Paralyzing Anxiety: What It Is, Symptoms, & How to Cope

What Is Paralyzing Anxiety?

Anxiety is an automatic response that prepares the body to react to a threat. Paralyzing anxiety is a type of anxiety disorder and a severe form of the body’s automatic response, also known as the “freeze” aspect of the fight, flight, and freeze response. It is the equivalent of “playing dead” in the animal world and is adaptive in that becoming immobilized helps avoid detection from a predator, unlike the “flight” response, and can reduce strain on the body, unlike the “fight” response.¹

Paralyzing anxiety differs from everyday stress or nervousness in that it temporarily freezes the body in response to a detected threat rather than activating a “get up and go” response to help tackle a stressor daily life presents. It also differs in that it impairs functioning in one or more areas of life and is distinct from other anxiety disorders that have specific symptom criteria.

Physical Anxiety Paralysis

Some people can become physically paralyzed when experiencing this type of anxiety. This paralysis is temporary and affects a person’s ability to move, think, and speak. The physical effects of anxiety paralysis can include tingling and numbness in the limbs but differ from when a part of the body “falls asleep” in that paralyzing anxiety causes the whole body to become immobilized.

This happens because the amygdala, the part of the brain that constantly scans the environment, has detected a threat and initiated a process via the hypothalamus to ensure the best chance of survival. This process involves the release of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol which prepare our body to fight, flight, or freeze.¹

Emotional Anxiety Paralysis

People can also feel emotionally paralyzed when experiencing this type of anxiety and might not experience the full effects of strong feelings of fear, panic, worry, or impending doom. This differs from less severe forms of anxiety in that these feelings are overwhelming. With low to moderate anxiety, the person can still function but with paralyzing anxiety, the person experiences a complete shutdown of their system.

Symptoms of Paralyzing Anxiety

Anxiety symptoms can vary depending on the individual, but the common denominator is that the symptoms completely overwhelm the person. Paralyzing anxiety symptoms are invasive and debilitating but temporary. Once the threat has passed, it takes between 20 and 60 minutes for the body to return to its normal state.²

Symptoms of paralyzing anxiety may include:

• Feelings of fear, worry, panic, anxiety, or impending doom
• Difficulty moving parts of your body or complete immobilization
• Difficulty thinking, making decisions, and speaking
• Increased heart rate
• Shallow and rapid breath
• Persistent negative thoughts
• Face tingling
• Nausea
• Avoidance behaviors
• Shaking, tingling, or numbness in limbs
• Muscle tension³

Paralyzing anxiety can cause dizziness or lightheadedness, which can make you feel unsteady and impact your daily functioning.

What Causes Paralyzing Anxiety?

Paralyzing anxiety is caused by an interaction of biopsychosocial factors with the environment and the synchronous activation of the nervous system’s sympathetic (active) and parasympathetic (resting) parts in response to a real or perceived threat. Anxiety paralysis can be triggered by certain situations or stimuli, such as public speaking, seeing a spider, or leaving the house.

Factors that contribute to paralyzing anxiety include an overactive amygdala, a history of traumatic events, negative thinking patterns, a family history of anxiety disorders, and significant stressors. Genetics also play a role as anxiety disorders occur more frequently in females than males.³ Those with a combination of these factors are more likely to struggle with anxiety and anxiety paralysis.

Possible causes of paralyzing anxiety include:

• History of traumatic events: trauma establishes an association between a stimulus that was present during the event and danger. When the person encounters that stimulus again, the body reacts as if it is unsafe as they were during the traumatic event even if at that moment they are not in danger.
• Overactive sympathetic nervous system: the sympathetic nervous system is what gets activated when the brain interprets a threat and the threshold of when this system gets activated varies from person to person. A lower threshold means reacting more quickly to danger than someone with a higher threshold thus someone can experience paralyzing anxiety in situations that others don’t.
• Social situations: public speaking, meeting someone new, or being in a crowded area can all trigger paralyzing anxiety.
• Phobias: paralyzing anxiety can occur when encountering the object or situation associated with the specific phobia such as blood, heights, or spiders.
• Taking an exam: it’s common and adaptive to experience a low to moderate level of anxiety in response to taking a test but for some, paralyzing anxiety can occur in response to test-taking.

Impacts of Paralyzing Anxiety

Paralyzing anxiety makes it difficult to navigate life. As paralyzing anxiety creates a “stuckness,” it can make it difficult to follow through on tasks and obligations. Additionally, as it is wired in us to avoid danger and paralyzing anxiety creates a sensation that danger is present, paralyzing anxiety is associated with avoidant behaviors.

Relationships

Paralyzing anxiety can impact relationships as it impairs a person’s ability to engage in healthy relationship behaviors like communicating effectively. The avoidance associated with paralyzing anxiety also can impair a person’s ability to regularly engage with their partner, resolve conflicts and repair relationship injuries. If these conflicts and injuries go unaddressed, it can lead to a breakdown in the relationship.

Work & Professional Settings

Paralyzing anxiety can negatively impact a person’s work. Work anxiety impacts the professional life as it can impair a person’s ability to attend job interviews, concentrate on the task at hand, complete projects by the deadline, work through problems in the workplace, and expand their career by taking on new and different responsibilities.

Personal Self-Care

Paralyzing anxiety affects a person’s ability to practice self-care because of the stuckness this kind of anxiety causes. Self-care can be hindered as it can be difficult for a person to leave the house, reach out for help, express feelings and needs, pursue personal goals, or even get out of bed to practice regular hygiene.

