Why Do I Keep Getting Distracted When I’m Anxious? (feat. Panic Disorder) | From Brain Science to Coping Routines

Did you click this article because you're staying up all night dwelling on things that have already happened, or because you're ruining today worrying about things that might happen in the future? You have mountains of work to do, yet your mind is stuck in the past and future, and you can't even focus for ten minutes before beating yourself up?

It's okay. It's not because your will is weak, nor because you're lazy. It's simply your brain sending you an urgent 'signal'.

Today, we'll chart a journey of hope together—from the root experiences of anxiety and panic, to how they disrupt our 'flow of concentration,' and finally, to practical coping methods discovered through real-life experience.

Symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders experienced firsthand

Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

• Difficulty focusing on tasks: Even when sitting down to work or study, your mind keeps wandering elsewhere
• Difficulty sitting for extended periods: Struggling to stay seated at a desk for even 30 minutes
• Breathing issues: Inability to take deep breaths properly; shallow breathing causes constant tension in shoulder and neck muscles, leading to rapid fatigue
• Sleep disturbances: An overwhelming flood of thoughts before bed prevents restful sleep, leading to only 2-4 hours of sleep per night; some days involve no sleep for two days straight
• Memory issues: Severe forgetfulness

Panic disorder symptoms

• Fear of public places: Feeling dizzy and having trouble breathing when visiting crowded daytime locations (Seongsu-dong, department stores).
• Visual Disturbance: The more crowded the place, the harder it is to focus on one spot; my gaze keeps shifting with every movement, making me feel overwhelmed
• Physical symptoms: Nausea, shortness of breath when lying down at night, cold sweats

Vicious Cycle and Complex Symptoms

Anxiety disorders and panic disorders often co-occur. Extreme stress eventually makes work difficult, leading to self-blame for poor performance and the onset of depression, creating a continuous vicious cycle. This manifests in the following pattern:

Increased stress → Decreased concentration → Lower work/academic performance → Self-blame and depression → Greater anxiety → Worsening panic symptoms → Increased avoidance behavior → Social isolation → Increased stress

The Journey to Recovery Part 1. Why Did My Mind's Alarm System Break Down? (Root Cause Analysis)

🚨 Three Root Causes of Anxiety Disorders and Panic Disorders (Core Causes): Anxiety disorders and panic disorders often stem from the following psychological patterns.

Cause	Emotional Functioning	Impact on Concentration
1. Rumination	Continuously dwelling on past events → Repeated self-blame	Consumes energy meant for concentration on 'regret'
2. Uncontrollable Future	Anxiety about upcoming events → Obsessive need to predict	Wasting energy on 'what ifs' instead of 'the present'
3. Suppressing emotions	Suppressing sadness, anger, disappointment, etc.	Emotional stagnation → Manifestation as physical symptoms (headaches, fatigue, restlessness, etc.)

A remote with a broken 'rewind' button (rumination = fixation on the past): Continuously replaying past events that are already over in one's mind. Repeating "Why did I do that then?" or "I shouldn't have said that…" Regret and self-blame consume the energy meant for the present. Even though it's already over and can't be changed, constantly replaying it drains all your energy to the ghosts of the past.

Anxiety about the uncontrollable future (future anxiety): You worry prematurely about things that haven't happened yet, and may never happen. 'What if I mess up that important presentation?', 'What if people dislike me?' Trying to control things beyond our power only drags us into a swamp of helplessness and anxiety. In other words, it's anxiety stemming from the feeling of having no control over what will happen next.

Suppression of Emotions and Difficulty Expressing Them: When feeling emotions like sadness, anger, or disappointment, we tell ourselves, 'I shouldn't feel this way,' or 'I mustn't appear weak,' and instead of honestly expressing and resolving these feelings, we tightly suppress them inside. These emotions don't disappear; they build up internal pressure like a pressure cooker until, at some point, they explode 'boom!' over a minor trigger. This can manifest as panic attacks or extreme anxiety. As my philosophy states, "Self-awareness is the starting point of all emotions," ignoring my feelings was the root of all problems. Emotions accumulate internally, eventually erupting as anxiety or panic.

It's precisely this rumination, worrying about the future, and suppressing emotions that chronically overheat our brain's 'danger detection system' (the amygdala). Since the brain cannot distinguish between real threats and imagined ones, it keeps sounding the alarm, maintaining a constant 'fight-or-flight mode'.

