Do you have anxiety neurosis?

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WHAT’s so hard about driving across a flyover or a bridge? To most of us, it’s a breeze.

Yet, it can be intimidating the some people. They are afraid of losing control and crashing through the side barriers onto the concrete or water below.

Traffic isn’t the issue. Debilitating anxiety is and it numbs the afflicted with worries over gloomy scenarios. As they drive over a flyover or a bridge, these nervous wrecks feel the weight of anxiety bearing down increasingly on them. They begin to imagine the worst. Such phobia may appear irrational to a normal person but it’s honest-to-God genuine to the anxiety-stricken.

Eating at a crowded place can also send the jitters into overdrive for some diners. They feel uncomfortable and fidgety the entire meal. Their adversion to eating in the presence of a large crowd heightens their level of anxiety.  And they show it with their discomfiture.

Many of these “anxious” people go home hungry from an invitation to dinner even at the poshest restaurant and will only be too happy to scrap the bottom of the rice pot in the kitchen for ‘kerak nasik’.

Bizarre behaviours

An athlete I know stuck faithfully to a ritual of toilet visits almost up the start of his race.

“Buang weight,” he used to say.  More likely, it’s a case of anxiety.

Even more bizarre was the behaviour of one racehorse owner. While waiting for the race to start, he released tension by plucking at the grass underfoot. When the race got underway, he became so anxious that he paced up and down, and kept asking people around him if the race was over and who won.

Every now and then, he would lash out anxiously with his hands as he hollered encouragement to his runner.

You’d do well to stay out of his way! He never apologised for his involuntary action.

Not are only some racehorse owners jumpy at post time. The equines themselves also succumb to the ‘shakes’ in the highly-charged atmosphere. Some high strung thoroughbred racehorses sweat profusely and look washy at the parade ring. Enfeebled by fragile nerves, they frequently perform far below their true form. In racing lingo, such horses are said to have failed to ‘saddle up.’

Morning glories (horses that sparkle in morning trackwork) belong to this group. There are plenty of them around – which probably explains why watching trackwork alone is no surefire way of picking winners.

Patient and anxious

Anglers must be one of the most patient people around. They can sit by a pond or a stream, or on a bridge above a river, waiting for hours on end for the fish to bite.

In the same boat are fishing buffs who spend a whole night at sea, trying to land the big one. They seem not to mind the choppy waters, the cold and the food and sleep deprivation – and are inexplicably patient, waiting and waiting and waiting some more for the floater to sink and the line to tauten.

If the trip turned out fruitless, they weren’t the least bothered and would readily go out and try their luck again. They are, indeed, a special breed.

As collected and composed as anglers appear to be, there are moments that will spark the adrenaline rush for them, imploding their bottled-up anxiety and along with it, their seemingly super cool facade.

This usually happens when they hook a prized catch – possibly a big fleshy trout or snakehead (for pond anglers) and a barracuda or even a shark (for deep-sea anglers).

Some get so excitedly anxious after landing a big catch that they jump up and down mindlessly and tumble into the water but beaming, as they emerge, over what, to them, must have been a satisfying fishy payoff.

Naturally, the big one that got reeled in will be a favourite topic at many a happy-hour session. You can say one thing for anglers – they are into their hobby hook, line and sinker.

Downloading angst

Most computer users are glued to their terminals while downloading a big file. In between, about all they see on the screen is the hand in the little clock that keeps spinning – interminably it seems.

If the procedure takes too long, some users will start to feel anxious. They get up, walk around, blow some air and then go back to the computer again. The hand in the little clock is still spinning as the file, being down-loaded, starts taking on some shape – byte by crawling byte (if they happen to use a grandfather computer).

Usually by now, the users are so riled up that their angst often finds expression in retorts like “what is this – hi-tech or slow-tech?”

Here, perhaps a parallel can be drawn with waiting for a kettle to boil in which case, 15-minutes can seem like an eternity. It’s the desire to achieve the quickest end to our task that arouses the anxiety gremlins in us.

Learning to relax and let go can help destress an anxious situation and make people realise that most times, they worry over nothing.

Majong caution

If you are playing majong (or any card game), you won’t want a person who gets anxious easily standing behind you. His facial expressions can reflect (albeit innocently) the strength or weakness of your cards.

The other three kakis (in the case of majong) can pick up the signals and capitalise on them – no doubt at your expense.

We all have anxieties. That we must admit. It’s an integral part of our psyche. We all show anxiety in whatever we do. It’s only a question of degree.

But anxiety needs not always be bad. In fact, it can spur us to do things that keep us safe. For example, feeling anxious over a defective house alarm will prompt us to call the repair technician. In this case, anxiety may prevent a break-in and loss of property.

But sometimes anxiety becomes a problem, not a help. When that happens, our mental strength to cope with stress goes through a slack.

As our nervous system takes knock, we suddenly realise we are not as tough as we like to think. The thought of losing control brings on the pins and needles. It’s a frightening thought.

Doctors say anxieties are the ‘butterflies’ we feel fluttering in our stomach before we take a test or the palpitations we experience in an exciting or threatening situation.

However, because it puts us on our guard for what’s to come, a little anxiety can be a good thing. But when “normal anxiety” appears to spin out of control and disrupt our lives, we could be suffering from a mental illness called an anxiety disorder (neurosis).

If that happens, the commonsense thing to do is to seek professional help. And it’s never too early to do so.