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.