In a recent session with a client we were discussing how anxiety could be helpful for us but also the ways in which it can create difficulties. Anxiety is an emotion everyone experiences at some point. It’s our brain’s way of alerting us to potential threats and preparing us to face challenges. We thought a creative way to understand the ways anxiety can help and hinder us that we would turn it into an employee and create a job description for both the helpful and not so helpful employee. As any employee, anxiety can perform its job well or poorly. So let’s explore what it means for anxiety to be a helpful or not so helpful employee in our mental workplace.

Anxiety as a helpful employee

Position: Anxiety
Reports to: Human Brain and Nervous System

Overview:

As a helpful employee, anxiety is adept at detecting genuine threats and preparing the body for fight-or-flight responses. This role contributes significantly to safety, adaptive functioning, and overall well-being.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Accurate Threat Detection:

• Precisely identify genuine risks and potential dangers.
• Minimize false alarms by accurately assessing situations.

2. Timely Alert Activation:

• Quickly trigger appropriate physiological responses, such as increased heart rate and rapid breathing.
• Release stress hormones (e.g., adrenaline) when necessary to enhance alertness.

3. Positive Behavioural Influence:

• Guide decision-making to avoid real threats and risky situations.
• Promote cautious and preventive behaviours to ensure safety.

4. Enhanced Cognitive Functions:

• Maintain high levels of vigilance and attention to detail.
• Aid in problem-solving by focusing on potential obstacles and solutions.

5. Balanced Emotional Regulation:

• Work harmoniously with other emotions to maintain mental health.
• Ensure proportional responses to threats without overwhelming other emotional processes.

Qualifications:

Experience:

• Evolved function for human survival.
• Demonstrated history of effective threat detection and response.

Skills:

• Rapid and precise activation of physiological responses.
• Ability to maintain high alertness and focus.
• Influence decisions effectively to prioritise safety.
• Strong communication with other emotional and cognitive functions.

Performance Metrics:

• Threat Detection Accuracy: High precision in identifying real threats while minimising false alarms.
• Response Activation Efficiency:Timely and appropriate physiological responses.
• Impact on Behaviour: Positive influence on safety behaviours and risk avoidance.
• Cognitive Contribution:Enhanced problem-solving and decision-making.

Now let’s check out if anxiety was a not so helpful employee

Anxiety as a not so helpful employee

Position: Anxiety
Reports to: Human Brain and Nervous System

Overview:

As a not so helpful employee, anxiety tends to over-detect threats, leading to chronic stress, maladaptive behaviours, and impaired functioning. This role can contribute negatively to mental health and daily activities.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Excessive Threat Detection:

• Over-identify risks, leading to frequent false alarms.
• Misinterpret harmless situations as threats, causing unnecessary worry.

2. Inappropriate Alert Activation:

• Trigger unnecessary physiological responses, such as increased heart rate and rapid breathing.
• Release stress hormones excessively, leading to chronic stress and fatigue.

3. Negative Behavioural Influence:

• Encourage avoidance of harmless situations, hindering daily activities.
• Promote overly cautious behaviours that restrict normal functioning.

4. Impaired Cognitive Functions:

• Cause difficulty concentrating due to constant vigilance.
• Hinder problem-solving by focusing excessively on potential threats.

5. Imbalanced Emotional Regulation:

• Overwhelm other emotions, leading to anxiety disorders.
• Create disproportionate responses to minor or non-existent threats.

Qualifications:

Experience:

• Patterns of maladaptive threat detection and response.
• History of contributing to chronic stress and anxiety disorders.

Skills:

• Overactive and inefficient physiological response activation.
• Persistent and excessive alertness.
• Negative influence on decision-making and daily functioning.
• Poor communication with other emotional and cognitive functions.

Performance Metrics:

• Threat Detection Accuracy: High rate of false threat identification.
• Response Activation Efficiency: Inefficient and excessive physiological responses.
• Impact on Behaviour: Negative influence on daily behaviours and safety.
• Cognitive Contribution: Detrimental to problem-solving and overall mental health.

So what can we learn from this, anxiety can definitely have its strengths when it serves the purposes identified in the helpful employee. By understanding how anxiety can function effectively, we can harness its strengths and mitigate its drawbacks. Let’s aim for a balanced, healthy mind where anxiety plays its part without taking over.Now let’s check out if anxiety was a not so helpful employee