Anxiety is a natural feeling. Sometimes, you get anxious when there is an uncomfortable situation such as seeing a wild animal or when you present in front of many people. For some people the cause of anxiety is not so obvious. Even if a person understands that there is nothing harmful or threatening about them, they cannot get rid of their anxiety and of course many aspects of their life will suffer if it continues.
What is Free-Floating Anxiety?
Free-floating anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness, anxiety, and restlessness for an unknown reason. Most of the time, this type of anxiety is usually associated with general things and is not specifically caused by a particular thing. People who have anxiety disorder as well as those who do not can experience this free-floating anxiety. Some people are in this state even when they think everything in their own life feels fine.
Usually, people with free-floating anxiety will spend their time distracted by feelings of anxiety, making it difficult to enjoy their own life and have lower levels of happiness than the average person. This can lead to depression, headaches, social withdrawal, substance abuse and relationship problems (Evans, 2022).
Can We Be Anxious Without a Cause?
Even if you do not realize it, there will always be a reason why you can feel anxious. What is needed is the ability to see the pattern of anxiety and determine what is most likely to cause it. Anxiety can feel sudden and unwarranted. But it could be the result of the body automatically identifying danger. When the nervous system detects something threatening, then the fight or flight response is activated.
Need to know that the fight or flight response causes some physiological symptoms to prepare your body for danger. Some of these include a rapid heart rate, dizziness, sweating, and difficulty breathing. Actually, the response is beneficial in some cases. However, it can also lead to problems if your nervous system gets used to identifying harmless things as dangerous.
Our bodies are in a position to automatically determine what is threatening and what is not so that one cannot predict nor control the arrival of accompanying physiological symptoms. When this happens regularly, then the body begins to generalize and associate the fears we have with things we were not actually afraid of before (PsychCentral, 2022).
Causes of Anxiety Without a Cause
Here are some causes of anxiety without a cause:
Anxiety Disorder
If the anxiety that a person experiences is long-lasting and significantly interferes with many aspects of their own life, then there is a possibility that they have an anxiety disorder. To find out if there is a pattern to the onset or cause of the anxiety, it takes some time and effort. If there is no pattern, as if the anxiety comes at random times and conditions, then it does not make one’s experience of anxiety unreal or something to be taken lightly.
Apparently, there are various types of anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder (excessive fear of panic attacks), agoraphobia (anxiety about public spaces and crowds), social anxiety disorder (anxiety that arises when in social situations), and specific phobias (fear of specific objects). One of the anxiety disorders characterized by anxiety without a definite cause is generalized anxiety disorder (PsychCentral, 2022).
Trauma
If you have experienced trauma, you are aware of the lingering effects of the trauma, both physical and mental, even after the traumatic event no longer exists. Abuse, neglect, and accidents are some of the most common traumas. Also, traumatic events alone can ruin your life. Some of the things that result from traumatic events are anxiety, avoidance of certain people or places, unpleasant memories, and sleep disturbances.
Apparently, trauma that a person remembers can manifest as a trigger for these symptoms. If a person experiences anxiety for who knows what reason, it is very likely that it is due to the triggering of a trauma source.
Trauma triggers can take many forms and their presence can be conscious or unconscious. Examples are noises such as fireworks or ambulance sirens, certain smells, and an object (PsychCentral, 2022).
Food and Drink
Certain foods or drinks can evoke anxiety for some people. Examples of these are sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. However, there are ways to get our bodies in optimal condition, one of which is a diet of healthy foods and drinks (PsychCentral, 2022).
Diseases and Medications
Some illnesses can cause symptoms of anxiety, and can even make them worse. These include the occurrence of irregular heartbeats (arrythmia) and thyroid problems.
Some drugs and substances can also give their consumers the effect of anxiety. If a person takes medication each time and anxiety occurs afterward, the possibility that the medication is the causative factor can be communicated with the relevant health professional (PsychCentral, 2022).
How To Deal with Anxiety Without a Cause?
Here are some ways to deal with anxiety without a cause:
1. Psychotherapy
Various therapies, such as CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) and ERP (exposure response prevention), are evidence-based interventions and can be tried if advised by a professional. Therapies can provide an opportunity for us to find out the real causes of our anxiety and how we can deal with these problems more systematically (PsychCentral, 2022).
2. Breathing Exercise
We will be able to reduce our anxiety levels naturally by activating our body’s relaxation response. One way is to do breathing exercises. Breathing effectively for a few minutes is the quickest and most effective way to lower our nervous system tension (PsychCentral, 2022).
3. Meditation
Meditation can be used as another way to overcome anxiety. For example, when we are late for work, we usually think, “I am going to lose my job!”. We are able to train our minds not to overreact when we face the issues with meditation and perceive negative thoughts as mere ideas, rather than reality (PsychCentral, 2022).
4. Healthy Lifestyle
Having a healthy lifestyle and a balanced diet as well as exercising regularly can improve one’s mental health. Eating fruits and vegetables, controlling protein, carbohydrate, and fat intake proportionally, and preventing excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption are ways that can be used (PsychCentral, 2022).
5. Acceptance
One of the most effective ways to relieve anxiety is to accept the feeling itself. If we feel anxious because we are anxious, naturally we will be in a cycle of anxiety that makes us more anxious. By allowing ourselves to feel anxious and not adding to the burden of anxiety, the cycle can break itself (Evans, 2022).
Conclusion
We can conclude that restlessness and anxiety are emotional aspects of human beings that are difficult or impossible to let go of. Many things can cause our anxiety. However, there are also times when we cannot figure out the cause of our anxiety. Regardless of our ignorance of the cause of our restlessness, there is always a way to find out. If anxiety without a cause is interfering with our lives for a long time, asking others for help or making strategies to deal with it is the right step. The anxiety we experience, even if the cause is uncertain, is still real and needs to be dealt with.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
