Conquering Anxiety: Introduction to Anxiety and its impact on life

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well. It is time for our very first post in the Conquering Anxiety series. This is an introductory post. For most people who deal with anxiety, you likely do not need an introduction therefore we are only briefly talking about this topic. 

What is anxiety? 

NHS UK defines anxiety is a feeling of unease, such as worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. It is normal to feel anxious from time to time such as before an exam. However it is an issue when your anxiety starts to hinder you from living your life. When you do not show up to your exams because you are anxious, when you no longer want to meet people because of how anxious you feel etc. 

Why does anxiety exist?

Because it is helpful in reasonable situations, it protects us from immediate dangers. Usually it encourages flight or fight state where you either wish to fight the situation or flee to save yourself from the immediate danger. Duke University professor Mark Leary put it, “A deer may be startled by a loud noise and take off through the forest, but as soon as the threat is gone, the deer immediately calms down and starts grazing. And it doesn’t appear to be tied in knots the way that many people are.”

The challenge for most of us is that the stressors are usually not immediate and even if they are the solutions are not as simple as the deer’s example. When we start to feel anxious about things that are out of our control or are way in the future, so often that it disturbs our life, then we need to put a stop to it. 

When your anxiety stops you from living your life or disturbs your routine where you go out of your way to avoid certain things and do other things to avoid worsening anxiety then it is worth checking with a professional about the possibility of an anxiety disorder. 

What areas of life can be impacted by anxiety?

We are specifically talking about the kind of anxiety experienced by someone who has an anxiety disorder. You will have heard of many different ways anxiety impacts but lets look at some broad common experiences. 

• Physical sensations like stomach aches, fast beating heart, excessive sweating, and feeling hot or cold. 
• Experiencing worry, excessive stress, and ruminating over things (rumination is obsessive thinking about an idea, situation, or choice especially when it interferes with normal mental functioning)
• In social life, people can withdraw from social situations to avoid heightened anxiety. 
• Relationships, if you are often on edge and experiencing anxiety, the disturbance it causes can impact your relationships. 
• Work and study, you may do poorly on work and/or study. 

Almost everything can be impacted but it can vary from person to person, therefore we have a wide list of anxiety disorders. 

What are some common Anxiety disorders?

People often talk about anxiety in general but this is an umbrella term and there are quite a few categories of anxiety. 

• Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Perhaps the most common one and the one people think about when we say anxiety). 
• Panic Disorder (panic attacks being the main reoccurring symptom)
• Social Anxiety (Trouble socializing)
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Often misrepresented in media, compulsions are one of the main symptoms of the disorder)
• Phobia-related (The list is extensive but the underlying factor is the inability to continue with daily life because you are terrified of X or Y)

It is important to understand that labels are only as helpful as the help they lead to. To some, it can feel validating to receive a label and for others it may be devastating. It is best to leave the assignment of such labels upto a qualified professional. If you feel like you have an anxiety disorder, please reach out to a trained professional. 

This series will tackle anxiety in general, the principles can help people across any anxiety disorder as anxiety is the main factor in all of these disorders, just the specific focus of it tends to differ. 

Questions for you. Please note you note you need to answer these questions to be eligible for the certificate at the end of the series. 

• When did first notice anxiety disrupting your day to day life?
• If you could do one thing without feeling anxious, what would you pick?

The above questions require talking about personal experiences which is not possible on a listener account, listeners, you can instead tell us about your key takeaways from this post.

Further Reading

What is anxiety?

The Evolution of Anxiety: Why We Worry and What to Do About It

This post is part of the Conquering Anxiety series, you can find all posts of the series here.