Anxiety

The figure in Eleanor Davis' painting: 'Anxiety: My Monster, My Self' looks cold, rigid and scrunched up. Behind her transparent eyes is another figure. The viewer merely glimpses this small second person trapped within the first, holding her (perhaps its would be a better description given that its barely identifiable) arms aloft, calling, waving or drowning. But the blue figure is inhuman, is the monster, and the yellow the person. Davis wrote: 'Everyone thinks this monster is you. But your trapped inside it...All you can do is watch while this monster lives your life.' If there isn't a semblance of a match between the you that appears in your head and the you that appears in the world, then the worlds interactions with you might get lost in the post. It would take an uncommon effort for the person in the painting to be heard; it can be a tremendous struggle to convey some of the you that appears in your head to the world and to unlock the trap. If the trap remained locked then what chance would you have? The anxiety that anxiety disorders like 'GAD' involve can feel like a jet engine which sucks up thoughts and feelings and spews out cinders.