Is Anxiety Addictive?

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Suffering from anxiety is a serious problem. It can drastically lower your quality of life, make it difficult to focus on everyday tasks, and may cause health problems as the stress of that anxiety takes a toll on your body. It can even lead to other health disorders, like depression.

No one wants to experience anxiety. Some people go through great lengths to try to reduce or eliminate their anxiety symptoms. Most seek help from therapy, others do drugs, still other self-medicate using alcohol or drugs. There are a lot of methods people use to get rid of that anxiety.

But in turns out that one of the things standing in the way of getting rid of anxiety is addiction. But it’s not just gambling addiction, drug addiction and traditional addictive problems. While these may certainly exacerbate anxiety symptoms, it turns out that one of the biggest problems may be an addiction to the anxiety itself.

Addicted to Anxiety?

Research has shown that anxiety itself may be addictive, and that those that experience anxiety will seek out more anxiety when they’re feeling calm and collected. There are several theories for why this may occur.

• Anxiety Highs – One theory is that anxiety creates a high in the body that is, itself, addictive. Anxiety releases the fight or flight system, and that system releases adrenaline and excites your body and gives you a sense of euphoria. Over time, your body starts to seek out those highs, and goes for what it knows best – anxiety.
• Habituation – When you don’t eat food for a long period of time, your body adapts by slowing your metabolism so that you can survive on less food. When you experience anxiety every day, it’s possible that your body adapts to that level of anxiety, and when you drop below it, it’s like a shock to your system, creating the “need” to find that homeostasis again.
• Dependency – When you live with anxiety, it’s possible that you start to depend on it. Some people use their anxiety as a motivator to keep them going, and as a comfortable friend during their daily tasks. In a way it is like smoking. Smoking is addictive, but it’s not the nicotine alone that makes it hard to quit – it’s also the integration of smoking into daily habits, like driving, after sex, or while drinking. The same may be true with anxiety.
• Self-Sustaining Anxiety – Another possibility is that anxiety is naturally addictive simply because it is self-sustaining. For example, there is evidence that physical anxiety (body shaking and upset stomach) can actually create mental anxiety (worry and nervousness). Worry and nervousness, then, create physical anxiety, and the cycle continues.

We already know it’s possible to become addicted to things/people/situations that cause anxiety, such as becoming dependent on an abusive spouse, drinking coffee regularly, and playing poker, and those too lead to more anxiety which may lead to more dependency on the initial addiction, and so on.

How Addictive Anxiety Shows Itself

Most likely it is a combination of any or all of the above factors, and it differs on a case by case basis. But it’s clear that anxiety itself can be addicting, especially if you experience it regularly. Those that are addicted to anxiety often seek out ways to be anxious, for example:

• Watching horror movies.
• Starting conflicts with friends and family.
• Keeping a negative influence in their life.

Those that experience a lot of anxiety may start to worry about issues without a trigger, where their mind consistently gets concerned about things that were not on their mind, creating worry over things that may not be there.

The Solutions to Anxiety Addiction

Anxiety symptoms are already difficult enough to manage. If you are also addicted to the feeling of being anxious, the road to recovery becomes much harder, and it becomes especially difficult to recover on your own. That is why the most important tool in your arsenal is to admit that you have a problem with anxiety addiction. Admitting that problem to yourself and others will go a long way, not only because it will help you seek out treatment, but it will also act as a filter that you can use to make further decisions.

Once you’ve admitted that you’re suffering from anxiety addiction you can seek help. First you will need to write down all of the people, things, and actions (including little things like drinking coffee or watching scary movies) and figure out which ones you can cut from your life. Cognitive behavioral therapy is also a useful tool for learning to control your urge to seek out the things that make you anxious and prevent the feeling of worry. You can then look towards support groups and relaxation techniques to learn to control those emotions.

But the first step is recognizing that you are addicted to anxiety. Anxiety is a negative emotion, and most anxiety sufferers believe that they don’t want to be anxious. Yet if you seem to be seeking out anxiety and making your life more stress-ridden, it’s very likely that you are addicted to anxiety.

About the Author: Ryan Rivera suffered from anxiety addiction and took important steps to get rid of it. He shares this information at www.calmclinic.com.