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Anxiety and Behavior
If our brains were in charge, and we were to focus on evolution in the Darwinian sense (V. "creation & evolution are the same"), we would speak of three brains with different functions reflecting the evolutionary age of each, A primitive brain at the core, surrounded by a “limbic system,” all inside our "newest" neocortex with our "higher executive functions.” Those who favor a “top-down” hierarchical architecture would look at emotions this way. But, there are at least two other explanations. One is called the Cannon-Bard Theory, depicted below. The other, is an emerging position, stronly advocated by Candace Pert, who maintains that the brain is not "in charge," but a participant in the process we call emotion.
In the first theory, an emotion-provoking stimulus activates the thalamus (1), which simultaneously sends messages to the limbic system (2) and to the cortex (3), producing the feeling of an emotion, to the viscera, producing arousal, and to the skeletal muscles, producing behavior.
In support of Pert's assertion, it is well demonstrated that the membranes that surround most cells throughout our body are covered with receptors that are there to bind with chemical ligands that may originate within or outside the body. Examples of the former are hormones as well as our own thoughts. The latter include drugs, foods, and many environmental stimuli. (Kappas calls all these stimuli "Message Units").
Anxiety is often the result of stress.
Stress Stage one: Alarm
When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body's stress response is a state of alarm. During this stage adrenaline will be produced in order to facilitate the fight-or-flight response
Stage two: resistance
If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to mobilize means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try to adapt to the strains or demands of the environment, the body cannot keep this up indefinitely, so its resources are gradually depleted.
Stage three: exhaustion
In the final stage all the resources are eventually depleted and the body is unable to maintain normal function. At this point the initial autonomic nervous system symptoms may reappear (sweating, raised heart rate etc.). If stage three is extended, long term damage may result as the capacity of glands, especially the adrenal gland, and the immune system is exhausted and function is impaired resulting in decompensation. The result can manifest itself in overt illnesses such as ulcers, depression or even cardiovascular problems, along with other mental issues.
Neuro-chemistry and physiology 
The neurochemistry of the GAS is now well understood, although much remains to be discovered about how this system interacts with others in the brain and elsewhere in the body. The body reacts to stress first by releasing the catecholamine hormones, epinephrine and norepinephrine, and the glucocorticoid hormones, cortisl and cortisone.
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) is a major part of the neuroendocrine system, involving the interactions of the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the adrenal glands. The HPA axis is believed to play a primary role in the body's reactions to stress by balancing hormone releases from the adrenaline-producing adrenal medulla, and from the corticosteroid-producing adrenal cortex. Stress can significantly affect many the body's immune system.
The illustration above depicts the two major divisions of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS): The sympathetic (red lines) and the parasympathetic (blue lines). The sympathetic plays a major role in the fight-or-flight response described in the alarm phase of the stress reaction. That system is complemented and balanced by the parasympathetic functions of rest-and-relaxation (R&R).
Rest and Relaxation is the opposite of the fight-or-fight reaction. The latter is automatic, inborn, but R & R is not. It takes winding down from a heightened state and, for some, it is not just an unnatural process, but an elusive one. Once excitement ensues, calm is hard to achieve, especially to whom the exhilaration of F-F becomes pleasurable.
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