Is Anxiety Just a Chemical Imbalance — Or a Survival Response?
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Is Anxiety Just a Chemical Imbalance — Or a Survival Response?
You feel tense. Your chest is tight.
You can’t focus. You’re snappy, exhausted, maybe even scared.
Someone says, “It’s just a chemical imbalance.”
Pop a pill. Balance the brain. Sorted, right?
Not quite.
While anxiety is often labelled a “disorder,” many experts argue that what we call anxiety is not a malfunction — it’s a message.
A survival response. An alarm system. A brain doing exactly what it was designed to do.
So let’s unpack the truth: is anxiety a broken brain — or a body sounding the alarm?
🧠 The Myth of the Chemical Imbalance
The idea that anxiety or depression comes purely from “low serotonin” has been largely debunked.
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A 2022 Molecular Psychiatry review found no clear evidence that low serotonin causes depression
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The brain’s neurotransmitters (like GABA, dopamine, serotonin) fluctuate constantly in response to environment, nutrition, trauma, and stress
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Medications can help regulate symptoms, but don’t “fix” a single chemical imbalance — because no such single imbalance exists
Anxiety is more complex — and more human — than a serotonin shortfall.
⚠️ The Problem With Over-Medicalising Anxiety
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It can invalidate real-life stressors (like poverty, grief, abuse, burnout)
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It encourages quick fixes over root causes
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It suggests that you’re broken — instead of responding to an overwhelming world
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It can delay healing through trauma work, nervous system regulation, and lifestyle change
Medication has a place. But medicalising emotion can make people feel even more hopeless — as if their biology is defective.
🛡️ The Nervous System View: Anxiety as Protection
Anxiety isn’t a flaw. It’s the body’s survival software activating when it senses threat:
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A pounding heart prepares you to flee
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Racing thoughts scan for danger
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Tight muscles protect vital organs
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Shallow breathing conserves energy
This is the fight–flight–freeze response — an ancient system designed to save your life.
The problem? Modern life constantly trips the alarm — without actual tigers.
Deadlines. Screens. Arguments. Caffeine. Trauma flashbacks. And now your brain can’t shut off.
✅ How to Work With Anxiety (Not Against It)
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Learn to recognise the signs of survival mode (tight chest, racing thoughts, irritability)
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Use grounding techniques like breathwork, cold water, and movement to shift your state
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Support your nervous system nutritionally — magnesium, B-vitamins, adaptogens like ashwagandha
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Address gut health and inflammation, which influence anxiety via the vagus nerve
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Practise radical self-compassion: your anxiety is trying to protect you, not punish you
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If needed, seek support from a trauma-informed therapist
🔍 Final Verdict: Anxiety Isn’t a Malfunction — It’s a Messenger
If you're anxious, you’re not broken.
You’re alive, alert, and responding to real (or remembered) stress.
Healing anxiety doesn’t mean numbing the signal — it means teaching the system it's safe again.
That’s deeper than medication. That’s retraining your biology — from the inside out.
🛒 Nervous System Support — Backed by Biology
From magnesium and theanine to adaptogens and probiotics, FitLife supports your nervous system with clinically backed calm.
Explore Anti-Anxiety Support →