Coping Skills for Anxiety
Anxiety and the Brain
I’m willing to bet that at some point in your life, you’ve experienced anxiety. The heart racing, quick breathing, tightness in your chest kind of anxiety. It can feel like the world is crashing down on you and it’s terrifying.
Anxiety is essentially your body going into a fight or flight response regardless of whether there is actual danger or not. Your amygdala (aka, your lizard brain) in triggers the fight or flight response, which tells your body that there is a perceived danger and to act. For good reason, this response is helpful when trying to run away from danger. However, it isn’t helpful when you’re on your way to work and your anxiety begins to kick in.
Your prefrontal cortex is where your brain rationalizes or thinks through whether or not there is a danger. However, the prefrontal cortex takes a lot longer to ‘come online’ than your amygdala. As an evolutionary response, it is a good thing that your amygdala works so quickly. You often don’t have time to spare when you’re being chased by a saber-tooth tiger. You don’t have time for your prefrontal cortex to think about, ‘Am I really in danger?’ or ‘Let me think through all the ways that I can get away.’ Your amygdala is telling you to act at all costs in order to survive but your prefrontal cortex is still trying to play catch up to this quick response.
Coping Skills to Bridge the Gap
Coping skills are items that you can use to help bridge the gap between your anxiety and the rationalizing part of your brain to detect whether you are danger or not. Coping skills works to help bring down your anxiety faster and to help lesson the intensity. Anxiety is like gravity, it can’t stay up forever it must come down eventually. However, when you are in the midst of an anxious experience it can feel horrible and like it will last forever.
When your anxiety is activated, your sympathetic nervous system is activated. This automatic response is your body sensing ‘danger’ or stress even if it is just an anxious thought. Your body is anticipating danger so you might feel your heart rate increase, your body has an energy like its ready to move or your breathing quickens. Coping skills is a way to activate your parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system works to regulate and to bring your body down from heightened states of stress. Think of it like a parachute (para) for parasympethic.
Coping Skills Tool Box
I like to describe coping skills kind of like a tool box. They all are useful things to have, and some might be more effective than others at times. This tool box can have many different kinds of coping skills in it and you might find that some work better for you than others. The best way to know this though, is to try it. See how different items work for you. Take note of the ones that work and ones that might be reserved for a ‘last resort option.’
Like with all good tool boxes, they often collect more items over time. Continue to work and build up more coping skills as you go. Add things that you want to try and see how they work for you.
Coping Skills
Here are some coping skills idea that you can try.
Taste- Chewing gum, something sour, a favorite tea
Smell- aromatherapy, lavender, anything that feels calming to you, a favorite candle
Physical activity- with your body telling you to move due to danger, it can feel like you have all this pent up energy in your body. A great way to reduce that feeling is to move your body. This could be jumping jacks, going for a walk or run, engaging in some yoga practices
Emotional Connection- calling a friend or loved one who can support you while you’re feeling anxious
Touch- grabbing your favorite blanket, fidget toys, a smooth rock to hold in your hand while you engage in deep breathing, snuggling a pet
Distraction- crossword puzzle, drawing, coloring books, journaling
Mindfulness- deep breathing, you can find out more specifics about this on my previous blog post.
Therapy and Anxiety
If you notice that your anxiety feels like it is taking control of your life, reach out to a therapist.
If you are looking for a therapist in the Greater Seattle area, consider working with me. I have expertise and experience working with millennial women just like you. You can request a free phone consultation to see how we might be able to work together.
Meet the Author
Adrienne Kandhari (she/her) is a licensed mental health counselor in the state of Washington. She specializes working with millennial women and helping them to grow, succeed, and thrive in the modern world. When she’s not with clients, you can find her exploring the PNW, sewing a new fashion project, and soaking up some snuggles from her German Shepherd mix puppy, Alaia.
