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Do I Struggle With Anxiety

Create A Space Where Kids Can Express Their Anxiety

I Struggle with Anxiety

Youve probably heard of classroom safe spaces, and this is a great option to offer if you have students dealing with anxiety. A safe space is a comfy zone in the classroom where kids can go to decompress and regroup. Many teachers include glitter jars, headphones, books, or other items to help kids get back on track.

How Are Stress Anxiety And Depression Connected

Anxiety and depression can be caused by several things, including:

  • Sleep disturbances, like difficulty falling or staying asleep
  • Distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning

Advanced signs of a major depressive disorder include:

  • Feeling down or depressed most of the day, nearly every day
  • Diminished interest in activities you once enjoyed
  • Significant changes in your weight
  • Difficulty with sleep, like difficulty falling, staying asleep or sleeping too much
  • Fatigue or frequently feeling tired
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning

How High Functioning Is Determined

There is little research on the topic of high functioning anxiety, but we do know that there is an optimal level of anxiety that fuels performance .

Based on this concept, your ability to function at a higher level might be increased if you had a mild to moderate level of anxiety .

IQ may also play a role in how well people with anxiety function in work and life. A 2005 study found that financial managers with high levels of anxiety made the best money managersas long as they also had a high IQ.

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Famous People With High Functioning Anxiety

When trying to raise awareness of a social issue like mental illness, it can be helpful to identify well-known or famous people as examples.

Stars such as Barbra Streisand and Donny Osmond, and athletes like Zack Greinke and Ricky Williams, have all been forthcoming about their experiences with high functioning anxiety.

Scott Stossel, the national editor of The Atlantic,has written extensively about his experiences with anxiety in the context of his achievements.

When Is Anxiety A Mental Health Problem

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Anxiety can become a mental health problem if it impacts your ability to live your life as fully as you want to. For example, it may be a problem if:

  • your feelings of anxiety are very strong or last for a long time
  • your fears or worries are out of proportion to the situation
  • you avoid situations that might cause you to feel anxious
  • your worries feel very distressing or are hard to control
  • you regularly experience symptoms of anxiety, which could include panic attacks
  • you find it hard to go about your everyday life or do things you enjoy.

If your symptoms fit a particular set of medical criteria then you might be diagnosed with a particular anxiety disorder. But it’s also possible to experience problems with anxiety without having a specific diagnosis. Our pages on self-care and treatment for anxiety offer suggestions for help and support.

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What If I Am Not Happy With My Treatment

If you are not happy with your treatment you can:

  • talk to your doctor about your treatment options,
  • ask for a second opinion,
  • get an advocate to help you speak to your doctor,
  • contact Patient Advice and Liaison Service and see whether they can help, or
  • make a complaint.

There is more information about these options below.

Treatment options

You should first speak to your doctor about your treatment. Explain why you are not happy with it. You could ask what other treatments you could try.

Tell your doctor if there is a type of treatment that you would like to try. Doctors should listen to your preference. If you are not given this treatment, ask your doctor to explain why it is not suitable for you.

Second opinion

A second opinion means that you would like a different doctor to give their opinion about what treatment you should have. You can also ask for a second opinion if you disagree with your diagnosis. You dont have a right to a second opinion. But your doctor should listen to your reason for wanting a second opinion.

Advocacy

An advocate is independent from the mental health service. They are free to use. They can be useful if you find it difficult to get your views heard. There are different types of advocates available. Community advocates can support you to get a health professional to listen to your concerns. And help you to get the treatment that you would like.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service

You can find your local PALS details through this website link:

Causes And Risk Factors Of Anxiety Disorders

Researchers think that various factors may contribute to anxiety. The more risk factors an individual has, the greater the likelihood that theyll develop an anxiety disorder, notes Dr. Chand.

Emotion

An author of the study, Koraly Perez-Edgar, PhD, a professor of psychology at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, says that this focus on threat may be one way that anxiety begins to take hold.

Individuals who attend to aspects of the environment that they consider threatening can potentially create a cycle that strengthens biases toward threat, as well as toward the view that the environment is threatening, which can then lead to social withdrawal and anxiety, she says.

People can learn to be anxious in various situations, says Jonathan Abramowitz, PhD, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the founding editor of the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders.

This can occur through experiences in which anxiety or fear becomes associated with a specific stimulus or a stressful or traumatic event, by learning about something fearful, and through vicarious conditioning, he says.

Vicarious conditioning, says Dr. Abramowitz, occurs when you watch someone else experience a stressful and traumatic event like food poisoning or being bitten by a dog and come to see certain situations as dangerous.

