Dr. Wendy Suzuki

And I think the best way to think about it is if you are a female 2.5 million years ago when anxiety was first evolving, anxiety came up when you were searching for food and you heard a crack of a twig.

And that could be just nothing or it could be a lion that's going to eat you.

That caused emotion of anxiety.

And it stimulated your fight or flight system to either get ready to fight or to run.

That's great.

That is why you and I are sitting here today talking about anxiety.

Fast forward 2.5 million years.

We still have that same anxiety emotion that stimulates our fight or flight.

But there are so many more things that stimulate our anxiety.

Just scrolling on the social media, especially these days, you can't open up the newspaper or any news outlet without anxiety.

really being so scared and depressed and just sad about everything going on.

And everything from that to, you know, how am I going to get a job is causing more higher levels of anxiety.

So you think, well...

Your explanation, Wendy, doesn't help at all.

It does because it's about reframing that feeling of anxiety from, oh, it's just a weight around my head.

It's come to get me to, oh, what is it telling me?

As you were just saying, what is it telling me about what I should pay attention to?

Something that's a little bit unusual going on.

Lots of things in the news right now might be going on.

It is warning you towards what you might be