4 Things people get wrong about Anxiety

Anxiety usually stems from stressful events of life. However, sometimes these symptoms of anxiety can consume you totally and become larger than the situation that triggered it. We are often anxious when we are in a stressful situation or event. Going through anxiety is very common, we have more than 10 million cases of anxiety per year. People suffering from anxiety go through extreme levels of stress; a lot of times due to excessive worrying and stressing, their entire schedule goes out of proportion and that impact their day to day lives severely.

Anxiety can affect us in various ways, and for a lot us it becomes really tough to cope with anxiety. People who suffer from anxiety shows lack of concentration, having racing thoughts and many unwanted thoughts- this cognitive disbalance leads to poor levels of performance from their end. Anxiety also makes us worry too much, have feelings of impending doom, we are often very restless and show signs of irritability.

We now know how gravely this can affect us. It is very common among people, but still we have many misconceptions about anxiety, and we tend to not treat it seriously. If we do not cope with our anxiety or consult a professional, then it might lead to many serious behavioral, psychological and cognitive imbalances. It is rather necessary to know what anxiety actually is and how it can affect us. If we look at today’s situation of uncertainty, where people are suffering from this due to the Pandemic- we would want to pay special attention on what we can do to help each other. Firstly, we must try to not have any misconceptions about Anxiety; there are many possibilities that one might start to believe these myths around Anxiety. Therefore, it is necessary that we become more aware and try to educate ourselves and even others.

These are a set of myths around Anxiety which we immediately need to end-

If you feel anxious it means that you have a disorder-

As we mentioned above, Anxiety is quite common and we all suffer from this if a stressful situation triggers it. Therefore, it does not mean that you have an Anxiety Disorder just because you feel anxious. It is very essential to keep in mind how your anxiety affects you, if your symptoms are bigger than the triggering situation, then you might want to analyze yourself. Any change or uncertainty, like this lockdown, can cause Anxiety. Almost, half of the population of the world is going through anxiety, but that doesn’t mean that half of the population has a disorder.

You have an Anxiety Disorder when you suffer from extreme feelings of worry and many other symptoms like- fatigue or sweating, insomnia, nausea, palpitations or trembling. Therefore, please do recognize how common it is and think twice before saying that people suffering from anxiety might have a Disorder. Also, it really isn’t our place to form a judgment on what a particular person is going through, we are not certified psychologist. If we are worried about someone’s mental-health, we can advise them to see a counsellor or a therapist, but we cannot declare what mental-disorder they are going through. It is extremely rude and insensitive.

Some people like to worry-

It is essential to be empathetic and necessary to not pass our unsolicited judgments on someone’s mental-health. If there were an option available to people, they wouldn’t be suffering. No one likes to worry, similarly, no one intentionally gets Anxiety. People with Anxiety may believe that worrying may solve their problem, but that does not mean that they enjoy worrying. The symptoms of anxiety come to us very much involuntarily, and a lot of times we cannot control these feelings. Please note that no one enjoys being in distress, and if you cannot offer your help then please don’t even care to pass your judgments about people.

People with anxiety must avoid things that make them anxious/ avoid stressful situations-

That is the worst advice we could ever give to anyone. Avoiding our problems might help us temporarily, but in the long run it would just make things more difficult for us. When we say we need to cope with something, we mean that we to face our fears and try to manage our cognitive and psychological imbalances. Running away from our fears and avoiding it will never benefit us, it might make the situation more fearful and stressful for us. Therefore, coping with anxiety is to learn how to react to difficult situations effectively. The key to managing this is facing our fears and effectively dealing with it.

Medications are the only way to treat Anxiety-

Medications are not the only effective treatment available for it. Lifestyle changes can play a key role is developing our mental-state, therefore, we must work hard to check that we are leading a healthy lifestyle. Therapies and Self-care techniques can make a huge difference and contribute in treating very much effectively.