Anxiety is a serious problem for a significant amount of people worldwide.  When people have anxiety they generally do not know what their anxiety is about.  They may conjure up some notion, such as “I can’t stand my boss at the office.”  But this is just a vague notion.  It really gets them nowhere.  It just keeps them suffering with anxiety.

Let’s get some CLARITY.  If some human being comes up to you and threatens you with his gun pointed within a few inches of your head, you’re going to have some very strong anxiety symptoms, such as accelerated heart rate, lightheadedness, dizziness, fainting, urge to urinate, nausea, incoherent thoughts, visual and auditory problems, to name a few.  In this case there is a real threat that could lead to serious injury or death.

HOWEVER, if you’ve noticed with your own anxiety or seen others with their anxiety, 99.99% percent of the time, there is no external threat.  So with the 99.99% percent rule, we are afraid of what’s inside us.  It’s an inside job.
We are afraid of what’s inside us.  It has to be that way because if there is no external threat, it has to be within us.  I’m being redundant here to make this very clear.  People will externalize their anxiety problems when it clearly is an internalized situation.

Here’s a vignette.  Teenager, Joe Smith, is angry at his father who is demeaning him.  Father tells son that he’s useless and he, the son, should have been aborted.  The son, understandably has retaliatory rage toward his father.  The son’s feelings and impulses, are  pushed down out of his consciousness or he allows himself to see, in fantasy, what he’d like to do to hurt or physically attack his father.  Remember, the son does not actually physically attack the father.  This is all too much for the son.  Within a few seconds of what just took place, the son becomes afraid of his impulses and feelings which translate into anxiety symptoms.  Since anxiety symptoms are uncomfortable, and in some cases, debilitating, the son quickly goes to defense.  These defenses, or walls as they frequently are called, keep the son from dealing with his feelings and impulses.  The son is stuck.

Father and son don’t talk about this problem.  Father and son are lost in defenses.  Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon problem.

Bye for now,

Jonathan J. Brower, PhD