江西 高玉玲

Nobody likes to feel anxious.Anxiety is among the most common and criticized of human emotions.Studies show that over 100 million people in the US will suffer from an anxiety disorder in their lifetime.Rates,especially among the young,have been rising for the past decade.It seems,then,that our efforts to contain anxiety aren't working.

As a clinical psychologist and neuroscience researcher,I believe that we mental health professionals have made a terrible mistake.Feeling anxious isn't the problem.The problem is that we don't understand how to respond constructively to anxiety.That's why it's increasingly hard to know how to feel good.

Anxiety,by contrast,has nothing to do with present threats.Instead,it turns you into a mental time traveler,drawing your attention to what lies ahead.Will you succeed or fail in that interview for a job you desperately want?Anxiety prompts your mind and body into action.Your worries force you to prepare thoroughly for the interview,while your heart races and pumps blood to your brain so that you stay sharp,focused and prepared to pursue your goals.

Research has also shown something that many scientists didn't expect:higher levels of dopamine(多巴胺)when we're anxious.We have long known that dopamine soars(上升)when an experience is pleasurable and also in anticipation of rewards.The fact that anxiety also boosts dopamine levels points to its role in making positive possibilities into reality.

Many of us feel overwhelmed by lasting anxiety and don't see any benefit from it.We have come to believe that the best way to cope is to get rid of it.But treating anxiety like a disease prevents us from distinguishing between ordinary anxiety and anxiety disorders.We need to develop a new mindsetaboutthismisunderstood emotion.Anxiety can't do its job unless it makes us uncomfortable,forcing us to sit up and pay attention.We don't need to like anxiety—just to use it in the right way.

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Why is it increasingly hard for us to know how to feel good?

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