The Anxiety Spiral

This week on The Anxious Truth let’s answer a common question about “spiraling”. This is a term used every day in our community so lets dismantle it a bit and re-conceptualize spiraling in two parts. One spiral – the downward spiral – is based on how you feel. The anxiety spiral – the other spiral – is an UPWARD spiral, which is more accurately described as a storm.

Let’s look at how we can address the first spiral by addressing the second – robbing the anxiety storm of its energy rather than feeding it more.

This episode is – as usual – full of paradoxical stuff. Isn’t recovery both interesting and really confusing sometimes???

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The Anxiety Spiral: “How Do I Accept Anxiety Without Spiraling?”

I was asked, “How can I accept or allow anxiety to get better, but do that without spiraling?”
We use the word “spiral” all the time in this community. But what is the spiral? What are we talking about when we ask how to stop that from happening?
In most cases anxious people use the word “spiral” to indicate a situation where they start to feel worse. Their perceived sense of well being and safety decreases. It spirals in a downward direction.
But what about the anxiety itself? If we detach from how we feel, is there a spiral of anxiety?
There is, but that spiral is upward in direction! The anxiety spiral describes an increase in the intensity of anxious feelings, sensations, and thoughts fueled by resistance.
We’re better served by thinking about anxiety as a storm rather than a spiral. A hurricane or typhoon is a storm that grows and becomes stronger and more intense when fueled by warm air and warm water. Disordered anxiety is a storm that gets stronger and more intense when fueled with resistance.
In our context, think about how you fuel the downward spiral of how you feel by fueling the anxiety storm with resistance … to that downward spiral! I know, this stuff can really break your brain sometimes, can’t it?
Consider that when you want to prevent “the spiral”, you are really asking how to not feel bad. But when we try so hard to not feel bad, we add energy to the storm that makes us feel bad.
When you break the “spiral” into two pieces – how you feel and anxiety – we can see that we have a choice in the matter. We have power and agency and influence.
When anxious and starting to feel bad, what do you want to do? Do you want to add energy to the anxiety storm that’s making you feel bad, or do you want to rob it of energy so that it runs its course naturally and fizzles out like a hurricane does?
Resistance and fighting adds energy to the anxiety storm. Surrender and tolerance robs it of its fuel.
Let’s acknowledge that you really do feel bad and that surrendering and tolerating are difficult and scary things to do!
Let’s also acknowledge that difficult and scary – in this context – do not equal dangerous. This is a critical concept in recovery that we must remain connected to.

If you want to know how to accept or surrender without spiraling, you’re really asking how to accept or surrender but also to never feel bad, which is an impossible request. Instead, think about allowing that downward spiral in how you feel so that you can rob the anxiety storm of its energy, let it pass more quickly and naturally, and learn how capable you are in the process!

It’s not about “not spiraling”. Its about understanding the spiral and learning that you can handle that change of state.