Ah, I see. I think our disagreement comes down to experience. I’ve had my share of misattributions, but through practice with CBT and mindfulness, I’m now pretty good at noticing quickly after I experience an anxiety spike. Then I just have to replay the last few minutes, and usually I feel triggered again when I get to the original trigger. I’m not saying this gives me clarity on whatever “underlying issues” may also cause anxiety, but it’s usually immistakable that that event minutes ago triggered the anxiety that started then.
If I don’t realize that some small thing just gave me an uptick in anxiety, that’s when I start misattributing it to big life issues. But if I wasn’t able to identify anxiety spikes quickly and identify the proximate cause with confidence, finding the proximate cause could just be another playground for anxiety.
Ah, I see. I think our disagreement comes down to experience. I’ve had my share of misattributions, but through practice with CBT and mindfulness, I’m now pretty good at noticing quickly after I experience an anxiety spike. Then I just have to replay the last few minutes, and usually I feel triggered again when I get to the original trigger. I’m not saying this gives me clarity on whatever “underlying issues” may also cause anxiety, but it’s usually immistakable that that event minutes ago triggered the anxiety that started then.
If I don’t realize that some small thing just gave me an uptick in anxiety, that’s when I start misattributing it to big life issues. But if I wasn’t able to identify anxiety spikes quickly and identify the proximate cause with confidence, finding the proximate cause could just be another playground for anxiety.