Anxiety Isn’t a Malfunction, It’s a Signal Your Brain Is Trying to Protect You

For many women, anxiety arrives with shame, a tight chest, racing thoughts, and the quiet fear that something is wrong with your brain. On The Tamsen Show, Dr. Wendy Suzuki reframes that experience in a way that shifts the entire conversation.

Dr. Wendy Suzuki, neuroscientist, NYU professor, and author of Good Anxiety, explains that anxiety is a normal human emotion rooted in survival. She defines anxiety as fear or worry associated with uncertainty, and emphasizes that every human experiences it. According to Dr. Suzuki, anxiety exists on a wide spectrum, from everyday stress to clinical conditions, with the majority of people experiencing what she calls “everyday anxiety,” not a medical disorder.

On The Tamsen Show, Dr. Suzuki explains that anxiety evolved to protect us. When the brain detects potential threat, the hypothalamus activates the fight-or-flight response, increasing heart rate and breathing to prepare the body for action. This system helped early humans survive real physical dangers, and that same circuitry still operates today, even when the threat is social, financial, or emotional rather than physical.

The shift comes when anxiety is interpreted as information rather than failure. Dr. Suzuki states that anxiety often points toward what matters most, safety, relationships, stability, meaning. Financial anxiety reflects concern for well-being. Relationship anxiety reflects a desire for connection. Anxiety becomes a map of values rather than a personal flaw.

Research supports this framing. Anxiety has been shown to heighten attention and readiness, particularly in uncertain situations, which can be adaptive when properly regulated (American Psychological Association, 2020). Dr. Suzuki stresses that problems arise when anxiety becomes chronic and unmanaged, not when it exists at all.

The takeaway from this conversation is subtle, but powerful. The goal is not elimination, it is interpretation, regulation, and response.

If you want to learn more, listen to this episode of The Tamsen Show.