The Symptoms, Types and What You Can Do To Help With Your Anxiety

Anxiety, a seven-letter word that can mean a lot to a human, irrespective of who they are or where they are from. Almost everyone on this planet has experienced anxiety. It may be just a sudden shake to them or a whole week of tiredness or something they couldn’t control. Feeling worthless while the whole world ponders on them. Confused and burning in the heat around them.

But What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress. The world we live in today is full of things that we can’t control. Even thinking about this world causes anxiety.

Sometimes, anxiety is common for people, especially during tests or public speaking. But for some others, it may be a daily thing.

People with undiagnosed disorders, people who have gone through traumatic events, those who have lost their will to stay alive, those who cannot feel themselves in their own bodies, those who are not welcomed by their own families; the list goes on, live with anxiety.

Some physical symptoms of anxiety include:

• Feeling dizzy or lightheaded.
• Increased heart rate.
• Increased breathing rate or feeling breathless.
• Sweating.
• Stomach aches.
• Feeling weak and tired.
• Body pains.
• Panic attacks.
• Insomnia.
• Feeling overwhelmed.

Some mental symptoms of anxiety include:

• Low mood or feeling depressed.
• Irritable or tensed.
• Derealisation.
• Depersonalisation.
• Feeling judged.
• Overthinking.
• Fearing the worst.

The Main Types Of Anxiety

Types of anxiety include:

• GAD or Generalised Anxiety Disorder: 

This is the most common anxiety disorder, and when people say they have anxiety, they usually mean GAD. People with GAD are nervous and worried the majority of the time, not just when they are in a stressful situation. They frequently anticipate the worst-case scenario and struggle to manage their negative emotions.

This anxiety is enough to negatively disrupt daily life as it produces uncontrollable worry that makes it difficult for them to focus on what they’re supposed to be doing. Relationships, sleeping, eating and working can all be affected.

• Social Anxiety:

Social anxiety, often known as social phobia, is a condition in which people have a strong fear of being in social situations and performing in front of others. They could feel particularly uneasy in large groups or with people they don’t know very well. Someone with social anxiety may be afraid of being laughed at, humiliated, attacked or judged by others, even in situations that would not ordinarily cause concern.

Meeting new people, dating, public speaking, beginning conversations and dining in front of others or even going grocery shopping are some of the most prevalent scenarios that can strike social anxiety. Some of these things may not appear to be nerve-wracking, yet they can all be distressing for someone who lives with social anxiety.

• Panic Disorder:

Panic disorder is a mental health condition in which you have recurrent and unpredictable panic attacks. This can cause significant disruption in daily living, and each panic episode can be a terrifying experience. Shaking, heart palpitations, hyperventilation and dizziness are common signs of a panic attack, which can strike out of nowhere.

Those who live with it have a paralysing terror that makes them feel as if they’re about to faint or die. To put your mind at ease, a panic attack cannot kill you. It’s just that having a high amount of anxiety might make you feel unsafe.

• Phobia: 

When you have a phobia of anything, you are scared of it and will exaggerate any threat in your mind irrationally. People with phobias are often aware that their concerns are unjustified, yet this does not stop them from feeling anxious.

They sometimes don’t even need to be in close proximity to the phobic stimulus; just thinking about it or seeing it on a screen can provoke excessive fear or even a panic attack. Pteromerhanophobia (fear of flying), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) and entomophobia (fear of insects) are some of the most frequent phobias.

Things that may lead to major anxiety:

• Traumatic events occurred in the past.
• Current life situations such as Covid-19.
• Genetics.
• Drugs, alcohol or medications.

What Can You Do To Help And Self-Care?

Coping mechanisms can help a lot if they are safe and provide benefits.

• First, when in an anxiety attack or panic attack, use breathing exercises to calm yourself down.
• Talk to someone who cares.
• Write down whatever comes to your mind or draw/sketch whatever you are feeling.
• Go for a run or a walk.

If you feel like your anxiety is increasing day by day and making it hard to do daily tasks, try consulting a therapist, a doctor, a psychologist or even your school or work counsellor.

To those who are shaking, crying and screaming for help internally, who don’t feel enough in this world, who don’t feel themselves in their bodies, who feel like a liability towards others, who feel alone in a world full of people, who feel like everyone’s judging them: You are a human; it’s okay to feel things.