Is Anxiety Really All In The Mind?
March 21, 2008 – 7:25 pm by IanI used to think that anxiety was all in the mind, but then I read a little about human biology and started to think that this might not be the case at all …
Let me explain with the help of my good friend Wikipedia:
“The autonomic nervous system (ANS) (or visceral nervous system) is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system, maintaining homeostasis in the body. These maintenance activities are primarily performed without conscious control or sensation. The ANS has far reaching effects, including: heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils, micturition (the discharge of urine), and sexual arousal. Whereas most of its actions are involuntary, some ANS functions work in tandem with the conscious mind, such as breathing. Its main components are its sensory system, motor system (comprised of the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system), and the enteric nervous system.”
The two key things here are that “most of its actions are involuntary” and the mention of the motor system, which comprises the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system. Let’s delve deeper into those two, again with the help of Wikipedia:
“The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) is … always active at a basal level (called sympathetic tone) and becomes more active during times of stress. Its actions during the stress response comprise the fight-or-flight response.”
Hmm, the fight-or-flight response, eh? Isn’t that what is overactive in people who suffer from anxiety and panic attacks?
So where does the parasympathetic nervous system come in? Let’s read on …
“Sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions typically function in opposition to each other. But this opposition is better termed complementary in nature rather than antagonistic. For an analogy, one may think of the sympathetic division as the accelerator and the parasympathetic division as the brake. The sympathetic division typically functions in actions requiring quick responses. The parasympathetic division functions with actions that do not require immediate reaction. The main actions of the parasympathetic nervous system are summarized by the phrase “rest and repose” or “rest and digest” (in contrast to the “fight and flight” of the sympathetic nervous system).”
Right, so you could think in terms of Yin and Yang, with the sympathetic being the black and the parasympathetic being the white. When they work together well, all is fine. But when you’ve suffered a major trauma or prolonged periods of stress, the SNS ends up firing too often leading to anxiety and panic attacks, and can eventually burn out altogether causing adrenal burnout syndrome and a complete lack of energy. As the PNS is meant to work to undo the effects of the SNS, it will not be able to keep up when the PNS fires too often, meaning that you have trouble calming down after danger has gone, and is the cause of general feelings of anxiety and unease in normal safe situations.
Let’s imagine a situation where there is real danger and so the brain responds and triggers the fight-or-flight response. All is happening normal so far; the brain has done nothing wrong. After the danger has passed the PNS and SNS have not achieved an equilibrium, perhaps due to adrenal problems, and now the person feels nauseus or tense and is very aware of this. This awareness leads to thoughts about the physical symptoms, which is a perfectly normal thing to happen. But then these thoughts lead to more stimulation of the SNS and that just stokes the fire.
Is this scenario that unlikely? Could it be that the problem of anxiety is not solely due to mental illness, and more due to physical health? I don’t know the answer, but I wanted to raise the question.