ANXIETY
Anxiety is a complex problem and can affect anyone at any time in their lives. However, to comprehend anxiety, we need to delve into what it feels like, what it looks like and how it presents itself in our thoughts and in our bodies.
Some feelings of anxiety are quite normal and you could be just you having a bad day and feeling irritable. Nonetheless, if your worries and fears are consistently We often hear the word anxiety mentioned without fully understanding what it actually overwhelming and you are feeling different from usual and you notice a change in your behaviour, please reach out and talk to someone.
Is it anxiety?
If your symptoms affect your emotional health or make everyday life difficult, it’s a good idea to see a doctor to rule out any medical issues that could be causing the same symptoms. If your physical symptoms have no medical cause you could have anxiety. A mental health professional can diagnose anxiety and other mental health conditions.
Signs and Symptoms of Anxiety
- Thinking – mind racing or going blank, decreased concentration and memory, indecisiveness, confusion, nightmares.
- Feeling – Unrealistic or excessive fear and worry (about past and future events), irritability, impatience, anger, nervousness, fear of dying.
- Behaviour – Avoidance of situations, obsessive or compulsive behaviour, distress in social situations, insomnia, increased use of alcohol, tranquilisers or other drugs.
Feelings and affects from anxiety
- Racing thoughts
- Headaches
- Sweating
- Dry mouth
- Shortness of breath
- Pounding heart
- Stomach pain, nausea, digestive problems
- Feeling wobbly, trembling or shaking
- Insomnia or other sleep issues (waking up frequently, for example)
- Tearful
Learning self-compassion and being kinder to yourself
One way of dealing with our anxieties is being compassionate towards ourselves rather than critical. Give yourself encouragement and praise yourself when overcoming obstacles. Take a moment to think about how you treat yourself when you make a mistake or fail to reach a goal. If you tend to beat yourself up when things go wrong, you, like most young people, can use a little more self-compassion in your life.
Forgiving and nurturing yourself seem to have benefits in their own right. Strong self-compassion can even set the stage for better health, relationships, and general well-being. So far, research has revealed a number of benefits of self-compassion. Lower levels of anxiety and depression have been observed in people with higher self-compassion. Self-compassionate people recognize when they are suffering and are kind to themselves at these times, thereby lowering their own levels of related anxiety and depression.
Compassion Focused Therapy
Treating your anxieties with compassion can help reduce tendencies to avoid a situation and potentially improve your quality of life. Because you know that even if you fail, become too anxious to take on a situation, and maybe even have to walk away, you will have the compassion to react with understanding and warmth. This makes being scared much less scary!
What can help
Exercise
Exercise is the most important activity a young person can do. Lots of young people think the idea of exercise is silly since fitness isn’t exactly a teenager problem. But exercise does more than build muscles. It also releases chemicals in the brain that improve mood and relaxation, and tires muscles to decrease anxiety symptoms. It’s one of the most valuable tools for controlling anxiety a person can integrate into their lives.
A Healthy Diet
A healthy body is often the key to a healthier mind. A healthy heart, lungs, and muscles lessen the strain that anxiety causes the body, and allow a teenager to participate comfortably in healthy stress-relieving leisure activities such as running, biking, hiking or swimming. Additionally, a healthy body improves self-image, which is a fragile thing during teenage years.
Positive Feedback
Letting a teen know that they are worthwhile and can do whatever they set their minds to will help them to retain a sense of worth as a person when mood swings and teenage drama get them down. Even when they do something stupid due to a lack of judgment, it is good to be as supportive as possible
A Supportive Attitude
Even when a teen’s desires and dreams seem unreasonable or far-fetched, bear in mind that the logic and judgment centres of their brains have yet to develop. They are more likely to want to do the opposite of what you say that follow through with doing something you casually approve of. This type of attitude will limit stress on the teen by making them feel as though they have someone on their side and also limit strain in familial relationships.
Meditation
Meditation is a great way for teens to get time to themselves and also a method of teaching them to discipline their minds and bodies to work for rather than against them. Learning controlled breathing techniques and how to relax their minds at will help them to cope with all the stresses they face on a daily basis and provide them with a drug and risk-free method of escaping reality.
Joining a Club
Finding a club to join is a good idea even for young people that are not as comfortable in social situations. Clubs allow them to engage in activities they are passionate about, with people who share the same interests, rather than forcing them to assimilate to fit in socially and have friends. Having people to talk to and stuff to do, whether it’s knitting, reading, playing chess or protecting animal rights, is a reliable way to relieve stress and promote positivity and purpose.
Self-Help Books or Groups
Self-help books are a more private way of seeking help, while groups offer support from peers going through similar challenges. These types of resources can provide a teen with tips and philosophies to help them to cope better with their anxiety symptoms and to prevent anxiety from controlling their lives.
Therapy
Therapy provides a young person with someone to talk to about their anxiety on a regular basis and to offer them support and help when they have trouble finding it elsewhere. It teaches coping mechanisms to teens for dealing with the causes of their anxiety and helps to uncover unhelpful and negative beliefs and thought patterns that young people may harbor that lead them to feel anxiety. Altering these beliefs and unhealthy thought patterns is often a crucial step towards defeating anxiety.
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