Fears Can Strike when Life's at the Peak

Happiness is not a brilliant climax to years of grim struggle and anxiety. It is a long succession of little decisions simply to be happy in the moment. J. Donald Walters

Do you ever wake up at four a.m. with thoughts of losing your job or some other calamity that never materializes though things could not be better at work? Fears like this are incredulous. Once a worry takes hold in the night, it's hard to get more zzzzz's. That ever happen to you? I've experienced it at times.

Loss of sleep leaves me drained in the morning. The result - clear thinking eludes me on the job... My head seems cloudy on such days. Strange part is, life is really good and I don't have stingers that might bring fear. So, what's up?

Interestingly, many people live a good life, yet fall into a trap of fear or anxiety. These folks get the notion that when life is good, there's soon to be a downturn, something like going to the top of a roller coaster and then taking a plunge. Do you find you fall into the mindset of "What if..." in the night? You're not alone... In Psychology Today, Edward Hallowell notes that

Worry is amazingly common. At least one in four of us—about 65 million Americans—will meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder at some point in our lifetime. Even those individuals whose lives are going well may worry excessively on occasion.

At its worst, worry is insidious, invisible, a relentless scavenger, roaming the corners of your mind, feeding on anything it finds. It sets upon you unwanted and unbidden, feasting on the infinite array of negative possibilities in life, diminishing your enjoyment of friends, family, achievements, and physical being—all because you live in fear of what might go wrong. People who worry too much suffer. For all their hard work, for all their humor and willingness to laugh at themselves, for all their self-awareness, worriers just cannot achieve peace of mind.

Worries generally don't become realities Dr. Thomas Borkovec, Penn State University researcher discovered that fully 85 percent of the things we worry about never occur.

Reasons people worry "Worriers hope to gain a feeling of sureness," according to Robert L. Leahy, PhD, author of The Worry Cure. "They want to avoid disappointment or staunch a problem before it gets out of control."

Some folks worry because of low self esteem, Alexander Rich, PhD, finds... "Rather than attribute their successes to their lovableness, competence or skills, worriers may say, 'Well, I was lucky that time.' Or 'It's only because I worked 10 times harder than anyone else.' That kind of thinking leaves you feeling inadequate, whatever you accomplish."

On the opposite pole, some people fret because they think they have more control than in reality. Leahy says, "They believe everything is up to them... If you always think, What did I do wrong? you're probably giving yourself too much credit."

Anxiety Survey If you want to see exactly where you stand take the Psychology Today Anxiety Test

Fear and Worry in the Brain Ellen Weber notes that complex systems in the brain control your reactions to fear … research has been breaking the codes lately. Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging in London recently mapped out mental responses to show how the brain responds to different levels of fear.

The brain's response changes the closer a threat gets. Apparently, unique defense mechanisms are needed depending on the severity of the threat. When threats seemed more distant or less likely to strike brain activity was observed in lower parts of the prefrontal cortex.

This cortex area … just behind the eyebrows … increases activity during anxiety and helps control how you’ll respond to threats. When threats appear closer, your mental activity shifts to an area of the brain that operates more primitive responses – and this is where your brain helps you decide to run or fight.

Amygdala - Brain's emotional center Researchers are noting differences between fear and anxiety... Fear involves a quick hit-and-run process in the brain. Anxiety stirs a slower reaction that lasts a while. Studies show that different parts of the amygdala process anxiety versus fear.

Other research shows...

the amygdala can get information about the emotional significance of an event prior to our awareness of it. If you subliminally present faces expressing fear to subjects, the subjects aren't actually aware of seeing the faces, but the amygdala responds. This makes some sense evolutionarily, because if something is dangerous, you want to have an early-warning system.

Tactics to combat fears and worries... To get over fears and worries we need excellent tactics. Stay tuned for strategies...

What do you do when life is good and fears strike out of nowhere in the night?

Let's hear what works for you...

Top Photo from Flickr: Vaguely Worried Camgirl by merlinman