Anxiety & anxiety disorders – how to get help when EVERYTHING seems threatening!

When EVERYTHING seems threatening! Why anxiety makes you feel that everything seems to be totally wrong and where to find help.

Anxiety - when EVERYTHING seems threatening! - anxiety - anxiety disorder - help - emotions - feelings - thinking - thoughts - free initial session - embarrass - expose - strategy - psychologist

Anxiety is a very engrossing feeling that counts as a basic emotion. It can crawl into your mind and tell you that literally EVERYTHING is totally wrong – up to “being just right” at this very moment.

An anxiety disorder manages to fundamentally change the way you think. On the one hand, things that have always triggered negative feelings such as fear, disgust or antipathy will seem massively threatening – on the other hand, your brain will even process things that previously seemed helpful as scary and threatening.

For example: you’re afraid of social situations, of coming into contact with strangers, of possibly embarrassing or exposing yourself. Your anxiety disorder therefore makes you perceive typically negatively associated stimuli as threatening – talking to staff in the supermarket, small talk with acquaintances you meet on the street, travelling on public transport, any performance situations in your training or job and so on.

Anxiety – when EVERYTHING seems threatening! Not only negatively associated stimuli are experienced as threatening in the context of an anxiety disorder, but also originally positive stimuli, such as a phone call with your best friend, the weekly workout at the gym and a walk with your dog. Your anxiety disorder can then give you thoughts such as: ‘My friend will think I’ve gone completely crazy’, ‘What if I do something stupid at the gym and everyone looks at me?’ or ‘I’d better not go out with the dog today, otherwise someone might talk to me in the park and then I’ll say something embarrassing’.

The culmination of an anxiety build-up ultimately lies in even being afraid of a state in which you feel ‘completely fine’ – because what if you can’t maintain this state in the long run and never recreate it again?

If you’re feeling helpless because of your thoughts, talk to someone you trust, take your meds, become aware of the effects of anxiety disorders, practise techniques to distance yourself from anxious thoughts and/or go see your psychologist.

Do you know the feeling of anxiety? How do you normally deal with it? Would you like to learn any more helpful strategies?

Let’s talk about it in a free initial session!

#anxiety #psychology #weekend 

Anxiety - when EVERYTHING seems threatening! - anxiety - anxiety disorder - help - emotions - feelings - thinking - thoughts - free initial session - embarrass - expose - strategy - psychologist