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April Cunningham
Professor Guile
English 2010 Section 018
March 2, 2014
Learning to Release the Tough Grip of Anxiety
I was sitting in math a class, following along and listening to the teachers lecture when
all of a sudden, my heart started to race and skip beats for no apparent reason. I instantly started
taking deep breaths, trying to relax and calm myself down. Then my mind caught onto what my
body was experiencing and the gears started turning. What is going on? Why do I feel this
panicky? I cant go home and miss this class! But what if something is seriously wrong? What
if I need to go to the emergency room? I dont have health insurance! How will I pay for it?
What am I going to do? Then I answer myself. Just take some deep breaths, April. Chill out.
There are people here to help you if you need it. You will be ok. These are the thoughts racing
through my mind during this sudden panic attack. In the end, I was able to calm myself down
and continue on with my class after taking a doctor prescribed anti-anxiety pill. This is a classic
case of panic disorder, the symptoms come on suddenly, and seemingly out of no-where
(Anxiety). As we travel down the road of anxiety and its treatments, I will first, be discussing
the symptoms of anxiety. Second, I will be addressing the potential treatments to partner with
medication. And finally, I will be sharing what I have learned about anxiety and its alternative
methods for treatment.
Anxiety is something that most people experience at least one time in life. I have battled
it for years, and I notice that it only seems to be getting worse with age. In my case, I feel it is
because I have become more aware and focused on my own health and mortality. I dont want to
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live like this, with the constant fear and worry. There has to be other ways to manage my
anxiety besides a quick fix pill - something that will alleviate my tension and fear on a deeper
level. So I began to research practices to use in conjunction with medication to help anxiety
which I will be discussing a bit later on.
Bottom line: anxiety is fear of whats going to happen in the future. Many people have
anxiety and dont even know they have it. They have not been diagnosed. There are several
types of anxiety disorders. Lets look at some of the more common types. Besides panic
disorder, which I have already touched on, there is obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
(Anxiety) In this case, the person has constant thoughts that make them perform certain rituals
and routines. (Anxiety) Next, is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). (Anxiety) PTSD
can occur after a traumatic or terrifying event. (Anxiety) The people who experience PTSD
often have lingering and scary memories of the event and tend to be left emotionally numb.
(Anxiety) Then there is social-anxiety disorder or social phobia. (Anxiety) Social-anxiety
disorder includes overwhelming worrying and self-consciousness about every day, social
situations. (Anxiety) The person may worry she/he is being judged by others, or that his/her
actions might cause embarrassment. (Anxiety) Other types of anxiety are specific phobias,
which are intense fears of a specific object or situation. (Anxiety) A fear or heights, flying,
or snakes are some examples. (Anxiety) Phobias can lead a person to avoid everyday
situations. (Anxiety) And finally, there is generalized anxiety disorder. (Anxiety) The
person can have excessive, unrealistic worry and tension even if there is little or nothing to
provoke it. (Anxiety) Other physical symptoms of anxiety are nausea, trouble sleeping, sweaty
palms, rapid thoughts, and shortness of breath, muscle tension and nightmares (Anxiety).
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Something that I have always been curious about is meditation. According to my
research, meditation proves to be quite an effective tool for coping with anxiety. At night, I like
to listen to guided meditations to try to help ease my troubled mind and help me drift off to a
calm, happy place, and then eventually to sleep. It often works, but not every time. I have tried
the more traditional idea of meditation a couple of times. I sit quietly alone trying to be mindful
of my thoughts but let them pass by. But I can never master the art of sitting quietly without any
thoughts. The whole point of meditation is the quietness, the stillness; the thoughtlessness was
something I can never achieve. My experiences resemble those of the Julia Roberts character in
the movie, Eat Pray Love, in which the character attempts to meditate in India for two hours and
all she can think about is how slowly those two hours are going to go by. Then she begins
thinking about where she will live when she returns back to the United States and how she will
decorate her house. Then she looks at the clock, and only one minute has gone by. She huffs
and throws her head to the floor in frustration; clearly she isnt grasping this whole meditation
thing. The same thing happens with me.
Wanting to learn more about the benefits of meditation, I conducted an interview with
local psychiatrist, Dr. Glen Johnson. I asked him his thoughts on the correlation between
meditation and anxiety. He proceeded to tell me that meditation is a highly effective treatment
for anxiety. (Johnson) Generally, anxiety is built on worrying in your brain about what is going
to happen in the future. (Johnson) Meditation is all about controlling the thinking in your brain.
(Johnson) Thats the mindfulness part of it. (Johnson) In meditation, you focus on a fixed
point, whether that be a word, image, or sound. (Johnson) Then, as thoughts come into your
brain, you let them go. (Johnson) You dont grasp into the thinking that we habitually entertain.
Meditation allows you to focus on an alternative. (Johnson) Medication treats the bodily
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sensation of anxiety. (Johnson) Thats the end result of anxietythe worry, images, and stories.
(Johnson) The other option is using meditation to avoid the stories all together. (Johnson) One
treats the end, and one treats the beginning. (Johnson) They both work and work well together.
(Johnson) Dr. Johnson also advised that exercise is a great way to deal with stress and anxiety.
Fairly intense exercise at least three to four times a week releases the bodys internal opiates,
called endorphins, which are natures pain killers. (Johnson) An example of this is known as
runners high. (Johnson) The endorphins are there to help the body deal with emotional and
physical stress. They block some of the thinking and worrying the brain causes (Johnson).
My newly acquired information about meditation and exercise has made me want to try
meditation again and really stick with it this time. With exercise also being a great benefit, I also
want to work out at least four times a week to really build up those endorphins.
Another finding states that the most beneficial, and under prescribed treatment by doctors
for anxiety patients is exercise: Now, data pooled from many small studies suggest that in
people diagnosed with depression or anxiety, the immediate mood boost is followed by longer-
term relief, similar to that offered by medication and talk therapy, says Daniel Landers, a
professor emeritus in the Department of Kinesiology at Arizona State University. And exercise
seems to work better than relaxation, meditation, stress education and music therapy, Landers
claims (Landers).
Anxiety and depression go hand in hand and affect many people. I am so glad to have
found these coping techniques, not only for myself, but also to share with anyone else suffering
from this affliction and living with fear. Though not everyone may have the anxiety level that I
do, I feel everyone can benefit from the practice of meditation and exercise. I have learned that
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anxiety can be manageable, even without the use of medications. This knowledge will help me
cope with anxiety throughout my life and others as well.





















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Works Cited
Johnson, Glen. Personal interview. 28 Feb. 2014.
Painter, Kim. "Exercise vs Anxiety." USA Today 26 Apr. 2010: n. pag. EBSCO. Web. 2 Mar.
2014.
"Anxiety Disorders." Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland Clinic, 1 Feb. 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2014.
<http://my.clevelandclinic.org/neurological_institute/center-for-behavorial-
health/disease-conditions/hic-anxiety-disorders.
Eat Pray Love. Dir. Ryan Murphy. Perf. Julia Roberts. Plan B, 2010. DVD.