What are the symptoms of anxiety?
I'm curious as a lot of people that know me think that I have social anxiety, so I just want to be sure
Original post by Anonymous
I'm curious as a lot of people that know me think that I have social anxiety, so I just want to be sure
The most simple answer is being anxious. Everybody gets some anxiety from time to time (like before exams or job interviews etc), but somebody with an anxiety condition will become anxious more often than other people and/ or to a larger extent. So some people may become anxious about talking to people on the phone or about going outside or into new environments. For some people this anxiety will be relatively minor and they will still be able to engage in these activities (a bit like "normal" people with things like job interviews). For some people the anxiety will be more intrusive and may cause chest pains, a sick feeling, pains breathing issues or even panic attacks.
It's a really varied thing so it's difficult to say if somebody does or doesn't have an anxiety condition even if you're a GP.
If you aren't sure, you can check out sites like mind.org for more info or talk to a doctor.
You can work on anxiety without a diagnosis though and you don't need to have an anxiety condition to want to work on your anxiety- everybody gets anxious. I think this is pretty common with things like social anxiety. If you want to work on your own anxiety I would suggest looking into CBT. It can be a bit complicated to understand, but the basic premiss is looking at what anxieties you have, why you have them, if it's realistic to feel that way and (if appropriate) how you can start to change your thinking process.
So to give a bit of a basic example...
What? "I am anxious about/ afraid of jumping off a mountain"
Why? "I could fall very far and that could mean I hurt myself or die. "
Is this realistic? "Yup. Mountains are high and I am not immune to gravity."
Do I need to/ how do I change this? "It's an appropriate feeling so I don't need to change it"
What? "I am anxious about talking in class"
Why? "I might make a mistake or say something that people find silly. This will make me look foolish and people laugh at me/ like me less."
Is this realistic? "Not really. Yes I might say something silly, but everybody says something silly at some point and it is unlikely that people will old a lasting impression of me because of one mistake, even if they do laugh a bit at the time."
Do I need to/ how do I change this? "I could try to remember that I do not judge people because of one mistake so others probably don't judge me for it either. I could try to talk in a small class that I am a bit more comfortable in and see how it goes. If it goes fine I can try to talk in some other classes. Eventually I should get used to it."
That's a really basic example and if you do CBT yourself you can look more into why you feel how you do. Maybe when you were younger you were laughed at in class or somebody was mean to you because of one mistake. When you find issues like that you can work on them and how you can stop it affecting you so much now.
It helps to do that with a therapist for big or complex issues, but you can do it by yourself too.
But anyway, that's IF you have an anxiety issue. Some people are just a bit more reserved than others and as long as that doesn't affect you negatively you don't need to change it. I don't know your situation so I can't tell you which you are. You have to think about that yourself. Again, sites like mind.org can help you with that.
Hope that helps a bit. Just remember it's about how you feel not how others see you.
