anxiety

A look at anxiety in its many forms and manifestations; what is the nature of this specific pattern of extreme fear and worry?

Living with Anxiety
Living with anxiety is one of the most difficult things. It makes you dread going out every single day because you're scared of having a panic attack, so you decide to not even try. There are so many things you want to do with your life but you overthink them all, and begin to put yourself down. 'What if I'm not good enough.' 'What if I look bad in front of everyone.' 'What if I don't fit in.' These are things that I, personally, think about every day. I never speak to myself kindly and tell myself what's good. I always pick at the little things about myself that are bad, or that are 'not normal'. I hate the word normal.
By Kacey Strachan8 years ago in Psyche
Lowering Your Anxiety
I’m on a train as I write this. On my way back from Sheffield, to my current place of residence, Salisbury. The sun is shining and we’ve just come out of the Bank Holiday weekend. Everything seems fine. Or does it? Well, I thought it was time I aired some of my feelings to VOCAL’S PYSCHE subsection, it always feels just as good to write as it does to talk.
By Richard Brind8 years ago in Psyche
Fear and Anxiety Took 10 Years of My Life
All my life I was told I was smart. My teachers, my family all said I was like a little adult. An old soul, so smart and wise. That I was going to be something big when I grew up. And maybe if I was a Caucasian middle class kid, it would have happened. I was a poor Hispanic kid with an alcoholic dad. I didn't know then how sad I was. In fact, it took about 20 years to realize it. Growing up in a strict family, I wasn't allowed to go anywhere but school then home. But home was a nightmare to me. I lived in constant fear of things no child should have—whether we'd be kicked out of our home. If I came home would I have food to eat? Would my dad be drunk and belligerent? That's when worry began to take over my life. Growing up in the hood and being Hispanic made talking about these struggles impossible. Hood mentality is, "everybody's in the same boat," so instead of resonating with each other, we all try to one-up one another. Hispanic mentality is, "things that happen at home are NEVER to be spoken about to anyone ever." And so, my stress and worry snowballed. The more bad things that would happen, the more stress I'd get, the worse and worse I'd do in school. I became a shell of a person. Someone with no ambition with no passion whatsoever for anything. Even the smallest things I didn't care about. It wasn't till after I graduated highschool did the real fear and anxiety set in. I had nothing. No plans. No money. No skills! I kept thinking to myself, "next year it'll change, next year I'll change!" But the longer I waited, the more scared of the world I became. The one job I managed to get was so horrible it made me more socially anxious. More fearful of life. Everyday that'd it'd wake up I felt more and more like a coward. I felt more and more shame. That this kid who was born with so much promise failed everyone around them. The fact that I was in my 20s and my family still had to care for me made me a burden. I spent 10 YEARS that way. Let me tell you, when you've lived a decade with guilt and shame, it'll start to take a toll on you physically. It got so bad that I gained 100 lbs and fell sick and practically bedridden for an entire year. That's when I realized: WTF am I doing?! I'm really going to let fear and guilt kill me? Literally?! No way! If I'm here on this Earth, it is for a purpose. Even if I haven't found it yet, it's worth it just to try confessing each day that I'm none of those things my guilty conscious made me think I was. Confessing that I'm a human being of worth. That not having a degree or certain skill sets doesn't mean I'm any less of a human being than those who do have those things. Just because I don't have a college diploma doesn't mean I can't do amazing things! It only takes one change of mind to completely change your life. Just like one negative thought can lead to a million stresses, so can one positive thought do the exact opposite. I'm taking it one day at a time and seeing where it takes me!
By Ivy E.8 years ago in Psyche
Mental Me, Mental Lee
As Mental Health Awareness week has come and gone each year I have always thought about my own experiences and how I would love to get them out there, even if one person read it and it helped them with how they are feeling. The reason? Fear of judgment. Friends, family, and colleagues thinking I was weak or "just being silly." We hear it far too often and it suppresses us and often makes our mental wellbeing deteriorate as a result.
By Lee Thompson8 years ago in Psyche
Paranoia
Paranoia. A nagging sensation of unease. I can feel myself slowly being submerged in it. The emptiness. The anxiety. I feel like my bones are filled with lead, yet at the same time its as if I'm hollower than the bones of a baby swallow, gasping for air as I fall from a tree of uncertainty.
By Elle 8 years ago in Psyche
Nobody Likes Me, But Everyone Likes Me
I have anxiety. And not the kind of anxiety that doctors diagnose you with, because my brother has anxiety. He has anxiety and became suicidal. Because my brother has anxiety and became suicidal, my parents can’t stand the thought that another child of theirs has problems.
By Mikala Mays8 years ago in Psyche
My Boyfriend, Anxiety
He's always been a part of my life. For a while, he was that childhood neighbor that I never understood. As I grew up, we got closer. He slowly got farther into my life. I got attached. He isn't the best for me, but he's the most I have.
By Reyna Cannon8 years ago in Psyche
Anxiety
Anxiety. My best friend. I don’t say this because I love him. I say this, because he’s always been there. Through every. Single. Moment. That I can remember. Anxiety has been there. I just didn’t always quite know who or what he was.
By Social Suicide8 years ago in Psyche
Dear Anxiety...
Dear Anxiety, I hate you, but I don’t know how to get rid of you. You’re the abusive partner I don’t know how to leave. You’re the voice inside my head that won’t shut the fuck up. You’re my bully in school that has nothing better to do.
By Madison Elliott8 years ago in Psyche
Living with Anxiety
Unless a person suffers with anxiety, they will never understand anxiety. People think it's the same as depression or think that it is an excuse to be anti-social....it is not. Anxiety is the crippling cramps you get at the thought of being in an uncomfortable situation. It is the constant nausea and irritable bowel syndrome you get when you have a meeting to go to. The extra panic when getting ready in the morning because you feel so uncomfortable in your own skin. It is feeling all your imperfections ten times over.
By Kerry Leigh8 years ago in Psyche
Panic Attacks, No Laughing Matter
Side effects you can possibly always count on with most medicines: NAUSEA, VOMITING, AND YES, DIARRHEA! Taking medication to alleviate an illness or disease process is likely to cause these three side effects, in addition to other more serious side effects.
By Carolann Sherwood8 years ago in Psyche
The War With the Monster
We all know that foggy feeling in our heads or the moment when everything seems to be rushing by so damn fast. That moment your heart quickens and your palms get all sweaty. That moment you start to have a panic attack. Panic attacks are just one symptom of anxiety. Anxiety is a monster who shows up uninvited and decides you are their new best friend. A monster that makes you feel crazy and scared but convinces you that they are all you have. A crippling feeling of fear and panic that hits out of nowhere. When you all of a sudden can't move, can't think, and your breath leaves you like an autumn leaf falling from a forgotten tree. How? How do we develop this feeling of hopelessness and fear? How does our mind turn on us and eventually leaves us hanging?
By Katelynn Marie 8 years ago in Psyche