Anxiety: Root of OCD, Paranoia, Panic Attacks

Anxiety is at the foundation of obsessive-compulsive disorders, paranoid disorders, and, of course, anxiety disorders.
The obsessive-compulsive fends off anxiety via rituals, the paranoid defends against it with grandiosity. Paranoia is anxiety coupled with grandiosity. The patient with anxiety disorders falls apart, suspends her/himself, thus attempting to avoid the anxiety.
Anxiety is not fear: it is counterfactual, generalized (in search of a reason and an explanation)
Anxiety is anticipatory
People with anxiety disorders become anxious when they anticipate forthcoming anxiety and panic attacks.
They prefer to be anxious because anxiety is familiar, a comfort zone, it is home. The aftermath of an anxiety or panic attack is anxiolytic.
So, ironically, anxiety is most triggered and at its peak when there is no reason to be anxious and when they are in a calm and tranquil state of mind.
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[@snorrimarolafsson2912]

as a person with OCD i find this very helpful, thank you prof. Sam!!!

[@jeannfav2921]

The first time I had a panic attack, I'm 20yrs old. I was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge. The slats of the bridge put me in a sleepy trance and I panicked until I was off the bridge at 19th Ave. Whew! what a scare that was. I progressed to having panic attacks with people. Shallow breathing, couldn't see straight, dizzy, felt weighted down, flushed face. So humiliating. After 4 decades, I'm glad they're not as frequent as they used to be.

[@Pink-Martini]

Love the warm opening "I am the anxious former visiting professor of psychology" ☺6:01. I don't know if there isn't an anxious soul in this dog eat dog world.

[@user-rg5fz6yc9l]

You mention panic attacks as something one could become addicted to. The solution to addiction is often "tapering off". How could one taper off of panic attacks?

[@Theworldhasgonebonkers]

Avoid triggers

[@lornaelizabeth6290]

Hiya Sam. Yes this is very true. I have developed anxiety after a very unhealthy relationship. It unraveled a lot about myself. Now i have anxiety issues as I am so aware of myself if that’s makes any sense at all! But my anxiety is worsens when being pursued as of the previous experience- I have tried just being with it… but it then has perpetually effected my nervous system. Which leads to more severe anxiety and worsening of health and mental health.. I recognise this… I am aware of this… but how the hell do we break the cycle… it’s like I am bordering a psychosis’s when it rears its head to extremities! Being new to anxiety this is very frightening- and a side of myself that is new tor has at least worsened through a bad experience! Much love

[@VisceralGravitas]

I think anxiety is overlooked by most schools of therapy! Thanks for your breakdown of different flavors of it. Have you done anything on how OCPD and Cluster C personality disorders have similarities or differences with anxiety, fear, panic, paranoia?

[@samvaknin]

Not fully.

[@user-ii3st8yy6v]

Thank you for your content, Professor.❤

[@mec.laurapalmer7155]

Thank you Professor. I am very thankful to you. ❤

[@thecategoricalcringeperative]

Well done, Sam. My experiences align with your theoretical framing here.

[@SN-jh3bb]

Completely believe you, seen this many times, took me years to work this out.

[@davidlunt1126]

"they are at home, most comfortable when they are having a panic attack - they know where they are going" - Sounds like a High

[@macareuxmoine]

That sounds a lot like a form of composting or defusing emotional levels that are constantly present at a lower, less present level. The climax of the panic attack somewhat clears the air… btw.: I experience the same phenomenon when in a Migraine attack. I always know that after the weathered pain my general state will be somewhat improved.

[@annie_moon8984]

Nailed it.

[@HankumStankums-ox9nn]

Sam can we get a video on how the narcissist encounters the vastness of nature? Like a Chinese landscape painting with the little farmer in the bottom corner. Is there an "oceanic" feeling and is there therapeutic hope in being in nature?

[@samvaknin]

No.

[@nicknorizadeh4336]

Hi I really like the idea about OCD being addictive! You get addicted to being in a state of obsession. That is your comfort zone and you end up enjoying it. Even when you're calmed down you begin to obsess just to get back to your comfort

[@user-zq9jm9yv9l]

What is causing that constant anxiety/fear in people with GAD/OCD can it be a result of childhood trauma, cptsd? Living in an environment that made them exist in fear/tension/+ day to day and then finding out ways to ”manage it” either by going through it and even inventing new narratives to go through or by rituals and more, depending on which coping strategies were favored for some reason. And then from the baseline constant anxiety brought on by trauma branches the need to justify it and all the behaviors youve described, narratives, delusional thinking then the compulsive „need” for the breakthrough and afterwards feeling more settled (after going through whats so familiar, ”rehearsed” so many times, known) Can someone have both GAD and OCD, sort of overlapping? Always a pleasure to listen to you

[@CupNoodleKitty]

I‘m extremely afraid of people randomly leaving me or men cheating on me - I can hardly accept peaceful moments, I always have to start fights and I feel somehow relieved when they do leave me. But most of the times these people have indeed lied/betrayed me - so what do I do to break that cycle????

[@bernardonunes2085]

I feel the same way, my ex that was "trying to go back on a relationship with me" i think, discarded me when i went paranoid of her using me ir cheat on me by stalking her when She got mad at me for Days and talking with other persons, and Said Im a paranoic stalker (even her cheated on me before)

[@presidentamanda7468]

Can you make a video about agoraphobia and how to fix it

[@injudicious109]

Professor Vaknin, so how to stop catastrophizing? I have been afraid of many unnecessary things for as long as I can remember (fear of illness, fear of bad events, fear of death, betrayal etc) I've been undergoing therapy for a few months now, but I don’t see any great results. I’m a child of alcoholic father and rather narcissitic mother. How to stop negative thoughts which often ruin happy moments in my life? Please help🙏🏻

[@samvaknin]

Therapy.

[@hharancool]

Hi Sam, Do you mean to say that the treatment needs to be changed from erp to not catastrophizing?

[@samvaknin]

ERP is a failure.

[@hharancool]

Then the solution? I think in your earlier videos you told to addict in everything. And you said like change your addiction one by one and don't stick on to any one for long..

[@nicknorizadeh4336]

​@@samvakninWhy is it a failure? It's the best know treatment for OCD

[@samvaknin]

@@nicknorizadeh4336 I thought you meant as a treatment for anxiety (the topic of the video).

[@nicknorizadeh4336]

@@samvaknin well in general? Do you find it useful for anxiety disorders such as OCD, phobia, GAD etc? I'm currently undergoing ERP for OCD so would love to hear your opinion about it

[@user-uh7ny8jj4t]

Why is there anxiety in the first place ?

[@samvaknin]

In my opinion, it is a mutation of fear. A pathological variant of fear. Like cancer.

[@MRSH100]

Can you make a video about the difference between a Covert Borderline and a Borderline Narcissist?

[@samvaknin]

What's a borderline narcissist?

[@noidea3326]

Can you please make a video about the woke ideology in western countries? I would like to hear more a psychological approach rather than a sociological one

[@samvaknin]

Search the channel.

[@noidea3326]

@@samvaknin thanks. I obviously completely missed those