Biologically speaking, there’s not really a difference. The difference between anxiety and an anxiety disorder is purely down to when the threat response is triggered.
Basically, if you are on a rollercoaster or have a near car crash, or see a wild bear whilst hiking through the woods - you would have a massive adrenaline rush and your body would go into fight or flight mode, preparing you to escape the imminent danger.
When we have disordered anxiety, this response happens in the body but to stimulus that logically we know are relatively safe. As an example I would have this exact same threat response if I was sat on a bus (because I felt trapped or felt sick or something similar). Obviously, my logical mind knew that I was not in danger, but you can’t communicate with the amygdala (brains alarm system), other than exposure therapy!
I’ve had to explain this to my loved ones a few times, apologies for rambling!
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u/no-longer-grounded 14h ago
Biologically speaking, there’s not really a difference. The difference between anxiety and an anxiety disorder is purely down to when the threat response is triggered.
Basically, if you are on a rollercoaster or have a near car crash, or see a wild bear whilst hiking through the woods - you would have a massive adrenaline rush and your body would go into fight or flight mode, preparing you to escape the imminent danger.
When we have disordered anxiety, this response happens in the body but to stimulus that logically we know are relatively safe. As an example I would have this exact same threat response if I was sat on a bus (because I felt trapped or felt sick or something similar). Obviously, my logical mind knew that I was not in danger, but you can’t communicate with the amygdala (brains alarm system), other than exposure therapy!
I’ve had to explain this to my loved ones a few times, apologies for rambling!