The Bastard Offspring Of Fear And Imagination

That is what anxiety is; the child of two important human capacities, the ability to recognise and respond to a dangerous situation, and the ability to create pictures in our mind that allow us to to preview situations and plan accordingly. So if I am crossing a busy road and suddenly hear the sound of squealing tyres as a car comes straight towards me, fear impels me at speed out of its path and to safety. Alternatively, if I am attacked by a mugger, I fight back to overcome him. A mechanism as old as humanity itself, often referred to as the ‘fight or flight’ mechanism. Psychologists refer to all animals being at any moment in one of two states; the state of rest, or the state of arousal. ‘Rest’ doesn’t mean sitting or lying down doing nothing. It means that everything around us is fine, so we can simply get on with the business of living. ‘Arousal” on the other hand, means that we have detected a potential threat or problem and have switched to an alertness which allows us to take whatever action may be necessary. To make that switch the bloodstream is flooded with the hormone adrenalin which increases the heart rate, prompts the lungs to pull in air in greater quantities, andtexses the appropriate muscles. At the same time blood is redirected from the brain and the digestive organs to the major muscles which can then be supplied with a rich supply of the oxygen they need for action. The threat is reacted to, the danger passes, and now another hormone, acetylcholine, flows into the bloodstream to mop up all the adrenalin which is no longer needed, and the organism returns to a state of rest. All of this happens incredibly rapidly (the adrenalin is already on its way before we have even had a chance to make any conscious decisions) because an imminent threat may be the end of us if we don’t respond quickly enough. Imagination allows us to conjure up images which save us having to directly experience whatever it is that we want to review. If I want to decided what to do with the approaching weekend, and the choice is between a long walk in the countryside or a day at the beach, I picture each with my imagination and can imagine how each would feel and which would better suit my mood. I don’t have to go into the countryside to rule it out, nor do I have to go and see how the beach feels in order to choose it. But that is what most animals would have to do. Almost certainly many animals have a limited ability to do something like this - chimpanzees and ravens, for instance can look at a stick or a twig and see that it can be used to reach something otherwise beyond their grasp - but it is very highly developed in humans. It is one of the things that has allowed us to develop to the intellectual level we enjoy. Each of these two characteristics is a valuable and necessary part of our armoury for successfully living in the world. Trouble starts when the two come together and produce a third, anxiety.