Anxiety Codes: Understanding Your Mental Health

Themes: Anxiety Triggers
Overall Concept: Anxiety code
Helpful for: Anxiety, trauma, stress, coping skills

Anxiety is one of the most common complaints that bring individuals in for counseling. Yet, despite how commonplace it truly is, every presentation of anxiety is different for each person. We all have our own “anxiety code”, as I like to call it. Recently, I began describing the anxious experience as a biological code and it’s a concept I really like. Each of us has our own personal genetic code, our DNA. Why wouldn’t our mental health “DNA” work the same way?

This breakdown of anxiety codes is a clear example of how integrated behavioral healthcare can operate - we’re looking at the whole of the person, not just the thoughts or emotions, within therapy.

Anxiety Code

Think about when you visit your doctor and your blood pressure or cholesterol are tested. Your results are numbers that mean something to you and your physician. Depending on the numbers of your results, you will be expected to adjust certain parts of your life, diet, or medications. Anxiety and other mental health concerns should work the same way.

When we break down anxiety through a medical lens, it becomes much easier to understand. Instead of being made up of nucleotides like DNA is, anxiety’s cellular code is made up of reactions and experiences. When we understand what your anxiety code is made up of, it’s easier to decide what kind of good or bad introductions to your life are necessary (more on that in a minute).

Different Anxiety Experiences

Just like DNA, there’s hundreds of thousands of different combinations for how anxiety might present and the unique code created. Let’s talk about a few and what they mean. A common anxiety code I see is RUA. RUA stands for “reactive, urgent, and anxiety”. These words mean that someone often reacts to a situation whether it’s happened or not, the reaction leads to urgency - you have to do something now… and it’s often a poor counterintuitive response. That response often leads to more anxiety. This pattern repeats itself over and over again.

Another example is “RIA”. Here we’ve got someone who is more reactive and then isolates and shuts down, fueling their anxiety. Again, this cycle repeats itself over and over. As you can see, the codes vary. Each one takes on a well-known anxiety response - from anger, frustration, distrust, isolation, reactions, and so many more. The codes can even change within someone based on the situation they’re exposed to.

We have a code… Now what?

Once we understand your “unique anxiety code”, just like that blood pressure number or cholesterol reading, we can make a plan. This is where therapy sessions come in! Together, we discuss how we can substitute your “gut” reactions and recode your anxiety components. Perhaps we change reactive to responsive. You can plan for the stressor or possible outcomes without being reactive. Here’s an example: you know that when you visit home, your parents stress you out to the point that you get angry with every comment they make. Instead of going home and giving into the fights (reactive), a responsive plan would be to stay at a hotel, workout each morning you’re there or give yourself other plans to limit time at home.

As you can see, once you know your anxiety code - it’s time to plan! Plans include learning what kind of helpful responses you can develop. For many people, there are things like movement, meditation, good relationships, time with loved ones, and even therapy. It also requires reducing the “bad” input, like hostile relationships, substance abuse, and toxic environments.

Sometimes breaking down mental health concepts into a medical model can make all the difference for how to address and handle each situation!