treated learn to focus their attention on the aspects in reality that they have previously left behind.

It is possible to learn to produce broader meanings for what we see. Sometimes we just need someone to help us understand that beating our hearts hard doesn’t mean we’re on the verge of cardiac arrest. Or that it’s normal that not everyone always likes us, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to do us any harm.

All forms of anxiety are important. In fact, when we ignore or ignore its symptoms to cope, the tendency to anxiety increases and penetrates the personality. Getting help in time is the best way to deal with these states of mind that cause us so much suffering.