Mental Health

Paralyzing anxiety also impacts a person’s mental and emotional health because the frozen emotional state impairs a person’s ability to access, process, and regulate emotions. Paralyzing anxiety puts the body in survival mode, only focusing on what is essential. Processing emotions are essential for a person’s well-being but not for their immediate survival, and as a result, the processing of emotions gets inhibited.

How to Cope With Paralyzing Anxiety

In the same way the human body is wired to respond to threats with the fight, flight, freeze response, it is also wired to return to a state of calm when not in danger, and there are strategies that can help. Practicing emotional self-care by attending to your emotions will help you apply coping strategies when needed to help you calm your body and mind.

Below are 10 tips for coping with paralyzing anxiety:

1. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a skill that helps a person be aware of what’s happening in the present moment so they can become a witness to their experience rather than become overwhelmed by it. Knowing you are experiencing anxiety can help you identify the need to utilize other coping skills.

2. Make Use of Helpful Mantras

A mantra is a short phrase a person can recite to help them focus and move into a calm emotional state. Developing a mantra such as “This is temporary” or “I am safe” can help center and ground during severe anxiety.

3. Identify Your Triggers

The experience of anxiety can worsen when we are caught off guard. Knowing your triggers helps to prepare you for when you know you are likely to experience paralyzing anxiety and allows time to create a plan for how to cope with it.

4. Breathwork

Developing a calming breathing practice and utilizing it when experiencing paralyzing anxiety helps regulate the nervous system and bring it from a frozen state to a calm state. Try using the 4-7-8 breathing method, breathing in through your nose for 4 counts and out through your mouth for 8 counts and repeat.⁴

5. Move Your Body

Inviting even subtle movements into the body helps get it out of the paralyzed state, especially when you engage both the right and left sides of the body. This could look like a gentle sway from side to side, wiggling your fingers and toes, tossing a small object between your hands, or going on a walk. Exercise for anxiety helps keep your thinking brain online and manage emotional flooding.⁵

6. Practice Yoga

Yoga, particularly styles that pair body movement with the breath, helps regulate anxiety and the nervous system, improves a person’s ability to feel calm, and strengthens their ability to tolerate uncomfortable sensations. Specific yoga poses can help manage feelings of anxiety and overwhelm, such as the crocodile pose and child’s pose.⁶

7. Grounding techniques

These techniques help calm anxiety and racing thoughts by turning your attention to the sensations you are experiencing in the present moment. One popular practice is the 54321 technique: name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. This is especially effective if what you focus on is associated with a sense of safety.

8. Eye Movement

Taking a moment to look in all directions helps regulate the nervous system as this serves the same function as scanning your environment for threats. When the eyes don’t see a real threat, the body knows it can return to a calm state.

9. Vocalizations

Using your voice by singing, humming, or chanting stimulates the vagus nerve which is crucial in regulating the nervous system.⁷

10. Radical acceptance

Rather than judge yourself while experiencing paralyzing anxiety, practice accepting and allowing the emotions and sensations to be present. Judgment is interpreted as an additional threat and can maintain a state of anxiety.⁸

Treatment for Paralyzing Anxiety

Paralyzing anxiety can be addressed with typical treatments, such as therapy for anxiety and medication. The treatment plan and course of therapy can vary from person to person, but you can expect to learn coping skills for managing anxiety and be in treatment for anxiety between 3-12 months. Natural remedies for anxiety include lavender, chamomile, valerian, passionflower, and kava.⁹

Therapy

Therapy is important for treating anxiety as it provides psychoeducation, offers effective coping strategies, and reduces feelings of isolation. There are various treatment options for anxiety therapy, including individual and group therapies and online or in-person sessions. You can begin the process of finding a therapist by asking for a referral from your primary care doctor or insurance company or by using one of the many online therapist directories.

Therapy options for paralyzing anxiety include:

• Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): An evidenced-based model, CBT for anxiety helps change thought and behavior patterns. This would benefit those struggling with persistent negative thoughts and avoidant behaviors.
• Exposure therapy: The exposure therapy model involves gradually exposing yourself to anxiety triggers until your distress tolerance increases. This can be of particular help to those experiencing paralyzing anxiety when encountering specific situations.
• Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT): ACT for anxiety combines strategies that address the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects of paralyzing anxiety.
• Art therapy: Art therapy for anxiety uses creative expression through a wide variety of artistic modalities to relieve anxiety symptoms.
• Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT): Another popular evidence-based model, DBT for anxiety helps develop dialectical thinking, the ability to hold conflicting ideas simultaneously. Additionally, this model teaches coping skills such as distress tolerance and mindfulness to help regulate emotions.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR): The EMDR model helps a person process unresolved traumatic events that are contributing to paralyzing anxiety using bilateral stimulation of the brain.¹⁰

Medication

Someone may consider taking medication to treat their paralyzing anxiety if their symptoms impair their ability to access therapy or if other treatment options have been insufficient in managing symptoms. Be sure to ask your doctor about the risks and benefits of taking the medication so that you are aware of potential side effects.

Antidepressants are often a first-line treatment for anxiety. This group of medications includes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reupdate inhibitors (SNRIs), and tricyclics. If meeting in person with your prescriber is not an option, online psychiatry options are available.¹¹

In My Experience

I regularly encounter people that struggle with paralyzing anxiety but also witness them finding relief from their symptoms and experiencing empowerment in their daily lives. If you have experienced paralyzing anxiety, I want you to know that you are not alone, nothing is wrong with you, and though we are wired to experience anxiety, there are strategies to help your body move into a state of calm and safety so you can enjoy life to the fullest.