What’s it like living with anxiety?
Anxiety can be felt in different ways and to different extents by different people. Mild anxiety can feel like worry, restlessness, or a sense of unreality, like being in a bubble. Severe anxiety is more physically noticeable. You might feel a tightness in your chest, palpitations or like you’re having trouble breathing. If the anxiety comes on quickly, without you being prepared, and is very intense, this can be caused by panic disorder. What you feel is known as a panic attack.
When you feel such anxiety, it’s common to think “It’ll never go away” or “I’m going crazy”. If you have such thoughts, it can be reassuring to know that anxiety isn’t dangerous and that it always passes after a while, although it can return.
How common is anxiety?
Everyone suffers from anxiety at some point in life, and some suffer more often and more easily than others. Although anxiety is extremely common, few people talk about it openly. This is why many people associate anxiety with feelings of shame and guilt. Since anxiety is seldom visible on the outside, many people think they’re alone in suffering from it, making it harder to talk about than it really should be.
Why do I suffer from anxiety?
Anxiety can be triggered by a variety of situations – even those that are actually safe and harmless. Anxiety can also be triggered by situations or places that resemble unpleasant things you’ve experienced in the past.
Anxiety can be triggered by a thought or a feeling that scares you or situations that make you feel threatened, powerless, a failure or worthless. Sometimes, anxiety can be linked to high expectations, or feelings of shame or guilt. Anxiety can also be triggered by being betrayed or abandoned. The risk of losing something important to you, such as security, status or love, can also cause you anxiety.
Regardless of what causes your anxiety, it can make you feel strange and odd, or like there’s something wrong with you. It’s common to feel like this. You might want to remind yourself that anxiety is a perfectly natural reaction and something that everyone experiences at some point in life. If your anxiety is affecting how well you can function in your daily life, it might be a good idea to seek help. When you live with anxiety for a long time, it can lead to a range of other problems, such as difficulty sleeping, low mood and isolation. It can also affect your interpersonal relationships and prevent you from living life the way you’d like to.
What happens in your brain during anxiety?
Anxiety involves the automatic activation of the central nervous system – preparing the body to flee or fight. The response is like an alarm system that’s triggered when the brain and the nervous system react to a real or perceived threat or danger. The sensitivity of this alarm system can differ from person to person as well as during different times of life. Anxiety is common in adolescence and young adulthood. Anxiety is more common among women than men. A person’s sensitivity to anxiety can also be affected by past stressful events.
What treatment can I get for anxiety?
Several treatment methods for anxiety problems are available, and common to all is that you learn about different tools and strategies to manage your anxiety. If you’ve been severely affected by your anxiety for a long time, you may also benefit from medicinal treatment. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about medication for anxiety problems.
How can I manage my anxiety? What can I do myself?
As humans, we’re designed to try to avoid anything unpleasant or difficult. This is why it’s common to try to avoid, push aside or conceal anxiety. This strategy sometimes works in the short term, but in the longer term, it gives your anxiety more power over your life. The more time and energy you spend trying to avoid your anxiety, the harder it can become for you to manage it.
You can deal with worry and anxiety in several ways. Within CBT, gradual exposure to situations that cause you anxiety is a common approach. Another strategy is to practise acceptance: letting the feelings and thoughts just be while continuing with what’s important in life.
It may help to talk to someone about how you’re feeling. Talking to someone you trust is often the first step to starting to feel better. You can also learn more by reading about anxiety and how it can be treated. Remember that help is available.
Stress and anxiety are often linked. Eating properly, exercising, sleeping well and doing things you enjoy will increase your resistance to both stress and anxiety. Another important aspect is daring to say no and setting boundaries for what you can cope with.
What is an anxiety disorder?
If anxiety affects your life on a daily basis, you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder, for which you can get treatment. Examples of anxiety disorders include panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety disorder and specific phobias.
When do I need to seek help?
If you suffer from so much anxiety every day that it’s affecting your life – don’t hesitate to seek help. It often takes courage to ask for help, and the earlier you seek help, the better. If you still feel reluctant to seek help yourself, ask someone you trust to support you in doing so. If you don’t have someone you trust to support you, you can call or chat with a helpline anonymously.
Reviewed by: Jacqueline Levi, registered psychologist at Psykologpartners.
Last edited 2024-02-15