84 Don’t Let A nxiety Run Your Life
logical processes, or the physical symptoms that accompany
an emotion. Try, if you will, to think about a time when you
experienced a moderately intense emotion. Perhaps you
were driving on the highway and another car suddenly
pulled in front of you, nearly causing an accident. Or think
of a time when you had to stand up for yourself and confront
someone. W hat emotions did you experience? Conceivably,
you might have experienced some level of anger, impatience,
frustration, or maybe even rage. Now, consider the physical
symptoms you experienced or how your body reacted. Was
your heart pounding? Did you feel shaky? Was your mouth
dry? Did you feel f lushed? Did you sweat more than normal
or suffer an intense feeling of dread? If so, or if you experi-
enced similar physical symptoms, you were experiencing
the physical aspect of an emotion.
Leading theories on emotion all highlight the important
relationship between emotions and physiological arousal in
anxiety and how these interact with early learning (condi-
tioning) experiences to inf luence your behavior under
threatening conditions. The physical symptoms that you
experience when you feel anxious or fearful are inf luenced
not only by your immediate environment but also by your
perceived ability to cope with a specific threat. You likely
use one of two types of coping when you feel anxious: active
or passive coping. You are more likely to use active coping
strategies—that is, to fight or f lee—when you believe you
can overcome or escape from a threat. These strategies can
be either adaptive or maladaptive depending on the context
of your fear or anxiety, but a general rule of thumb is that
confronting your anxiety is usually adaptive whereas f leeing
from your anxiety is maladaptive. For example, if you are at