Anxiety isn't your enemy: it's a natural response that sometimes fires too easily. Understanding what it is, why it appears and when it stops being normal is the first step to stop it from ruling you.
In short
Anxiety is normal and adaptive: it prepares us to react to a threat. It becomes a problem when it's too intense, too frequent or out of proportion, and starts to limit your life. That's when it's time to ask for help.
What anxiety is (and what it's for)
Anxiety is an alarm and survival mechanism. Faced with a threat, the body switches on: the pulse rises, the muscles tense, attention sharpens. It's the "fight or flight" response, and in the right measure it's useful: it helps us study for an exam, react to danger or perform under pressure.
The problem appears when that alarm goes off without a real threat, stays switched on for too long or reacts out of all proportion. That's when anxiety stops protecting us and starts making us suffer.
Symptoms of anxiety
Anxiety shows up in the body and in the mind:
- Physical: racing heart, chest tightness, shortness of breath, muscle tension, dizziness, digestive discomfort, insomnia.
- Mental: constant worry, catastrophic thoughts, difficulty concentrating, a sense of danger or of losing control.
- Behavioural: avoiding situations, places or people; a need to check things or seek reassurance.
Normal anxiety vs. an anxiety disorder
Feeling anxious before an interview or after bad news is healthy. It becomes a clinical problem when:
- It's very intense or frequent and appears for no clear reason.
- It lasts weeks or months and doesn't ease off.
- It interferes with your work, your relationships or your rest.
- It leads you to avoid more and more things.
Is anxiety holding you back?
If anxiety has taken over your day-to-day, it can be treated. Find out how I work with anxiety, in person and online.
The most common types of anxiety
The word "anxiety" covers quite different presentations: generalised anxiety (constant worry about everything), panic attacks (sudden crises of intense fear), phobias, social anxiety and stress and burnout. Each has its nuances, but they all respond well to therapy.
What you can do to get started
While you decide to ask for help, a few things help: breathing slowly (with a longer out-breath than in-breath), moving and exercising, looking after your sleep, cutting back on caffeine and alcohol, and not fighting the sensations (the more you battle anxiety, the more it grows). Even so, these tools don't replace therapy once anxiety is already interfering with your life.
When to ask for help
If anxiety lasts, keeps coming back or is limiting you, don't wait to "hit rock bottom". The sooner you work on it, the easier the process usually is. The good news is that you can learn to manage anxiety: it's not about eliminating it, but about stopping it from running your life.
Frequently asked questions
Can anxiety be cured?
Anxiety is a normal emotion, so the goal isn't to eliminate it but to stop it from ruling you. With therapy, most people greatly reduce its intensity and frequency and get their life back.
Can anxiety cause physical symptoms with no medical cause?
Yes. A racing heart, chest tightness, dizziness or digestive discomfort are very typical of anxiety. It's worth ruling out medical causes with your doctor, but in many cases the origin is anxiety itself.
Do I need medication?
Not always. Therapy works on the causes and gives you tools to manage anxiety. In some cases it's combined with medication, which is assessed and prescribed by a doctor or psychiatrist, not a psychologist.
