Introduction

In accordance with Hannah Mayderry (Licensed Mental Health Counselor and owner of Philosophie Therapy in Jacksonville, FL), “Generalized Anxiety Disorder is characterized by persistent and excessive worry about everyday life events, even when there is no apparent reason for concern.”

Have you ever wondered why anxiety seems to be so common in today’s day in age? Well, it has a little something to do with how our brains are hardwired. We are built to be hyperaware of threats in our environment for survival purposes.  Read more about this topic to find out why our brains are hardwired to perceive threats, what anxiety looked like when we were hunters and gatherers, and why our brain perceives modern threats as a hazard to our survival.

Our Brains are Hardwired to Detect Threats to our Survival

If our brains weren’t hardwired to detect threats in our environments the human species would have been extinct a long time ago. When our brain perceives a potential threat to our well-being, we become hyper focused on this threat and the “fight or flight” response in the amygdala kicks in. Our brains are designed to be prepared for potential dangers in our environment to increase the chances of our survival. We either run from the threat or fight. This same response kicks in when we have anxiety due, to our brain considering certain factors a threat which, explains the tendency to avoid what makes us anxious or seek reassurance.

What life was like when we were Hunters and Gatherers

Until about 12,000 years ago, humans were hunters and gatherers. This meant living in small groups of about ten adults and various amounts of children. During this time, women would often gather seeds, nuts, and fruit while men would hunt animals. People were prey for predators such as hyenas, snakes, sharks, and kangaroos. Our brains helped us when these threats would show up by alerting us to take action.

What happens when there are no Environmental threats to our Survival

Although, there are less environmental threats in today’s day in age, our brains still operate relatively the same. The brain searches for other dangers such as potential social, financial, work, and familial threats. All of these examples are potential modern-day threats to our survival. When anxiety in these instances show up, we might have the tendency to avoid potential social, financial, work, and familial threats or seek reassurance. The problem with this is that the “perceived” threat might not actually be a danger to begin with which, causes problems in our lives. For example, a person with social anxiety disorder might be afraid that if they interact with a stranger, they will say something “stupid” and be humiliated by their peers. This causes them to avoid their fear which is people. Their brain perceived “people” as a social threat that hinders our survival but, in reality there was no actual threat. This caused the person with social anxiety to avoid people altogether and to become isolated.

Conclusion

One reason why anxiety is so common today is because there are less environmental threats. The brain is just doing what it is programmed to do which is to seek out and be prepared for potential threats to our survival. If you have anxiety, would like to know more about your symptoms, and how to lessen these symptoms, schedule a session with Burch Tree Counseling Center online today. Burch Tree Counseling Center offers counseling for anxiety in person in Brandon, FL or online in the entire state of Florida. Stay tuned for our next article coming out which explains how to lessen anxiety by teaching our brains what to perceive as “threats” or not.