Anxiety
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is an uncomfortable feeling of fear or imminent disaster and is a normal emotional response to danger. What makes one person anxious may not create the same response in someone else. Things like breaking up, concern about exams, or a fight with a friend may cause you to feel anxious, worried or scared.
Everyone feels some anxiety at different times during their life. It becomes a problem if you feel so anxious that it interferes with your normal day-to-day activities. If this occurs it is important that you seek help. A local doctor or a clinical psychologist are a good place to start if you are looking for help.
What are the symptoms of anxiety?
Anxiety can affect both your physical health and your mental health (behaviour and feelings). They can depend on a number of factors. They may pass quickly or may stay for a long period of time. If you, or a friend has some or many of these symptoms it may be worth talking to your doctor, a clinical psychologist or a counsellor about ways to reduce anxiety.
Some common ways that anxiety might affect your mental health (behaviour and feelings) include:
- irritability or constantly being in a bad mood
- worried or a constant feeling that something bad is about to happen
- often ask many unnecessary questions and require constant reassurance
- being very well-behaved, e.g. never get into trouble at school or with friends (though not neccessarily at home)
- get upset when a mistake is made or if there is a change of routine, for example: game day for sports, a substitute teacher, unexpected visitors, or a trip to an unfamiliar place
- being a loner, or hanging out with a small group of group of people (who are often younger or older)
- being a perfectionist, taking a long time to complete homework because you try to have it absolutely correct
- being argumentative (but not usually aggressive), especially when trying to avoid a feared situation
- being pessimistic and easily able to identify what may go wrong in any given situation
- not answering questions and rarely volunteering comments or information at school or uni.
Some common ways that anxiety might affect your physical health include:
- dry mouth and/or difficulty swallowing
- nightmares
- difficulty getting to and staying asleep
- difficulty concentrating
- muscle tension and headaches
- rapid heart rate and breathing
- sweating
- trembling
- diarrhoea
- flare-up of another health problem or illness (e.g. dermatitis, asthma)
- sexual problems, such as not having any sexual feelings or being intersted in sex.
What can you do if you are feeling anxious?
Changing your lifestyle
There are many things that you can do to decrease anxiety in your life. Look at the things that are causing you stress and, if possible, change your lifestyle to avoid or confront those things.
Eating + exercise
When people feel anxious they often neglect themselves. Ensuring that you are eating healthy foods and regular meals as well as getting regular exercise will improve your overall health and wellbeing
Relaxation
There are many ways to help you relax. Check out the fact sheet on Relaxation or some of the many self-help books on the topic. Some ideas may be going for a walk, doing a class like yoga or Tai Chi, learning to meditate or playing footy with a friend.
Talking
Bottling things up is likely to keep your anxiety levels high. If possible, talk to a friend about the things that are making you feel anxious and see if they can be resolved.
What is an anxiety disorder?
If you are feeling so anxious that it is impacting on your day-to-day life, you may have an anxiety disorder. Check out the Anxiety disorders fact sheet for more information on the different anxiety disorders and how they can be treated.
Research has shown that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is very effective in helping people overcome anxiety disorders. People like your local doctor or a clinical psychologist can help you or refer you to someone specialising in anxiety disorders. Medication may also be helpful in managing symptoms and is something that a doctor or psychiatrist may advise as part of treatment.
Check out the Who can help you section of the site to find more about what these people do and how they can help.
The BRAVE program is a treatment program for adolescents between 13 and 17 years of age who are experience anxiety. Check out this link for more info.
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Libby
9 months ago
Reply ReportSometimes facing the fears we have can make us realise that there really isnt much to fear. Being afraid to speak in class is a common problem but if you think about it, the more you talk the easier it will become. What are some other ways we can overcome our anxieties in addition to the techniques suggested above?
Charlotte-RO Crew
9 months ago
Reply ReportI think a great thing to keep in mind is the importance and benefits of prevention.
A fantastic thing to help with anxiety is to work on getting to know yourself and what makes you anxious and when you are likely to get anxious.
Try making a list or keeping a journal and see if you can identify triggers and times when your anxiety increases.
If you feel comfortable; showing this to a counsellor can be really benficial as they can help you put preventative strategies in place for future anxiety causing situations using your journal/notes.
Getting to know yourself and then acting to prevent or reduce your anxiety is a great tool.
beautifulbbygirl
6 months ago
Reply ReportI have had my teacher think i have anxiety problems and i thought nothing of it but i decided to look it up. Turns out i had 9/10 symptoms. I went to see my school councellor and turns out she was worried about me. She asked me a few questions and i answered sometimes(1point) or usually(2points) then she showed me the average scores then added up my scores and showed me how bad my anxiety really was. She rang my mother and told her about how she was worried and that she recommends that i go and see and outside school councellor.
Edited by moderator 6 months ago
Antria
5 months ago
Reply ReportHey
beautifulbbygirl - it seems like there are lots of people in your life worrying about you at the moment! Its good that you found out this was going on for you though! Going to see a counsellor outside of school might be a good idea. I have seen a counsellor before because of anxiety and they were able to give me some really helpful information about how to cope and manage my anxiety :-). Hope all goes well for you!
Beehappy
4 months ago
Reply ReportI think anxiety can sometimes be a way of telling us to look towards some kind of fear and not run or avoid. There's a great book about this kind of mindful acceptance of our feelings called Full Catastrophe Living.
It made a lot of sense and has been pretty useful. Can be easier said than done but i find when i face my fears as Libby said it's a bit like a monster in the closet that once you look enough, stops frightening you.
Edited by moderator 4 months ago
O.P.H.E.L.I.A
4 months ago
Reply ReportNormally, when I get anxious or I start to have panic attacks, I do loads of stuff.
Edited by moderator 4 months ago
Hamid Reza
12 days ago
Reply ReportAnxiety is natural reaction to fear of something, we fear things because we don't know them, get to know things that you fear, get to know what are your fears and find solution to accomodate them in your mind, learn to take time to relax and meditate.
Edited by moderator 12 days ago
bubbly physco
4 days ago
Reply ReportAnxiety isnt something that happens here and there throughtout the week or the day it is like a disease or an infection and when we have a disease or an infection we get medical help. when i noticed myself acting different and wanting to start fights with other girls or boys i knew something was up and i knew that anxiety and depression ran in my family. after a few months i realised that this isnt going to go away, im not just having a bad run, i actually have a disease. I saw a doctor and told him what was going on and he prescribed me to the right medication i needed for my symptoms and after a little while i was being myself again and wasnt causing conflict with other people. this might not work for you but go and see a doctor even if you dont think you have anxiety or depression, you could have schitzophrenia or anything and being on medication doesnt mean your a bad or stupid person your actually a very brave smart person for wanting to help yourself and fix your life. Hope this helps someone who is feeling anxious and like there is no answer to this problem, because there is and its a very happy answer :)
Roisin - RO Crew
3 days ago
Reply ReportHi bubbly physco,
I'm sorry to hear about all that you have been through and wanted to thank you for sharing your awesome story about how you overcame your anxiety.
I'm sure your words of encouragement will help others :)