When is anxiety more than just a feeling and more of a problem? What’s the difference between anxiety as a feeling and anxiety as a problem?
Anxiety is a normal emotion. Our body’s use anxiety to react to stress and to inform us that there is potential danger around us or upcoming. Because of this, we can feel anxious from time to time without this being a problem. During highly stressful life events like starting a new job, getting married or moving home it is normal to feel anxious. Anxiety becomes a problem when we start to feel it on a regular basis in everyday life. This can be when our worries are out of proportion with relatively harmless situations. This can lead to situations feeling more intense or overwhelming and can interact negatively with our day to day lives and relationships.
What signs should we look out for that indicate we’re struggling with anxiety?
Anxiety can affect everyone in different ways however the NHS have listed some of the common signs you are struggling with anxiety. This could be when your worrying is uncontrollable and causing you distress, your worrying is affecting your daily life and social life, you struggle to let go of your worries and you worry about a lot of different things. These worries can leave you feeling restless or on edge, being irritable to friends, family and colleagues, becoming tired easily, struggling to concentrate, struggling to get to sleep or stay asleep and feeling your muscles are tense.
How often is it normal to feel anxious?
It is normal to feel anxious before big life events, during stressful situations or during difficult periods of time. This becomes a problem when your feelings of anxiety begin to affect your daily life on a regular basis over a prolonged period of time.
What could a panic attack feel like? How do we know if we’re having one?
Panic attacks are scary experiences and people do not always identify when they are having one or have had one. The symptoms of a panic attack can be increased heart rate, feeling faint, dizzy or light headed, feeling that you are losing control, excessive sweating, trembling or shaking, breathing quickly or feeling short of breath, feeling a tingling in your fingers or lips or feeling sick.
Is anxiety the same as worry? How long should anxiety last for?
The biggest difference between anxiety and worry is that worry is a temporary feeling. We worry about concerning situations and we use our problem solving skills to address this. For example we could worry about a loved one who is going through a hard time and to address this we would speak to them and offer support.
Anxiety is persistent and we are unable to reduce it even when our concerns are unrealistic. Anxiety also generally leads to us having a reduced ability to function in our daily lives. Anxiety can last for different periods of time, from a few minutes to a few days. For someone who is struggling with anxiety these feelings may not go away for weeks, months or years.
How can someone get rid of their crippling anxiety? Who should they turn to?
There are lots of different ways people can get support for dealing with their anxiety. Through speaking with your GP you may be asked to complete talking therapies free of charge. These are also sometimes called Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services (IAPT). Your GP may also prescribe you medications which will help to suppress your feelings of anxiety. Charities like Anxiety UK and Mind also provide information and support for people struggling with anxiety. Your local library may also provide a reading well section which provides helpful information and support for managing common mental health conditions.
Are there any daily habits someone could implement to lower their chances of anxiety?
There are lots of different habits which we can develop to help reduce our anxiety levels on a daily basis. Using mindfulness or breathing exercises can be helpful to reduce tension and to move our focus on to the present moment. Keeping a diary of what you are doing and how you feel at different times can also help you to identify what is causing your anxiety and then take steps to tackle this.
By avoiding difficult situations we will keep our anxieties going over a longer period of time. By tackling these as soon as we can, we can reduce our overall anxiety and gradually see that these situations are ok and we can deal with them. If you feel that your anxieties and worries are overwhelming it may be beneficial to set aside a specific time to address these concerns. This will help you to focus on other things during the rest of the day. When were anxious we can stop viewing things rationally. Looking at our problems from a different view point can help make it easier to develop a plan to address these.
Self – help cognitive behaviour techniques are also available on the NHS website and may be helpful: https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-wellbeing-tips/self-help-cbt-techniques/. And last but not least, sharing your concerns with family members, friends, colleagues, anyone you feel comfortable to can help. You never know if they have been dealing with something similar and they may be able to provide you with advice and support going forward.