5 Things That People With Anxiety Want You To Know
A feeling of
worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something
with an uncertain outcome. This is anxiety – sounds like something
we’ve all experienced multiple times in our lives? Anxiety is completely
normal; it touches on many of our emotions which characterize us as human.
However, when you have too much anxiety it’s known as an anxiety disorder, and
it’s a lot more common than you would imagine. Roughly 18% of US citizens over
the age of 18 have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, in the big picture 1 out of 13
people worldwide have anxiety.
Here are 5
things people with anxiety want you to know.
1. Have some patience
Having someone
close to you with anxiety can really be confusing. You may ask, “why do we have
to avoid certain places, situations, and deal with irrational logic?” It Isn’t
their fault. Anxiety doesn’t have set criteria, it uses to choose the target it
preys on, anyone can develop this disorder at anytime in their lives. Trust me
when I say they didn’t choose to live with the extra burden of impending doom
lurking around every corner.
Emotionally,
anxiety takes a lot out of you, as the victim or someone close to them. Anyone
with anxiety will be first to tell you how much they appreciate you sticking
through the bad times and the good. It means a lot to have the emotional
support of friends and family, especially for times that are worse than others.
As they say,” You’ll find out who your friends really are” – this is such
a good example of the saying. Anyone who sticks it out through it all, really
is a true friend, and they really appreciate it more than they admit.
2. Don’t try to fix them
Anxiety Isn’t
something you can fix, pushing someone too hard will make things worse. The
last thing someone suffering with anxiety needs is someone close to them trying
to solve their disorder with brute force and persistence. Let them use coping
skills and work through the problem at their own pace, make them feel
comfortable, without being overbearing.
Most
importantly, never make a big deal about a panic attack or irrational behavior.
The more you talk about or bring up an episode of anxiety and try to diagnose
the issue, the more frustrated they will become and ultimately lead to further
episodes. Lastly, don’t talk about their anxiety with other people, it can be
embarrassing, and make them feel more uncomfortable than they already are. Let
them disclose their personal issues for themselves.
3. Know that anxiety is often misunderstood
There are so
many social misconceptions on anxiety, I’ll cover the most common, which are
also the most frustrating. People are lead to believe that anxiety always stems
from a poor childhood, fear, or trauma. This isn’t always the case, more common
than not it’s genetic, and your family has a history of anxiety, some cases
more severe than others. Another big one is that people seem to believe you can
just fix “it”. Anxiety disorders don’t evaporate with the morning mist,
although that would be nice, it isn’t a that easy.
For many people
anxiety will be with them for their entire life. With proper coping skills and
conditioning you can still achieve a more than decent way of life with time.
The capital offender of misconceptions is thinking you can tell someone to
“just relax.” Sadly, there isn’t a switch you can use to turn off someone
else’s anxiety, you’re going to have to sideline yourself and wait for them to cope
with it on their own.
4. Understand that anxiety doesn’t make you “weak”
Anxiety has
plagued mankind for our entire existence, overcoming adversity is one of
humanity’s most valuable skills. Some of the most iconic people in our history
have had anxiety disorders, even without modern medicine they didn’t give up.
In modern days we have social figures with these disorders and they overcome
and succeed on a world stage. Assuming someone with anxiety are weak, broken,
or wortrless is ignorant. Here are a few familiar faces you wouldn’t have
guessed cope or coped with anxiety.
·
Abraham
Lincoln
·
Leann Rimes
·
Johnny Depp
·
Kate Moss
·
Emma Stone
·
Joey Votto
·
Kim Basinger
·
Charlie Beljan
·
Scarlett
Johansson
·
Adele
These are some
of the public figures that aren’t shy about their condition and openly talk
about coping skills and how they overcame anxiety and achieved their dreams.
Many people are affected by anxiety, and achieve great things. I doubt you
would consider any of the listed people above as “weak.”
5. Learn how to relate to an anxiety you don’t have
Plain and
simple: you don’t have it, so how could you understand something that someone
with the condition has a hard time making sense of for themselves? Anxiety can
make those affected be irrational, and hard to reason with. Especially when
they know they are being irrational and still can’t cope with anxiety.
When you
experience something like a panic attack it triggers the famed “fight or
flight” response, which releases chemicals in your brain such as adrenaline and
cortisol. When these chemicals are released it slows digestion, increases heart
rate and pushes blood into your major muscle groups. Leaving you feeling faint
while your limbs go numb due to an influx in blood flow, and autonomic nervous
functions, when this occurs you can push your muscles to the absolute maximum
and achieve a great burst of strength and energy you normally wouldn’t be able
to achieve maximizing survivability, hence the “flight or fight response”.
If you’ve ever
experienced this before you can get a glimpse into what many people live
through everyday. Don’t lose hope, many have dealt with this in the past and
many more will deal with anxiety in the future. Try to understand them.
BY CAMERON KENNEDY
http://www.lifehack.org/363810/5-things-that-people-with-anxiety-want-you-know?mid=20160219&ref=mail&uid=687414&feq=daily
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