Page 2 - Anxiety.pdf
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Got an above-average dose of anxiety theorize, actually appeared in human
in your personality? It turns out, according consciousness because it's sometimes a
to a new study, that it might actually give very good idea to feel anxious about
you an edge when it comes to picking out uncertain, unsafe situations. And this
threats and escaping them effectively. The latest study seems to back up the idea
study, from the French Institute of Health that a little anxiety can help you make a
and Medical Research (INSERM), looked speedy getaway.
at 24 (yes, only 24) volunteers and how
they reacted to various social threats, and But the science is a little more complex
made an interesting conclusion: not only than just "be anxious, escape bank
do anxious people respond very quickly, robbery, pass go and collect $200". It
but their brains process threats in an involves facial recognition, how different
entirely different way than non-anxious parts of our brain react to threats, and
people. what "social threats" actually look like in
the real world. And it's not as
straightforward about clinical anxiety,
either. Let's dive in. Cautiously.
Why A Little Anxiety
Might Be Useful In A Crisis
The study looked at a bunch of facets of
anxiety and social threats, so we need to
unpack it a bit. The first thing the
scientists identified was what our brains
might find threatening in a social situation:
a person looking angry or terrified, while
gazing straight at us. Result: an increased
likelihood that somebody was going to do
Anxiety has actually been linked to a something that might hurt us, and a
series of positive benefits, including a justifiable sense of panic. But that's not
lower likelihood of dying in a car crash what we're really interested in. We're after
and higher levels of trust from other
people (who sense you're feeling neurotic the next bit of the experiment: what
happened to the brains of the anxious and
in a social situation). Anxious people are non-anxious volunteers when this social
even believed to be smarter than the non- threat happened to them.
anxious. But this new discovery goes to a
deeper truth about anxiety: why it may It turns out that people who are a bit
have evolved as part of human anxious naturally process these kinds of
psychology. Anxiety, some psychologists threats in a different part of their brains
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