Managing anxiety symptoms through understanding them
July 17th, 2009
If you walked through a forest after being told there was a monster in there which might attack, you would be highly sensitive to the smallest movement, the slightest rustle of grass, the faintest touch, just in case something happened - which in itself can bring on anxiety attacks.
Similarly, the stimulation you get from being in a supermarket starts to send the adrenalin levels up even more. Remember that stimulation can be pleasant as well as unpleasant. Supermarkets aren’t in themselves unpleasant places, but they are highly visually stimulating - they have to be because they’re aimed at encouraging you to look and buy, look and buy.
So the excitement (and other anxiety symptoms) you feel at being there automatically releases more adrenalin which, added to the higher levels which you already have is enough to press the trigger - the panic button’s been hit, and off you go. It needn’t be the supermarket, it can be anywhere where you start to feel more stressed: at work, in church, listening to the news, at home. But at the least provocation the system goes into action. When dealing with anxiety this is what you need to understand and learn to control.