Ultimately, the 'CEO of the brain' (prefrontal cortex), responsible for rational judgment, shuts down. Our concentration resources are completely drained processing these unnecessary alarms. This process can be summarized as the easy-to-remember pattern: 'Anxiety. Distraction.'

Easy-to-remember pattern: 'Anxiety. Distraction.'

Remember why you can't focus when anxious as 'Anx.y. Dist.rac.tion':

• Anxiety switch ON → Safety mode activated → Executive function impaired → Scattered actions

You are the excellent 'Guard Captain (me)' protecting the castle. But one day, the castle's 'anxiety switch' malfunctioned. Even though no enemy approached, the entire castle entered a state of emergency—'safety mode'. The wise 'castle lord (reason, prefrontal cortex)', who devises strategies and plans, became trapped in an underground bunker, unable to issue any commands.

As the Guard Captain, you have no choice but to run frantically up and down the castle walls, reacting to every minor sound in a chaotic, scattered manner. Crucial tasks like reinforcing the castle gates or stockpiling food are completely neglected.

The Journey to Recovery Part 2. A Reality-Proven Guide to Overcoming Challenges

So, I'll share my genuine experience and concrete action tips that proved effective through about 8 months of effort to change medication and lifestyle habits—efforts aimed at turning off this faulty switch and restoring the flow of daily life.

📅 Actual Treatment Experience and Recovery Process: 6-Month Recovery Journey (Real Case)

• Diagnosis and Treatment: Initially unaware it was depression, but after visiting a psychiatrist, diagnosed with 'high anxiety and depression levels'. After consistently undergoing medication treatment for about 8 months, from September 2024 to around May 2025, I improved to a degree that surprised even myself, enabling me to focus on work again.
• Morning and Daily Routine Creation: No smartphones immediately after waking. Start the day with activities focused on 'today'—exercise, household chores, writing a to-do list.
• Optimizing medication: Taking anxiety medication (morning/lunch) and panic medication (before bed) separately to regulate daily condition.
• Relationship restructuring: Minimized social interactions during treatment. A deliberate choice to reduce the worry (rumination) and stress that arose after meeting people.

Initially unaware it was depression, I underwent depression scale testing after starting psychiatric care. My anxiety + depression scores were high. I doubted medication would make a difference, but after taking it for about 6 months (September 2023 to May 2024), I improved significantly and regained focus at work.

Building a Morning Routine To avoid checking my phone immediately after waking up, I would go exercise or do housework as soon as I opened my eyes. If I felt groggy (the panic disorder medication from the night before made me drowsy), I would think about what needed to be done and jot down about three tasks for the day as they came to mind.

While the panic disorder medication reduced my thoughts, taking it during work made my mind feel foggy. Taking it in the morning or at lunch made me sluggish and reduced work efficiency, so I took it at night to help me sleep soundly.

During the social relationship regulation therapy period, I minimized the number of people I met. I reduced social time because meeting people often led to worries or stress afterward, and I kept feeling stressed even during leisure time. I had this feeling that 'this isn't the time to be having fun'.

Why was it necessary to temporarily reduce social interactions?

1. The need to conserve energy: During treatment, limited energy must be focused on recovery. Socializing is also an activity that requires significant energy.

2. Securing time for self-observation: Time alone is necessary to sort through my emotions and thoughts. Constantly socializing makes it difficult to grasp my true state.

3. Minimizing external stimuli: When anxious, even minor stimuli feel amplified. Reducing additional stress from social interactions is crucial.

Summary of the Recovery Process for Burnout

Stage	Change Details
🔍 Awareness	Recognizing: 'I'm not lazy; my emotions just aren't flowing.'
🧑‍⚕️ Diagnosis	Psychiatric visit → Diagnosis of anxiety/panic → Medication + routine adjustments
✂️ Relationship Restriction	Minimized social interactions + Started emotional journaling
🔄 Routine Reset	Morning affirmation + 3 To-Do items + Smartphone ban
💊 Medication Strategy	Adjust medication routine: Focus pills during the day, panic relief pills at night

In addition to the above case, I propose an action toolkit to directly turn off the three anxiety triggers mentioned earlier.

