Meeting Your Nervous System: Which of the 7 Faces of Anxiety Are You Wearing?
At Coriander Living Collective, we are passionate about moving beyond generic labels. When we talk about mental wellness, we know that anxiety isn't just a singular, monolithic monster that everyone experiences the exact same way. It is a nuanced language spoken by the nervous system.
In his groundbreaking book The Chemistry of Calm, holistic psychiatrist Dr. Henry Emmons explores this beautifully by introducing The Seven Faces of Anxiety. He breaks down how anxiety flows through our biology, categorizing it not just by how we think, but how our body and brain react.
By understanding how your specific anxiety shows up, you can stop fighting your body and start working with it to restore resilience. Let’s unmask these seven faces and explore how to guide your nervous system back home.
The Seven Faces of Anxiety
Dr. Emmons categorizes anxiety based on its "direction of flow" in the brain—whether it is a bottom-up survival response driven by the brain stem, the middle limbic emotional brain, or a top-down cognitive loop driven by the thinking cortex.
Bottom-Up Anxiety: The Survival Loop
When anxiety comes from the bottom up, your physical body feels the threat before your conscious mind even knows what’s happening.
The Face of Scarcity: This shows up as a profound depletion. Your nervous system feels chronically "low on fuel." You might experience brain fog, physical fatigue, low mood, and an underlying sense that you just don't have enough inner resources to handle life's demands. “There is not enough.”
The Face of Avoidance: This is the urge to run, hide, or shut down. When the world feels overwhelmingly chaotic or overly stimulating, your nervous system's default setting is to withdraw to stay safe. “That feels too scary.”
Top-Down Anxiety: The Thinking Loop
When anxiety comes from the top down, the cognitive mind acts as an over-active generator, creating stress through mental loops that distress the body.
The Face of Worry: The classic overthinker. Your mind is constantly projecting into the future, creating endless "what-if" scenarios, rehearsing disasters, and attempting to control outcomes intellectually. “Someting bad may happen.”
The Face of Learned Fear (Trauma Response): This occurs when past experiences leave deep biological imprints. A specific sound, smell, or environment triggers an instantaneous, full-body panic response, even if you are completely safe in the present moment. “Something bad did happen.”
“The Muddled Middle”
Here involves the mid-emotional brain (aka limbic system), the problems here arise not from the directional flow of information and energy, but instead “there is a disruption of flow.” The circuits can become either locked on or off.
The Face of Panic: This is where the brain’s panic button, the amygdala, is flipped on, and it creates intense, an over-reactive fear response. “Something horrible is happening.”
The Face of Rumination: This is a stuck pattern of thinking, “unhealthy repetitive thoughts.” Nothing new is created, old information goes around and around. “I can’t stop thinking this way.”
The Face of Compulsivity: This face manifests as “unhealthy, repetitive behaviors: I can’t stop acting this way.”
Moving Toward the Chemistry of Calm
If you recognize yourself in one—or a few—of these faces, take a deep breath. Dr. Emmons reminds us that resilience is our birthright. Your nervous system isn't broken; it is simply trying to protect you.
Because anxiety lives so deeply in our physiology, we cannot simply "think" our way out of it. True healing requires an integrative, mind-body approach. Here is how we can begin to shift the chemistry of our bodies from anxiety to safety:
Somatic Resourcing: Your body needs to feel safe before your mind can settle. This is where somatic therapy like Brainspotting can be incredibly transformative. Brainspotting bypasses the thinking brain, accessing the deeper subcortical brain to process and release stored survival stress.
Returning to the Body through Movement: When we are stuck in the top-down loops, we are disconnected from our physical selves. Somatic movement practices—like Open Floor movement or conscious dance—help shake the overthinking out of our bones, ground our energy, and discharge accumulated stress.
Holistic Nourishment: Our brain chemistry is directly affected by our physical health. Dr. Emmons emphasizes that reducing systemic inflammation through a whole-foods diet, gentle movement, and regulating our circadian rhythms can quiet the "brain on fire" that fuels anxious loops.
Are You Ready to Discover What Your Nervous System Needs to Feel Regulated and Calm?
Whether you are navigating the heavy weight of scarcity or the spinning wheels of worry, there is a space for you here to soften, explore, and heal. Reach out to us at Coriander Living Collective for a free consultation to learn more about individual talk therapy, Brainspotting sessions, or our upcoming movement workshops.
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The Chemistry of Calm by Henry Emmons, MD
