Anxiety

 

What is Anxiety?

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• A temporary response to a stressful situation.

• Feeling worried or afraid about something. But this feeling passes, and it does not interfere with any other areas of life.

• Anxiety can sometimes reach a crisis point where it becomes overwhelming and turns into an anxiety problem

 

What can you do about it?

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• Acknowledge your anxiety and think about the practical things you can do to manage the things that make you anxious.

• Remind yourself of any past successes and strategies that you have used in the past that worked in situations that made you anxious.

• Develop a coping plan. For example, if you feel anxious about attending a social event you can role-play possible scenarios for how to respond when you are there. Make an agreement with yourself that if you are not having fun after a set time you can leave the event. This is better than avoiding going to the event completely. 

• Try to avoid accidentally reinforcing your anxiety by avoiding the things that you find anxiety provoking. If you can engage with the thing even in a gradual way it will still be good for you.

• It's good to talk - Feelings of anxiety are usually worse when we are unable to talk with someone about what we are experiencing. You could try speaking with a counsellor to see if this helps.