Anxiety as Your Parkinson’s Superpower
Introduction: Rethinking Anxiety in Parkinson’s Disease
We tend to think of anxiety as an unwanted visitor — one that shows up uninvited and overstays its welcome. Clinical anxiety disorders are indeed debilitating. Even low-grade, day-to-day worry, as many of us learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, can grind us down. But if anxiety is nothing more than mental torture, why did evolution make it so common?
As people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD), we know that anxiety isn’t just a side effect of the diagnosis — it’s often a core part of our neurological experience. But what if anxiety had something to teach us? What if, in the right context, it could even become a superpower?
That’s the provocative idea behind Dr. Wendy Suzuki’s book Good Anxiety, and it may hold surprising potential for those of us navigating Parkinson’s.
Step 1: Understanding Anxiety as an Evolutionary Tool
Humans didn’t evolve anxiety by accident. At its core, anxiety is an ancient warning system — a survival instinct. It kept our ancestors alert to potential dangers like predators, unsafe food, and environmental hazards.
In modern times, we’re not running from saber-toothed tigers, but the brain still sends out alarm bells when something feels uncertain or threatening. For those with Parkinson’s, those signals may feel constant, overwhelming, or disconnected from actual danger. That’s partly due to neurochemical changes — particularly involving dopamine — that alter the way we process both emotion and physical symptoms.
But even with these challenges, anxiety still holds value. The key is not to eliminate it, but to redirect it.
Step 2: How Anxiety Impacts People with Parkinson’s
For people with PD, anxiety is one of the most common non-motor symptoms. It often manifests as:
- Excessive worry about medications “wearing off”
- Fears about freezing episodes or falls
- Social avoidance due to tremors or speech changes
- Anticipatory anxiety before appointments or procedures
According to Dr. Suzuki, instead of trying to suppress these anxious thoughts entirely, we should try to listen more carefully to what they’re telling us.
Anxiety, she says, is like a “what-if machine.” It generates scenarios:
- What if I miss my meds?
- What if I can’t get across the street in time?
- What if I forget what I wanted to say?
Step 3: Transforming “What Ifs” Into Action
This is where Suzuki’s method becomes powerful. She calls this shift “the superpower of productivity.” Instead of letting those what-ifs spiral into dread, we can translate them into to-do lists.
Here’s how that works in real life:
| What You Worry About | What You Can Do About It |
|---|---|
| What if I freeze while walking in public? | Practice cueing strategies or plan routes with rest stops. |
| What if I forget a question for my neurologist? | Keep a running list in your phone or notebook. |
| What if I fall and can’t get help? | Invest in a wearable alert system or alert neighbor ahead of time. |
| What if I miss a medication dose? | Use alarms, pill organizers, or apps like StrivePD or Medisafe. |
Every anxiety-driven “what-if” becomes a prompt for problem-solving, not paralysis.
Step 4: Harnessing Anxiety for Energy and Focus
Dr. Suzuki explains that once you’ve reframed anxiety as something that prompts action, you tap into what she calls activation energy — the mental boost that mobilizes us to:
- Prepare for challenges
- Organize our tasks
- Reach out for help
- Stay consistent with exercise, mindfulness, or journaling
This redirection can make you more focused and productive — even joyful. It’s like channeling the fuel of anxiety into a powerful engine of self-advocacy.
Step 5: Strategies to Turn Down the Volume
Before we can redirect anxiety, we need to reduce its intensity. This is especially true if the anxiety feels constant, chronic, or disruptive. Dr. Suzuki emphasizes that even a few basic habits can help:
1. Deep Breathing
Try the 4-7-8 method: Inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7, exhale for 8. This calms the autonomic nervous system and can ease both mental and motor tension.
2. Movement and Exercise
Movement doesn’t just improve PD symptoms — it also helps regulate stress hormones and boosts neuroplasticity.
3. Mindfulness
Practices like meditation or mindful walking help you notice anxious thoughts without being swept away by them. Apps like Calm, Insight Timer, or even YouTube can help you get started.
4. Connection
Whether it’s a support group, a trusted friend, or a neighbor who gets it, talking about anxiety helps release its grip. You don’t need to “fix it” to share it.
Step 6: Making Peace with the Alarm Bell
It’s important to recognize that anxiety doesn’t have to be eliminated to be useful. In fact, it probably can’t be — and shouldn’t be.
Instead, as Suzuki suggests, the goal is to get your anxiety to a manageable level — where it can serve you. Think of it as an early warning system that just needs better calibration.
For those of us living with Parkinson’s, the stakes are real. Missed medication windows, poor sleep, social withdrawal, and mental fatigue all take a toll. But with awareness and the right tools, your anxiety can become an ally — helping you show up, speak up, and stay ahead of your symptoms.
Final Thoughts: Claiming Your Superpower
Dr. Suzuki hasn’t yet found a scenario where her “anxiety-to-action” shift doesn’t apply. Whether it’s a health scare, financial uncertainty, or just the general grind of managing a progressive illness like PD — your worry can guide you toward clarity.
So the next time anxiety knocks, don’t slam the door. Open it — and ask what it’s trying to teach you. Then get to work.
Photo-realistic image prompt:
A man in his 60s with Parkinson’s disease sits at a clean, well-lit desk in a quiet room. He looks focused but calm, wearing comfortable clothes and using a pen to write a list in a notebook. A calendar, medication timer, and yoga mat are visible in the background. Warm morning light streams through a nearby window, suggesting a sense of hope and order.
Negative prompt:
Malformed limbs, extra limbs, mutated hands, disfigured face, bad anatomy, malformed hands, Text, lettering, captions, generating images with text overlays
Taglines:
- Worry into Power
- Your Anxiety, Rewired
- Productive, Not Paralyzed
AI-generated medical infographics on Parkinson’s symptoms, treatment advances, and research findings; I hope you found this blog post informative and interesting. www.parkiesunite.com by Parkie
SEO keywords: Parkinson’s anxiety, Parkinson’s stress response, anxiety tools Parkinson’s, worry and productivity, Wendy Suzuki