At Catalyst Psychology, we take a biosocial perspective on psychology. What does that mean? It means we recognize the intricate interplay between biology, evolution, and learning throughout our lives and acknowledge how these factors shape our thoughts, emotions, and physiological responses as humans.
Humans evolved to predict threat and danger so that we can prepare for and survive it, which is something we are incredibly skillful at! No other species is putting away money into 401k accounts for decades into the future. All this incredible brain power we have allows us to imagine all the potential risks and rewards of the future (how exciting…and utterly terrifying). When used effectively, this helps us plan, prepare and implement complex strategies to reach out goals. When turned up too high, it speeds up our heart rate, our breathing rate and leads us to think about the same problem over, and over…and over again.
Anxiety is often uncomfortable and, for many, associated with a fear of threat in the future. This feeling frequently kickstarts action to relieve the feeling, whether it’s double or triple checking on something, worrying for hours, or seeking reassurance from others. Frustratingly, the brief relief from these actions is the very reward that maintains this anxiety in the future. Our brain learns to do more of what it is rewarded for, so anxiety pervades when we reward it with brief relief, the brain learns that when it ramped up anxiety, it was rewarded with certainty for a very brief period of time. This vicious cycle of anxiety and brief relief can grow and get worse over time, showing up in new places and new times of day...like when you are trying to sleep. This is how anxiety grows, and can cause enormous stress.
This is the sad truth about anxiety…it is real, but not always accurate. At its evolutionary root, anxiety is your threat detection system. Sometimes, however, we have habits of the mind that show up, cued by a similar situation to the past, but not an accurate representation of the probability or intensity of threats that lay in front of you. This is like a smoke alarm that goes off when you are making toast…the smoke alarm (anxiety response) is important, and doing its job, it’s just not calibrated to the correct signal. Your anxiety may be alerting you to threat at a much higher level than is helpful or appropriate for what is on your Google calendar today.
We know how exhausting anxiety can be. It can cause you to look for threats constantly, worry like it’s a professional sport and even keep you up late into the night or wake you up early in the morning. Ramped up too high, it gets in the way of professional and academic performance and causes us, as humans, to frequently say “yes” to things we want to say “no” to and to avoid things that we know are actually important to us.
The experience of high and frequent anxiety is stressful, so we at Catalyst create a compassionate, collaborative space where we support youin learning research backed skills and approaches for managing your anxiety so it doesn’t manage you. Our goal? To ensure your brain's busy plotting exciting futures, not burning the midnight oil with worry marathons.
Take the first step towards reclaiming your focus, peace of mind and restful sleep by scheduling a complimentary consultation call with us.
As Cognitive Behavioral Therapy specialists we deliver precision care with evidence-based solutions to help you overcome life’s complex challenges, reduce stress, and achieve sustainable success.