Routine Name	Description	Execution Tips
Brain Dump	Release rumination from your mind	5 minutes every morning, freely writing down emotions/thoughts/worries
Worry Time	Gather worries in one place	Schedule worries for 7 PM; postpone them during other times
Senses 5-4-3-2-1	Training to return to the present	When anxious, feel one sense at a time to align emotions

1. Releasing the 'Emotional Pressure Cooker': Brain Dump
   • How-to: When your mind is cluttered, pour all worries and emotions onto a notebook. The key is to simply release them without judgment like 'This thought is silly.' It's the most effective way to safely express suppressed emotions and break the cycle of constant rumination.
2. 'Future Worry' Pause: Worry Time
   • How-to: Set aside exactly 15 minutes a day as 'Worry Time'. If worries about the uncontrollable future pop up outside this time, promise yourself, "Ah, I'll properly worry about this at 7 o'clock!" and postpone it. This way, you regain control over your worries instead of being dragged around by them.
3. Returning to the 'Present' from Past and Future: 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding
   • How-to: When anxiety overwhelms you, focus intensely on the senses around you right now—what you see, touch, hear, smell, and taste. This practice acts as a powerful anchor, forcibly bringing your consciousness—which may have been stuck in the past (rumination) or future (worry)—back to this very moment, right here.

Q&A for a Deeper Understanding of Anxiety Disorders and Panic Disorder

For those wanting to delve deeper into anxiety and concentration, we've clarified some easily confused concepts.

Avoidance and Hyperfocus

Some people, when anxious, may instead become intensely absorbed in one activity, like gaming or cleaning. Does this contradict the 'decreased concentration' symptom of anxiety disorders? Actually, it doesn't.
This can be seen as 'avoidant hyperfocus'. It involves intentionally pouring all mental energy into a simple, clear goal
that can be controlled right now, as a way to escape from the overwhelming, anxious thoughts.

The Complexity of Medication: ADHD medications regulate dopamine to enhance focus.

So, can someone with both an anxiety disorder and ADHD achieve the 'two birds with one stone' effect of improving focus and reducing anxiety by taking this medication? Anxiety may actually worsen.
ADHD medication (stimulants) activates the brain's sympathetic nervous system, increasing alertness and focus.
However, anxiety disorders already involve an overactive sympathetic nervous system.
Adding stimulants can accelerate heart rate, intensify chest tightness, and worsen physical anxiety symptoms, potentially triggering panic attacks.

The Paradox of Meditation

Meditation is often touted as beneficial for reducing anxiety and improving focus.
Yet, when you actually try to meditate and close your eyes, you might find all sorts of anxious thoughts surfacing more vividly, making you feel even more distressed. Is
this proof that meditation doesn't work? Rather, it could signal that meditation has 'started working'.
Normally, we avoid or suppress anxious thoughts, failing to even properly recognize them.
Like dust piled up in a dark room. Meditation is the act of turning on the 'light of awareness' in that room. Just as you might be startled by the sight of a dust-filled room when you first turn on the light, the thoughts you've been ignoring suddenly become visible all at once.

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In closing: It's about flow, not speed.

Concentration issues stemming from anxiety and panic disorders aren't a matter of willpower. They're a physiological phenomenon where the brain's survival system overactivates. They also result from a complex interplay of psychological patterns like rumination about the past, uncontrollable anxiety about the future, and emotional suppression.

When I first experienced anxiety and panic disorders, I couldn't accept it, thinking "Panic disorder? Me?"—I always thought I was healthy. But once I acknowledged, "Oh, I'm just in a painful state right now," and started going to the hospital, I realized, "Just accepting this is important too."

Therefore, don't blame yourself. Seek professional help and create your own routine; you will definitely improve. As
my approximately 8-month treatment experience shows, with appropriate therapy and lifestyle adjustments, significant improvement is possible. The key is not to endure it alone, but to find your own recovery pattern with professional support.

A lack of focus isn't a sign of your inability; it's a signal from your mind, born of regrets about the past, anxieties about the future, and unexpressed emotions. Just as flow is
crucial in relationships and work, prioritize tending to the flow of your own emotions first. When you let
go of the past, trust the future, and acknowledge your present feelings, your focus will naturally return to you.

Don't suffer alone in silence. Starting today, begin with even one small step. I sincerely cheer you on in your journey to reclaim your peaceful flow.