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If Someone Has A More Serious Anxiety Problem Avoid Stigmatizing Them

What can we do for folks with more serious issues? People experiencing things like panic disorder, depression mixed with anxiety, post-traumatic stress, or obsessional thinking may fear that theyre literally going crazy. Helping them may feel beyond your ability.

You can still be supportive in many ways. When someone is experiencing significant anxiety, its helpful to reassure them that your overall perception of them hasnt changed. Theyre still the same person theyre just suffering a temporary problem situation that has become out of control. Theyre not broken and who they are hasnt changed. To the extent possible, you can help the person stay connected to positive aspects of their identity by participating in or encouraging their interests and hobbies.

Sometimes, individuals who have chronic anxiety problems arent interested in changing. For example, you might be friends with someone who has agoraphobia or an eating disorder, but their condition is long-term and stable. In these cases, you can be accepting of that person so that they dont feel isolated. Being matter-of-fact about their limitations without excessively shaming them or insisting they should pursue becoming normal is often the best strategy.

Understanding The Many Anxiety Disordersand Their Symptoms

Do you struggle with anxiety?

While the phrase Im anxious is spoken often, the type of anxiety that someone is experiencing can be hard to pinpoint. Many types of anxiety can impact everyday activities, like work, school, and relationships.

The following is not an exhaustive list of every disorder and symptom. If you feel that you or a loved one is experiencing any of the following, please reach out to your care providers to ensure that the right steps are being taken to support your mental health.

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Why Consider Residential Treatment

Treatment for high functioning anxiety is like other anxiety treatments. A combination of psychotherapy and medication tends to show increased positive outcomes.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is designed to help people deal with negative thoughts that lead to anxiety. Even though a person suffering from high functioning anxiety may not show outward signs of the issue, they are still struggling with internal negative thoughts and feelings. CBT can help identify the root causes of negative thoughts and feelings, and how to control or eliminate them. Alleviating the internal struggle may improve overall quality of life and allow a person who suffers from high functioning anxiety to thrive, rather than just survive.

Medication can also be beneficial treating high functioning anxiety. Usually, antidepressantsselective serotonin reuptake inhibitors , anti-anxiety medicationsbenzodiazepines, and beta blockers are prescribed to decrease anxiety symptoms. SSRIs take a few weeks to begin working and carry some side effects. Benzodiazepines work faster and have few side effects but can be habit forming. Beta blockers are generally prescribed to reduce heart-related issues connected to anxiety.

Treatment And Medication Options For Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are treated through medication and therapy. You might feel embarrassed talking about the things you are feeling and thinking, but talking about it, say experts, is the best treatment.

A particular form of therapy is considered most effective: cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT for short, which offers patients strategies to help change the negative thought patterns that have reinforced their anxiety.

Antidepressants the types of medication most frequently used to treat depression are the drugs that also work best for anxiety disorders. Anti-anxiety medications are also used.

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Mental Health Conditions: Depression And Anxiety

Depression is more than just feeling down or having a bad day. When a sad mood lasts for a long time and interferes with normal, everyday functioning, you may be depressed. Symptoms of depression include:1

  • Feeling sad or anxious often or all the time
  • Not wanting to do activities that used to be fun
  • Feeling irritable easily frustrated or restless
  • Having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep
  • Waking up too early or sleeping too much
  • Eating more or less than usual or having no appetite
  • Experiencing aches, pains, headaches, or stomach problems that do not improve with treatment
  • Having trouble concentrating, remembering details, or making decisions
  • Feeling tired even after sleeping well
  • Feeling guilty, worthless, or helpless
  • Thinking about suicide or hurting yourself

The following information is not intended to provide a medical diagnosis of major depression and cannot take the place of seeing a mental health professional. If you think you are depressed talk with your doctor or a mental health professional immediately. This is especially important if your symptoms are getting worse or affecting your daily activities.

The exact cause of depression is unknown. It may be caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors.2 Everyone is different but the following factors may increase a persons chances of becoming depressed:1

Hidden Dangers Of High Functioning Anxiety

What to do if a student is struggling with anxiety

When anxiety goes untreated, the potential for developing other serious medical or mental health issues increases. Research shows anxiety affects cognition, specifically memory, the ability to reason, and make basic decisions. Additionally, when people with certain chronic medical issues also have untreated anxiety, the risk the medical issue will worsen or cause death also increases. The stress of anxiety on the body can be significant, especially when left unchecked for a prolonged period.

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When Should I Seek Treatment

When the symptoms of anxiety and the associated behaviors are having a detrimental impact on your life and day-to-day functioning, it’s important to get help.

