Anxiety: Flight or Fight?

Posted on 12/02/2010 | 6 Comments

Today I was teaching in a primary health care workshop. Helping a variety of health care providers become comfortable with mental health competencies that could be used by family doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers and other to provide mental health care to those that need it.

During the discussion about anxiety, we chatted about the way that anxiety makes us feel. Many of the examples that people gave included the phenomenon of withdrawal, that is, avoidance of the situations in which we feel anxious. That is surely true, and is one way that anxiety causes great difficulty for people. This is one way in which anxiety leads to what we call functional impairment: the inability to do what you want or need to do because of the mental disorder.
But, there is another way that anxiety shows itself. That is through aggression. Yes, sometimes anxiety can lead to lashing out at others. Have you ever been worried about someone who is late for dinner or late in meeting you at a movie? What about the parent who is worried about where their child is late at night when it is an hour past the time that they were supposed to be home? What often happens when your friend shows up or the child slinks into the house?

Right. You got it. Instead of being hugging and warm it is often the opposite that occurs. You get angry and act annoyed. The parent yells at their child. Yelling is verbal aggression. The anxiety has resulted not in avoidance but in attack!

That this happens should not be a surprise. Remember that anxiety leads to the fight or flight response. Avoidance is part of the flight and anger is part of the flight. Yet another way that anxiety can make lives more difficult for people.

We often forget how much of a problem overwhelming anxiety can be. Panic attacks, social anxiety, generalized anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder all have the potential to be quite disabling. They can also all be treated and both avoidant behavior and attacking behaviors can be controlled. In the next couple of months we will be posting a lot of new information on this website, much of it about anxiety. Stay tuned!

What people are saying?

Christopher Taylor said...

I also suffer from panic attacks and i can manage it by deep and slow breathing. i also practice meditation.

Comment made on August 05th, 2010

Danette Schott said...

Fight or flight is an interesting behavior to observe in some children who have spent their early years in orphanages. During the early years of brain growth, these kids learn that if they cry, nothing happens. No one comes, no need is met. A very frightening experience for a baby. As these babies become toddlers and children, they can jump very quickly into a fight or flight mode at what most others would perceive to be a situation with minimal stress.

Comment made on August 05th, 2010

Cleo said...

I’ve always had trouble with anxiety and my dad seems to be the only one who understands… but this page actually made me feel a bit better because I know I’m not the only one going through this sort of thing, also, things could be a lot worse I suppose, so I think that things like this remind me of that. A lot of people benefit from these people, but they probably don’t even know it so… Thx.

Comment made on August 05th, 2010

Brad Peters said...

I am a clinical psychologist who works with a lot of parents and teens struggling with anxiety. It seems we professionals could do a whole lot more in terms of providing information and resources to the general public. I like the way these blogs are written - using everyday language and getting directly to the point. Readers can check out my own article explaining anxiety at: http://www.bpeters.ca/topic_anxiety.html

Brad

Comment made on August 05th, 2010

Anxiety in Teens said...

Thanks for sharing the great info!

Comment made on August 05th, 2010

Patricia Wentzell said...

I am a Guidance Support Teacher and really appreciate the wealth of information that you have on this site. I have been searching for a clip that illustrates the anxiety cycle with a teen and an elevator. I believe that it was on this site last fall. Am I correct and if so, is it still on the site?

Comment made on February 04th, 2011

What do you think?

Recent Comment

This is a great set of comments and rings very true.

I totally agree that scientists (just like everyone else) have their biases and foibles. After all, scientists are human beings too! But science is different than scientists.

The scientific method is the most objective frame that we have by which to evaluate and predict. Science is not about finding truth. It is only about being less wrong most of the time. The scientific method (experimental design and mathematics) gives us the ability to test what we believe. The scientific method is not used to prove something is correct, on the contrary, the scientific method is designed to prove that something is not correct! It is designed to test what is called the “null hypothesis”. It takes ideas that come out of left field (or wherever else they come from) and puts those ideas to an independent test.

t does not drive our beliefs. It does however challenge our beliefs. In that way it is self-correcting. Of course scientific inquiry and understanding lives within a wider social context. That is one of the great features of science.

But gravity is gravity, social context notwithstanding. And thus it is nasty, brutish and long. As Brecht said, (something like this) - the purpose of science is to save us from everlasting error.

By Christina Carew on May 11th

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