My doctor and I were discussing my anxiety and she said "Brains are made to keep us alive. They're not made to keep us happy." And I can't stop thinking about that.

She also had me answer the questionnaire about anxiety and one of the questions was "How often do you worry about the future" and I just started laughing maniacally and she said "okay I'm going to put down 'everyday'"

My doctor said that people with anxiety have a super sensitive threat scanner. It creates "what could go wrong images" in our heads. "It's designed to keep you alive. It's like a superpower. You just need to learn how to control it."

And now I'm just rethinking everything.

She said that brains return to negative thoughts - the way our tongue keeps working on a canker sore. And after a while, we wear in those pathways, so it becomes like a well-trodden trail that's easier and easier to return to.

The trick is creating new pathways. Which is hard.

She said that negative thoughts which look to the past take the form of coulda/shoulda/woulda - and that leads to depression.

Negative thoughts which look to the future take the form of "what if x bad thing happens-" and lead to anxiety.

So anxiety and depression are linked.

There are ways to treat this - SSRIs, therapy, and mindfulness-based stress reduction are all options.

We talked about being present in the moment and how to deal with intrusive thoughts.

Because my threat scanner is always going. I just need to learn how to live with it.

Hello, I see that this thread is *flutters hands*. Just want to say - this was framing that worked for me. It might not work for you! That's okay. Everyone is different!

Like, *your* mother may not be a chaos muppet hellbent on making your heart explode from stress.

This is not medical advice. I just liked what she said - which was EXTREMELY tailored to me. If you don't like it, that's fine. Please don't tell me that I need a new doctor, or be rude. We're not the same person! Thank goodness because then we'd both be hangry right now.

And I realize that mental healthcare is vastly inaccessible to many in America. Here are a few resources that may help.

https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline
https://www.nami.org/help 
https://www.rainn.org/  https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/