Is It Anxiety or Nervous System Dysregulation? Here’s How to Tell the Difference.
What Is Anxiety?
You might be wondering what anxiety is. Am I experiencing anxiety or something else? I like to start with a good definition so that we are all on the same page about what we are talking about.
How The DSM-5 Classifies Anxiety:
Excessive anxiety and worry:
Occurring more days than not for at least 6 months about a variety of activities or events.Difficulty controlling worry:
Individuals find it hard to control their worry.Associated symptoms:
At least three of the following: restlessness, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, sleep disturbance.Distress or impairment:
The anxiety and worry cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Why Not All Anxiety Is a Disorder
This is the diagnostic criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). It is important to note that there is a difference between having moments of anxiety and having Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Everybody has moments of anxiety; not everybody has Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
Sometimes, the feelings of anxiety can be better explained by specific phenomena that are happening within the nervous system. Let’s talk about it.
How Your Nervous System Influences Anxiety and Emotions
What Happens When the Body Detects Threat
When our system detects danger in the environment (exteroception), it sends us into the threat response cycle. We orient, startle, and go into self-protection mode. In some instances where trauma is present, there can be a thwarted response which create difficulties within the nervous system.
Our nervous systems shift into nervous system dysregulation over time. What I mean by nervous system dysregulation isn’t what most people think about when they think about dysregulation. Having an appropriate fight, flight, freeze, appease, or submit response are all regulated if and when there is a threat. True nervous system dysregulation happens when there is no longer a true threat but the nervous system is acting as if there is one.
Symptoms of Chronic Nervous System Dysregulation
Here are some symptoms of a person who has chronic nervous system dysregulation:
Digestive issues
Unexplained pain
Frequent headaches or migraines
Brain fog
Unorganized heart rate variability
Chronic fatigue
In many ways, a Generalized Anxiety Disorder diagnosis can mimic the symptoms of nervous system dysregulation.
When Anxiety Is Really a Trauma Response
If a person has chronic anxiety that isn’t reasonably resolved with interventions, I start to get curious about the real source of the anxiety. If they have tried interventions such as CBT, medication, or mindfulness exercises, then there could be a good chance that anxiety is the trauma response.
How Trauma Rewires the Stress Response
Post traumatic stress is the part of the trauma experience that can become the trauma itself. It is mentally, physically, and spiritually taxing to be constantly on guard, never feeling safe. It requires a lot of survival energy – our vitality – to keep going day to day. This is when body-based, or somatic, forms of treatment can be quite helpful.
How Somatic Therapy Helps With Nervous System Healing
Unlike other therapies that might be emotionally-focused or cognitively focused, somatic therapy helps to address how the whole body is responding. Somatic therapy, especially Somatic Experiencing, helps people move through the survival responses in order to help reduce trauma symptoms and heal your trauma.
The Role of the Sympathetic Nervous System in Anxiety
With anxiety, the sympathetic nervous system becomes easily triggered and goes into overdrive. It becomes a well-worn pathway in the brain that gets activated any time there is a stressor. More than reframing thoughts, somatic therapy helps people to get out of this cycle where the nervous system is dysregulated, helping people to feel better.
Simple Nervous System Regulation Tools You Can Use Today
Here are a few tips to help target anxiety reduction by regulating your nervous system:
Orientation and Environment Scanning
Regulate your nervous system by moving your head, neck, chest, and eyes around your space to take in more information which can signal safety to the brain.
Vagus Nerve Stimulation Techniques
Gargle water, do the deep voo, use ice on your neck and chest.
Physical Movement as a Release Mechanism
Instead of your head telling you what to do, notice what your body wants to do. Does it have excess energy? If you’re anxious, then most likely so. Get curious about how your body would want to release the energy. Jumping? Push Ups? Shaking it out? Go for it.
You’re Not Broken—Your Body Just Needs Support
Anxiety is not a personal failure. A common thought trap that I see my clients falling into is that because they can do something about the anxiety, it means that they are at fault for having it. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We can’t control how our unique systems are predisposed to have certain tendencies, nor the environment in which our systems develop. However, we can pull the lever of getting help in order to create more coherence with the mind, body, and spirit.
Happy healing.
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Frequently Asked Questions About Anxiety and Nervous System Dysregulation
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Anxiety typically involves emotional and cognitive symptoms like worry or fear, while nervous system dysregulation relates more to physical and physiological symptoms such as fatigue, digestive issues, and muscle tension—even in the absence of clear emotional stress.
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Yes, dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system can mimic anxiety symptoms like racing thoughts, restlessness, and rapid heartbeat—even when no clear source of worry exists.
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If you've tried traditional anxiety interventions (e.g. CBT, medication) with little relief, and especially if your anxiety began after a stressful life event, it may be rooted in unresolved trauma.
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Somatic Experiencing is ideal for addressing nervous system issues because they focus on physiological regulation, not just thoughts or behaviors.
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Absolutely. Somatic therapy helps calm the overactive sympathetic nervous system and retrains your body’s threat response, often leading to significant anxiety reduction over time.
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Try vagus nerve stimulation (like humming or cold water), orienting exercises (visually scanning your environment), or gentle movement (like shaking, stretching, or walking).
Stevie Olson-Spiegel is a Licensed Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner located in Kansas City. She uses Somatic Experiencing as her main body-based trauma healing modality, as well as EMDR. As an Intuitive Eating Counselor, she uses these principles to help her clients challenge their relationship with their cultural misconceptions about their body and food.
