Is it normal that i go into a spiral of anxiety when overly stressed..?

I am figuring out I am the sort of person that when I have a major stressful event take place in life, I tend to go into a spiral of very bad anxiety for about 5-6 months! This has happened twice . The first time I was just overly stressed about normal things I guess. The second time I actually had something really major to confront . Is this normal? I am just starting to slowly get back up on my feet but I can't imagine having to go through this again! Why do I have to get major anxiety ? It's like that's my coping mechanism in a weird way. I am prone to it I guess because I have already experienced it and panic attacks do scare me ! I just don't feel like this is normal but it's like my brain changes and I can't just be me and that it takes me ages to come back to normal again....?