Mental illness can be a difficult thing to deal with, mainly because it can be hard to tell when it is time to get help. For an issue like anxiety, one of the biggest reasons why it is so easily ignored is how tricky it can be to differentiate between normal anxiety and anxiety that is related to a specific disorder. Anxiety is also an increasingly common thing in the US, affecting a large portion of the population.
It may appear that once the anxiety becomes excessive you will know the difference and seek out help, but for those dealing with the condition it can be more complicated than that. For many, the anxiety may feel justified, making it an overwhelming sense of guilt that the person is experiencing the anxiety because that’s “just who they are”. As you can imagine, this line of thinking can be toxic and only serve to exacerbate the condition, so it’s important to seek help if you are experiencing any symptoms of an anxiety disorder.
Though there are many myths about anxiety, there are also many reasons as to why seeking help or talking to someone about your anxiety is beneficial, but we’ve compiled a list of 6 points too consider when thinking about anxiety:
Anxiety Builds Up And Perpetuates Itself
An important thing to understand when dealing with anxiety is that it is easily perpetuated by itself. Dealing with anxiety can mean cycles of worry, with the notion of being worried causing more worry and sending you further into anxiety. Speaking about this with a medical professional can help you with ways to cope with this and help yourself break out of anxiety loops and other similar cycles.
Anxiety Can Affect Your Routines
When dealing with a heavy amount of anxiety, it can seem impossible to do normal things. This is because anxiety can feel like everything is closing in, preventing you from having the drive to go about your daily life. This can be avoided with proper treatment, but before then your daily routine may be affected by the anxiety you’re dealing with.
It’s Hard To Be Self-Aware With Anxiety
It may seem like a natural thing to try and educate yourself on how anxiety works and become self-aware about it, but this is much harder than it seems. Speaking with a medical professional will give you the tools to not only speak about your anxiety with others but begin the steps to eradicate it through healthy thinking patterns, allowing you to also check in on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
It Feels Good To Air Your Anxieties
One of the most difficult things about anxiety is how it can feel so overwhelming in your head, but then seem benign once spoken aloud to someone else. This is why you should describe to someone else your anxieties in order to see how absurd they can be, which will undoubtedly help you process them as well.
Anxiety Can Cloud Your Judgement
People dealing with anxiety often feel a lot of guilt for decisions they have made, which can inevitably cause them to fear making decisions in favor of being cautious. There is nothing wrong with being cautious and learning from your mistakes, but being overwhelmed by this fear constantly due to anxiety can ultimately be counterproductive and encourage you to live in fear. This will affect your judgement, making you not as confident as normal and your decisions directed by what your anxiety will let you risk or not.
Talking With Someone Is The First Step To Solving Anxiety
It may seem like there are other ways in which you can tamper anxiety on your own, but these methods are ultimately useless when compared to talking with someone, preferably a medical professional. It may seem trite, but talking with someone is the only true first step you can take to dealing with anxiety in a healthy, productive way, and it often opens one up to an entirely new understanding.