What does our anxiety do for us?

Violet Grodent
Oct 14
4 min read

A common and even priority reason for consulting a psychotherapist, anxiety affects a large number of people on a daily basis. In 2021, the French Public Health Barometer shows that 12.5% of people aged between 18 and 85 experienced anxiety , or more than one in 10 people . For people in the LGBTQIA+ community , this figure rises to 61% according to a 2018 British study ! Indeed, the experience of numerous discriminations - all the more so in the current political context of the rise of fascism conveying hateful remarks and ideas against minority populations - and exposure to greater precariousness during one's life greatly affects the level of anxiety.

This notion of anxious state is certainly very broad, but this figure can already help to remove the guilt : many of us are affected by the feeling of anxiety and manage to live with it .

However, one of the factors that can help you be more accepting of it when it arises is understanding the role it plays as an emotion. It may not be as useless as you think!

Differentiating stress from anxiety

First of all, let's lay the foundations properly. These two notions, often confused and taken as similar in everyday language, are nevertheless nuanced .

Stress is a set of body responses following the appearance of a stimulus, or even a significant shock, which occurs suddenly and unexpectedly - as in the extreme case of traumatic events. Normally, these reactions allow us to trigger an adaptation response to restore our internal balance that has been disturbed.

When the stressor is too intense or lasts too long, the internal balance shifts. This is when physical and/or psychological disorders can occur.

Anxiety, on the other hand, characterizes this diffuse sensation that we feel more or less frequently in the body and which constitutes an emotion in its own right. And above all, it occurs before a potential danger imagined by our brain and not in a reactive manner like stress.

Thus, these notions, although close, are slightly different and allow us to clarify our point.

What is its role?

Protecting ourselves from danger and mobilizing our internal resources

Stress acts as an alarm and alert signal for our brain, which then triggers adaptive responses via our autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system) allowing us to ensure the survival of our species, as we detailed just before. It is therefore a primary and essential adaptation mechanism.

Anxiety, on the other hand, can help us improve our commitment to a project that is dear to us, for example. A patient told me this himself in a recent session (the situation was changed to ensure anonymity and confidentiality):

"I have my first exhibition next week, I'm super nervous. But I see it as something positive, it allows me to really get into it."

Guide our decisions and our thinking

When we feel anxiety, it can be unpleasant but also an indicator of the decisions we make, as it was for this patient. Is anxiety helpful for me in this situation, or is it blocking me? Is it pushing me to review certain things wisely, or is it dragging me down? What makes anxiety helpful this time, unlike other times?

This relates to the notion of limits : have they been exceeded? Are my needs being met in this upcoming situation? Anxiety allows us to refocus on ourselves and take stock, because our body also requires it. How can we act next time to reduce it if it was unpleasant, or on the contrary, remobilize it wisely so that it gives me the motivation necessary to complete a task?

This is a really interesting assessment that anxiety can allow us to make with ourselves!

Alert us to internal suffering

When this assessment turns out to be rather alarming, or when we judge that anxiety simply takes up too much space in our life, this creates psychological, even physical, suffering .

Anxiety can be the cause of skin diseases such as eczema, psoriasis... And can have a hereditary component!

Stomach knots, muscle tension , tight throat, loss of appetite , compensating with obsessive rituals, bloating, increased heart rate ... The signs are numerous, but not specific to anxiety: they can be found in other pathologies. This is why learning to identify the onset of anxiety and the associated somatic signs can help in its daily management. This prevents it from taking up considerable space by defusing it quickly.

How can we better manage our anxiety when it overwhelms us?

There are a multitude of techniques for managing anxiety. Scientific literature recommends breathing and mindfulness exercises, among others. But why? Isn't meditation for seasoned yogis?

Indeed, refocusing on your breathing has a double advantage: it not only allows you to bring your mind and body back to the present and break ruminations on an anticipated future (which, remember, is at this stage totally imaginary and fantasized ;)), but also to mobilize our parasympathetic nervous system (the one I told you about above). The latter allows in particular to lower the heart rate and thus act on the bodily sensations felt, another key to finding a state of calm. So no, meditation is not a marginal practice, on the contrary! Integrating it into our daily lives when possible can only be beneficial.

But don't worry, there are other alternatives too! The 5-4-3-2-1 method, square breathing, the coffee cup exercise (or for those who aren't fans : the hot drink exercise)... And more generally, working on defusion with our thoughts is a very effective long-term exercise, also allowing us to work on self-esteem.

And all of this can of course also be worked on in therapy ;)

Make an appointment

Sources:

Article - Weekly epidemiological bulletin . (n.d.). https://beh.santepubliquefrance.fr/beh/2025/14/2025_14_1.html
Khelili, Kamel. (2024). PHYSIOLOGY OF STRESS. 10.13140/RG.2.2.15021.09440.
Rima, BD, Khadidja, B., & Majda, D. (2020). Immunopathology and biotherapies of psoriasis . https://dspace.univ-guelma.dz/xmlui/handle/123456789/10676
Stonewall. (2024, September 3). LGBT in Britain – Health (2018) . https://www.stonewall.org.uk/resources/lgbt-britain-health-2018

And you, do you have any tips you use to combat anxiety? Feel free to share them in the comments, and tell me what you thought of this article :)