Common experiences
- Overthinking
- Replaying conversations
- Difficulty making decisions
- Physical tension
- Perfectionism
- Trouble resting
Why anxiety persists
"I know there's nothing to be afraid of" is a sentence a lot of anxious people can say fluently, right before their body responds as if there's plenty to be afraid of. Repeating the reassurance more forcefully rarely helps much, because the anxious part of you isn't confused about facts. It's protecting something.
Often anxiety turns out to be one side of a conflict between two things that both matter: wanting to relax, and needing to stay alert to something. Wanting connection, and needing to stay guarded. Neither side can simply be talked out of existence, because each one is doing a job. Therapy is partly about understanding that job well enough that it stops being necessary.