Suma Chand, PhD, the director of the cognitive behavioral therapy program in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri, says a person who has panic disorder is very avoidant of many situations that could trigger panic symptoms and the panic disorder is impacting their ability to go to work regularly, go shopping, attend church, and the like. The ability to function while in these situations is negatively impacted as well. If youre avoiding situations that trigger your anxiety or you experience tremendous discomfort and can’t function effectively when you’re in those situations, its necessary to seek treatment.

Figure Out What’s Bothering You

In order to get to the root of your anxiety, you need to figure out whats bothering you. You can do this by putting some time aside to explore your thoughts and feelings.

Writing in a journal can be a great way to get in touch with your sources of anxiety. If anxious feelings seem to be keeping you up at night, try keeping a journal or notepad next to your bed. Write down all of the things that are bothering you. Talking with a friend can be another way to discover and understand your anxious feelings.

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Tune Into Your Inner Dialogue

The inner dialogue that leads to the manifestations of a fear of intimacy is often deep-seated, and after living a lifetime as your own inner critic, it may seem normal to you.

Rather than accepting that critic, try to catch yourself casting negative self-judgments. Look to see where they are coming from and challenge and correct them when you can.

Strengthen Your Body And Brain

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Lifestyle changes can also be helpful for preventing anxiety and helping you cope with anxiety flares. What you eat, how much you sleep, and your physical activity levels can all have an influence on how you experience anxiety.

Research has found that mood and stress levels can be affected by what you eat. People who consume diets rich in fruits and vegetables, for example, tend to experience lower stress levels.

Research has also found that regular physical activity can be useful for both alleviating and preventing anxiety. One study found that physical exercise had a protective effect against anxiety disorders and significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety.

Sleep can also have a powerful effect on your mental well-being and anxiety levels. Research has found that problems with sleep are one risk factor for developing anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder. Even short-term disruptions in your sleep may lead to increased levels of stress and anxiety.

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What Are The Different Types Of Anxiety Disorder

This section provides an overview of the most common types of anxiety disorders.

  • Generalised anxiety disorder
  • Post-traumatic stress disorder

Generalised anxiety disorder

GAD is common. The main symptom of GAD is over worrying about different activities and events. This may feel out of your control. You feel anxious a lot of the time if you have GAD. You might feel on edge and alert to your surroundings.

This can affect your day-to-day life. You might find that it affects your ability to work, travel places or leave the house. You might also get tired easily or have trouble sleeping or concentrating. You might have physical symptoms, such as muscle tension and sweating.

It is common to have other conditions such as depression or other anxiety disorders if you have GAD.

GAD can be difficult to diagnose because it does not have some of the unique symptoms of other anxiety disorders. Your doctor is likely to say you have GAD if you have felt anxious for most days over six months and it has had a bad impact on areas of your life.

Panic disorder

You will have regular panic attacks with no particular trigger if you have panic disorder. They can happen suddenly and feel intense and frightening. You may also worry about having another panic attack.

Panic disorder symptoms can include the following.

You may also dissociate during a panic attack. Such as feeling detached from yourself.

Social anxiety disorder

Some common situations where you may experience anxiety are the following.

Do I Struggle With Anxiety

Learning traditional drum songs can be a good way to relax and decrease anxiety.

Anxiety is an uncomfortable, oftentimes panicked feeling of fear or imminent disaster, and is a normal response to danger. What makes one person anxious may not trigger the same response in someone else. Events like break-ups, exams, or family tension may cause you to feel worried or scared.

Everyone feels some anxiety at different times during life, however, it becomes a problem if you become so anxious that it interferes with your normal day-to-day activities. If this occurs, a long talk with an Elder, a heart-to-heart with a parent or mentor, or a trip to a Wellness Center may be a good place to start.

A few physical symptoms of anxiety are: dry mouth or difficulty swallowing, nightmares, difficulty getting to and staying asleep, sweating, trembling, and even flare-ups of pre-existing health conditions such as asthma or dermatitis.

Some mental symptoms could include: irritability or perpetually being in a bad mood, feeling worried, or a constant concern that something bad is about to happen, being pessimistic and easily able to identify what may go wrong in any given situation, or not answering questions and rarely volunteering to speak in school.

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Get Of Change Of Scenery

Im a total homebody, and given the opportunity, I am perfectly content going days without ever leaving my house. This is not always a good thing, especially when Im struggling with anxiety. My desire to hide in my home gets really bad and I seriously have to force myself to get out.

But when I do its always helpful and Im glad I did it. Creating a simple change of scenery does so much to improve how you feel. You dont need to make this an elaborate adventure, something as simple as trying out a new coffee shop can do wonders to change your perspective.

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