Anxiety disorder coping is possible. "Life happens." We’ve heard it before. We know it’s true. The problem is, sometimes we just don’t like it. And other times we struggle to accept it.
And so we suffer. At times, we won’t allow ourselves to release our expectations and “shoulds” to productively navigate what is happening in the present. Uncertainty is deeply disquieting.
Other times, we’ve been traumatized by an experience that keeps anxiety and upset humming through our nervous system and racing through our thoughts. The result either way? A need for support and lasting solutions. Therapy can be a pathway to lasting calm. Otherwise, we suffer the physical tensions and pain of upset, anxiety, intolerance, and reaction for far too long. How do we find relief in the meantime?
Well, as with many mental and emotional challenges, anxiety disorder coping means developing awareness and a strategy for effectively regulating emotions. In other words, anxiety disorder coping is best achieved by managing and responding to stressors with immediate, intentional strategies that will keep you inside your “window of tolerance. “ Not sure what that means? You’re not alone. Let’s define our terms and explore how staying in the window of tolerance can bring you more comfort and peace of mind.
What is Your Window of Tolerance?
You can cope well with stressors and triggers when you function within your window of tolerance, a term coined by mental health expert Dan Siegel, MD. This state shrinks or narrows when trauma or pain batters your body and brain.Negative experiences can, in effect, push you out of your window. You may find then that you are much more reactionary or paralyzed by fear. Moreover, when you are anxious and traumatized you enter a state of arousal that is driven by your limbic, or primitive, brain. The more complex areas of your brain that might help you use logic and talk things through have difficulty overcoming your emotional responses.
Do you feel overwhelmed, irritated and angry? You may be wrestling with hyper-arousal.
Are you feeling numb, “spaced out” or detached? You may be living with hypo-arousal.
The key to finding your window, improving emotional regulation, and managing anxiety disorder coping successfully is to develop an ongoing set of skills. These skills can help you reset your nervous system. According to experts like Siegel, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, and Peter Levine, Ph.D., such strategies that focus on mindfulness, breath, movement, and touch are optimal.
Staying in the Window of Tolerance
Regulating your feelings is the way to stay in the window of tolerance. Grounding yourself with mindfulness skills and somatic techniques are well suited to this goal. Concentrating on staying present can help overcome high levels of arousal caused by anxiety. You can soothe yourself and widen your window of tolerance by the following means:
Mindfulness for Anxiety Disorder Coping
Mindfulness is all about intentionally paying attention to the present moment. You want to let moments unfold, one at a time without controlling, reacting, or judging. Working with a therapist can help you learn how to observe your thoughts, breath, and reactions as they happen. In other words, you become more aware of when and how you are being “pushed” out of your window of tolerance. You can become more adept at noticing your anxiety causes, triggers, and distress for the sake of improved regulation, redirection, and self-control.
Somatic Efforts for Anxiety Disorder Coping
When we feel our windows of tolerance narrow, feeling better is not just an emotional exercise. Positively improving our physical sense helps regulate our emotional responses. Thus, experts encourage bodywork that focuses on posture, movement, your senses and more. The following bodily strategies help us reconnect and stay tolerant of uncertainty and stress:
Breathwork:
Breathing methods that may include extended exhalation, counting breaths, and diaphragmatic breathing techniques can slow racing thoughts, ease tension, and support anxiety disorder coping.
Posture Work:
Often, using methods that help locate and sense your physical center helps us feel safer and more grounded. This also helps you understand your body as a container, capable of holding emotions. You understand that you get to determine how much or little emotion to express.
Movement:
Staying in your window of tolerance may involve feeling the strength and capabilities of your body. Frequently, coping is enhanced by pacing, tapping, rubbing, rocking, or dancing.
Sensory Work:
Practicing awareness of your body through your senses is calming as well. Your window of tolerance may be expanded as you tap into your five senses through a warm bath, massage, aromatic candles or scents, music or natural sounds and food. You may feel comforted by noticing your body through progressive muscle relaxation with your therapist too.
Next Steps...
We all have our own windows of tolerance. In addition to the aforementioned strategies, support and compassion help us remain within our window. Therapy, again, establishes time and space where you can safely process anxiety-inducing memories and the resulting emotions. Your qualified therapist can help you widen your window and practice anxiety disorder coping in ways that integrate your emotions.
Eventually, your window of tolerance can become a broader place where you can easily regulate your feelings and look toward new horizons with far less fear.
If you would like support and are looking for a psychotherapist, please contact us for a free consultation to learn about how we can be of service. We can work through the challenges of anxiety together.
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