I think that case matches what I had in mind with the “anxiety is conserved” model. I don’t mean that nothing can ever make the anxiety go away; the point is that the things which one feels anxious about are not counterfactual to the emotion.
It’s generalized hangriness: if someone is hangry, they’ll feel angry about X, and if X is resolved they’ll quickly latch onto something else to be angry about; that’s the conservation. That does not mean that nothing can ever clear up their hangriness; they just need to eat something.
Likewise, it sounds like you probably felt anxious a lot, and if one problem cleared up you’d feel anxious about something else. That does not mean that nothing can ever clear up the anxiety; you apparently needed time with certain kinds of friends, just like a hangry person needs to eat. The anxiety was resistant to being cured by a generic safety net. You needed a particular thing which was not just safety in the literal sense of the word.
No, I don’t think what you say maches my experience. My anxiety was pointing straight at the thing I needed. Although I acknolage I did not put forward enough details for thus to be clear to you.
But it did not tell me how much I would need exactly. So it’s more like your hungry, and you eat some, and notice that you’re still hungry, and then start to wonder if eating is actually what you need, or this hunger feeling is about something else.
I don’t know what you mean by “generic safery net” or “safety in the literal sense”. I assumed based on context that we’re not talking about physical safety.
I mean things like: I’m not lonely and I expect to continue not to be lonely, because I found people I like who reliably also want me around.
I think that case matches what I had in mind with the “anxiety is conserved” model. I don’t mean that nothing can ever make the anxiety go away; the point is that the things which one feels anxious about are not counterfactual to the emotion.
It’s generalized hangriness: if someone is hangry, they’ll feel angry about X, and if X is resolved they’ll quickly latch onto something else to be angry about; that’s the conservation. That does not mean that nothing can ever clear up their hangriness; they just need to eat something.
Likewise, it sounds like you probably felt anxious a lot, and if one problem cleared up you’d feel anxious about something else. That does not mean that nothing can ever clear up the anxiety; you apparently needed time with certain kinds of friends, just like a hangry person needs to eat. The anxiety was resistant to being cured by a generic safety net. You needed a particular thing which was not just safety in the literal sense of the word.
No, I don’t think what you say maches my experience. My anxiety was pointing straight at the thing I needed. Although I acknolage I did not put forward enough details for thus to be clear to you.
But it did not tell me how much I would need exactly. So it’s more like your hungry, and you eat some, and notice that you’re still hungry, and then start to wonder if eating is actually what you need, or this hunger feeling is about something else.
I don’t know what you mean by “generic safery net” or “safety in the literal sense”. I assumed based on context that we’re not talking about physical safety.
I mean things like: I’m not lonely and I expect to continue not to be lonely, because I found people I like who reliably also want me around.