Understanding the many roots and causes of unattributed anxiety.
Sometimes patients come to me with the complaint that they feel anxious “for no reason.” Have you ever experienced something like that? I know I have. And through a combination of clinical training and life experience, I’ve come to a greater understanding of it and developed effective tools to help.
When someone comes into my office with this complaint, I invite the patient to sit quietly and just observe the anxiety. Sometimes we remain so busy that we simply need to slow down and listen to our own hearts. I explore when the feeling started and anything that preceded it. Through Brainspotting, a specialty in which I am certified, we can process a feeling without analysis, create real and lasting neuropsychological change, and cultivate an experience of inner calm. I also use mindfulness, guided visualization, breathwork, and body-based relaxation techniques to reduce the anxiety.
If anxiety without a known source is a common experience for the patient, I encourage them to track the episodes along with their diet, sleep, activity, and menstrual cycle if applicable, to look for patterns and correlations that might provide clues. I refer them for bloodwork to check for vitamin deficiencies, which can cause such symptoms. We want to rule out any biological causes, such as hormone changes, vitamin deficiencies, thyroid imbalance, or deficits in the gut microbiome, before looking elsewhere for the source.
Anxiety with no attributable cause can result from dissociated sources, such as trauma triggers that persist below conscious awareness, or an accumulation of unacknowledged stress. When we slow down, remove distractions, and listen to our hearts, these repressed fears and worries have space to reveal themselves in a manner that can be productive, rather than harmful. What is made conscious can be reprocessed with EMDR or Brainspotting in therapy, and acknowledged stresses can be addressed through radical acceptance or active problem solving, thus decreasing their hold.
Generalized, diffuse anxiety may be a learned cognitive processing style. If as an infant your distress was not consistently soothed, or if as a child your behavior was met with reactive or punitive response, the ability to self-soothe, or to transition out of stress to calm, was likely not learned. We learn soothing through our brain’s mirror neurons; in essence, we absorb the emotional state of our caregivers. Without that calm presence tuned in with us as babies and small children, we remain in active distress. Then, these patterns of hyperactivation become hard-wired into the rapidly growing neural network of our young, developing brains. Such roots of anxiety tend to persist in adulthood below conscious awareness as they lack verbal memory.
Generalized anxiety, the diagnostic label for such unattributed anxiety, is also common in high intellect individuals with a tendency toward hyper-analysis and big-picture thought. Highly intelligent people tend to be more sensitive while also making more connections between observed and experienced events, leading to greater worry. When a high IQ child is raised in unsympathetic conditions, anxiety is nearly guaranteed to result.
Experiencing anxiety without a known cause is not uncommon. Anxiety is simply a signal to notice, rather than become immersed in. Try to observe it as objectively as possible and receive it as a message that something internally or physiologically needs attention and self-care. Perhaps that means a dietary change, a lifestyle shift, or learning new skills for self-care. Perhaps it means something repressed needs active attention. Slow down and acknowledge the anxiety. It will not break you; it is merely a signal, which when heeded can bring change.
Next week we’ll discuss some actionable tips for reducing general anxiety.
Do you struggle with unexplained or generalized anxiety? How do you cope, and what works for you? Share in the comments below!