Squirrel-Caging

Adored Wife, as has been mentioned, deals with anxiety issues.  Often this is free-floating, with no particular focus--she's not edgy about anything in particular, she's just twitchy in general.  It's usually a bad idea to sneak up behind her and shout "boo" when this is going on.  Trust me on this.

Sometimes, though, the anxiety will have a focus, because we have had stressful things going on here and there.  Sometimes it's a rational focus--some people problem at school or family or church or what have you.  Sometimes it's something that hasn't happened but might--one of the girls getting in a car accident or some such.

Whatever the situation, real or hypothetical, sometimes AW will get something stuck in her head and she can't stop worrying about it.  We call this "squirrel caging" (or hamster-wheeling) because the problem is just running around and around in her head and going nowhere.

It's not fun, either for AW or for anybody around her, because when she's squirrel-caging she's always just this side of a full-bore panic attack.  And they can last for hours.

How she approaches the matter
1. She realizes that the problem is not the problem; the anxiety is.  We call this sort of thing "metacognition," thinking about thinking, and we use it a lot.  She accepts that whatever she's stressing about normally wouldn't be bothering her anywhere nearly this much--it's her brain chemistry that is letting her down.  She chooses not to trust her feelings.
2. She prays about the matter and if possible takes some coherent action steps to address it--to compartmentalize whatever the problem is and bring some sense of order and management to it.
3. She distracts herself by doing chores or reading or playing games or exercising; deliberately forcing her brain to focus on something else.
4. If it's really bad she'll take one of the "rescue drugs" her doctor has given her for just such emergencies.  Those tend to make her really sleepy, though, so she doesn't like to if she doesn't have to.

None of these will make the anxiety magically go away, of course, but they can bring it to bearable levels until it settles down on it's own.  It's not easy being Adored Wife (but being married to such a great guy as me is probably partial compensation.)

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.