How to Explain Anxiety

When you decide to confide in someone about your longstanding anxiety disorder, remember that you may not always get the response you expect. Not everyone will understand the problem and may raise questions, such as why you cannot control it or why it impacts your life so massively. When you come across such people, remember that it is entirely normal. Not everyone can truly understand what you are going through, and they may require some time to process and accept your diagnosis.

Meanwhile, the following are some of the common things that other people may believe about your anxiety disorder:

Anxiety goes away on its own.

The symptoms of anxiety are persistent and very likely to worsen if ignored. The severity of these symptoms may fluctuate throughout life depending on different situations or circumstances. So experiencing milder symptoms does not mean that anxiety is slowly going away on its own. The condition is chronic and will return without treatment.

Anxiety is not so common.

While many consider anxiety a rare disorder, every 6 in 100 UK citizens suffer from it. These statistics indicate that over 8 million people in the UK battle anxiety at a given time, and unfortunately, less than 50% of these individuals have access to treatment.

It’s just an overreaction.

A lot of people may dismiss anxiety as an overreaction or laziness. Others may call you over-emotional, too sensitive, or even an attention seeker. These negative stereotypes can make people with anxiety even more anxious and isolated and may prevent them from sharing their struggles with others.

Why don’t you just stop worrying?

If managing anxiety was as simple as stopping to worry, no one would develop this disorder in the first place. If you have someone close to you struggling with this disorder, remember that it can be particularly difficult for them to get over it without treatment. There is no magic that they can use to snap out of it. On the contrary, it takes a lot of time and effort to overcome worrying thoughts and reframe them more healthily and rationally.

Simply avoid anxious situations.

For most people, it does not take much to trigger anxiety. Even day-to-day situations or objects that are impossible to avoid can trigger it. Even if it is possible to avoid these triggers, practising avoidance adds fuel to anxiety and may worsen it over time.

Social anxiety is just another fancy word for shyness.

Social anxiety, shyness, and introversion are commonly intermixed. However, in reality, they are entirely different terms, each carrying its meaning and specific characteristics. Introversion refers to how people recharge themselves in solitude, while shyness indicates extreme discomfort or nervousness triggered by social interactions. Social anxiety is entirely different from both and represents a much more severe issue where a person experiences high anxiety levels triggered by apprehension or fear of social situations.

Anxiety is always because of a troubled childhood.

Contrary to popular belief, anxiety symptoms are much more than negative emotions, thoughts, or behaviours. A person may experience a whole range of unfavourable symptoms, such as a racing heart, nausea, sweating, stomachache, and insomnia due to an underlying anxiety attack. 

Anxiety is a sign of personal weakness.

Anyone can develop anxiety, regardless of gender, age, race, or any other discriminatory factor. Instead of calling it a personal weakness or a character flaw, consider it a highly distressing mental condition that can affect mental and physical health parameters.

A peaceful environment calms down an anxious person.

While some people find it beneficial to get away from everything and spend some time alone in peace, doing so may not solve anxiety. This is because anxiety stems when the spiral of anxious thoughts and overthinking patterns gets out of control, and this is more likely to happen when you are alone.