Anxiety

What is anxiety?

Anxiety is often described as a feeling of nervousness, worry or fear that can range in its severity. It has physical, behavioural, and psychological symptoms associated with it.

Everyone experiences feelings of anxiety at some point in life.  It is a common human reaction to stressful events or changes such as going into hospital, moving house, getting married or divorced or sitting exams and usually, after a short time the feelings of anxiety will pass.

Although anxiety can be a problem, the experience of anxiety is an important part of the way in which we have evolved to respond to challenges, sometimes known as the ‘fight, flight, freeze response’. One problem which our modern way of living has created for us is that our natural, evolved responses to anxiety are not as helpful as they would have been in the past. A job interview or an exam at school may provoke the same kind of anxiety as the threat of being chased by a wolf, but our natural anxiety response is a lot less useful.

Although people often consider anxiety to be something which happens in their brain and in their thoughts, it is actually something which is very physical as well.

Anxiety is experienced in different ways by different people. The following are examples of how anxiety might be experienced:

• Feeling apprehensive, tense, edgy and irritable.
• Having difficulty concentrating.
• Having difficulty sleeping.
• Physical sensations such as butterflies or cramps in the stomach, trembling, a fast heart rate and sweating.
• Feeling out of control.
• Worrying that you are having a heart attack, stroke or other serious illness.
• Wanting to withdraw from family and friends.
• Having a fear of being judged unfairly, which can increase feelings of low self-esteem.
• Panicking and avoiding situations which cause panic.
• Wanting to avoid public spaces (this is known as agoraphobia).
• Being tearful and unable to express feelings.

Personal Experience

Anxiety follows me around a lot, some days more than others. It seems to lurk in the background, randomly rearing its head at times throughout my day. I used to think that it benefitted me to worry so much, helping me to see the things that I need to worry about or to ‘solve’ and to be more productive. However, over time the things that I ‘needed’ to worry about have increased, so much so that I find myself worrying about things a lot that often don’t need to be worried about.

Types of anxiety

What can help?

There are many things that can reduce anxiety and make it much more manageable. Psychological therapies can help in developing coping strategies and problem solving skills. There are some medications which people may find useful, especially in the short term.

Many people find mindfulness techniques helpful for anxiety, and physical exercise can also be really helpful.

Other things that may help include:

• Taking a deep breath.
• Accepting that you’re anxious.
• Realising that your body is just doing what it has evolved to do, but this may not be useful to you right now.
• Questioning your thoughts.
• Using a calming visualisation.
• Being an observer, without judgement.
• Using positive self-talk.
• Consciously shifting the focus of your thoughts works for some (focusing on right now, or focusing just on the next step, or in other situations, thinking about something else altogether may be more useful).

Anxiety in Young People

Young people are likely to experience all the symptoms of anxiety which adults experience, but there are some important differences. Depending on their age and developmental stage, children may not have the capacity to understand that they are experiencing anxiety, or to connect their experience to something which has happened. This means that even when adults ask them whether they are anxious, they may not be able to say that they are. Children also express anxiety in different ways depending on their age and developmental stage. Anxiety is often expressed in children’s behaviour and it can often take adults time to understand that anxiety may be affecting their behaviour. We also now know more about neurodiversity which also affects the way in which children experience and express anxiety.

What is it?

Young people will feel worried or stressed from time to time, just as adults will. Feeling worried is a natural reaction for young people when they are faced with a stressful or new situation, such as starting a new school or sitting exams. In these circumstances the feelings are usually short lived as the young person adapts to the new situation or the stressful event passes. A little bit of stress for short periods of time can be useful, as it helps to focus the mind, motivate us into action and encourages problem solving.

Sometimes though, young people can feel too stressed or worry about things ‘too much’ and this can get in the way of enjoying life and achieving their goals. When this sort of fear or worry is ongoing it is called ‘anxiety’.

Young people can have many pressures on them that can cause anxiety, such as:

• School pressures.
• Exams or schoolwork.
• Moving house.
• Making friends.
• Relationships.
• Peer pressure.
• Bullying.
• Troubles at home.

As many as 1 in 6 young people will have difficulties with anxiety as some point in their life. There are lots of words to describe the different types of anxiety such as worry, fear, stress or panic. Sometimes anxiety can continue for a long time or might be so strong that it starts to interfere with how they live their lives and do everyday things but there are lots of things that we can do that might help.

How to tell if a young person is anxious

Young people may differ in the ways that they react and respond to feelings of anxiety and worry. For example some young people may become irritable and argumentative, whilst others may be more withdrawn and subdued. Anxiety not only affects the way a young person feels emotionally and physically, but it also affects the way they think and behave.

These unpleasant thoughts and feelings can develop into a vicious cycle which maintains the anxiety.

Common types of anxiety disorders in children

What causes it?

There are many different reasons why a young person might experience anxiety; it could be due to their personality, life experiences, family history and experiences of trauma, or because of their genes. We do know that anxiety can be more common in families where other people also worry a lot. Sometimes we may find the problems started after an upsetting or frightening experience in their life like being bullied at school, having an illness or loss of a loved one. Family arguments and conflict at home can make children feel anxious and worried.

Personal Experience

I have experienced anxiety in different forms for a long time now. For me, it’s there most of the time, like a parrot talking on your shoulder, or a radio in the background as you go about daily tasks.  It makes me second guess myself a lot and often convinces me that the worst-case scenario is more likely to happen than it is. It fuels my self-doubt and often stops me from pushing myself out of my comfort zone or doing things that I enjoy. It can also make me feel like I am disconnected from my life at times and can result in me struggling to live in the present, especially when I am very anxious.

Anxiety can make small things seem larger and it can be difficult to make decisions or rationalise worries. Even though I know all these things, it’s often difficult to stop it in its tracks and it can be very frustrating.

However, I didn’t want this post to just focus on these negatives, so I wanted to share some of the good things that has come out of my experience, because there have been some.

Five lessons my experience has given me:

• The ability to empathise with other people and their struggles, and this has fuelled my desire to help other people.
• The chance to meet lots of amazing people who have also struggled with their mental health in groups that I have attended previously.
• More of an awareness of the struggles that other people may be going through and reasons for their behaviour. 
• It has shown me the good in other people who have supported me when I have been struggling. Examples include previous teachers, work colleagues, friends, family and professionals. 
• It has helped to form my purpose and given my life a sense of meaning, and empowered me to make changes, not only in my life but in society too. 

I also wanted to highlight that anxiety is different for different people. This is my own experience, and it may be similar or different to yours. I also wanted to add that I still struggle with anxiety and on many days the positive lessons that I have experienced above are clouded by frustration, doubt, and fear. In these times it is almost impossible for me to see any benefits to my anxiety, and it feels very consuming and is not all beneficial. On these days I try to practise self-compassion, but I admit this can be difficult and I am not always good at this.