Opinion Thoughts on Anxiety?

[TheHarlequinnCat]

I am someone who has people in my family suffering from doctor-diagnosed and medicine-prescribed anxiety. I am also someone who doesn't like being the 'squeaky wheel', since my sister has already claimed that title. However, I was wondering people's thoughts on what they believe 'normal anxiety' is and when they believe it has crossed over into something bordering disorder that would need help.


NOTE: As someone who has suffered from panic attacks (growing in number) for at least the past 3 years on a scale that is actually memorable, and frequently feels very apprehensive in day-to-day activities, I was wondering when (if at all) it is time to confront whether this is a self-contained problem or something that could actually be a 'problem'.


This has only come back to my mind since I dropped over half of my previous activities that I believed could've been stressors making things worse. However, despite this, I still have already had two mild attacks in this school year alone. The fact it even happened frustrates me b/c I feel like I dropped those things for nothing, and that maybe it is interfering with my life on a scale that might worsen if I don't think of a healthy alternative to cope.


I post this to hear other people's opinions, stories, and maybe their thoughts if they wanted to discuss experience and self-soothing tactics (I have my fair share of all of those). My family, contrary to what people may think reading the above, is anything but helpful (primarily b/c of the severity of my sister's, and the dramatic story on how/why she has been on medication for so long... Not to mention the price.)


Thoughts? ^^

 

[Ignitedstar]

This sounds like a very personal subject to you. Before taking another step, I think anxiety needs to be defined. How I view anxiety is probably not the same way you view anxiety, which may not be the same definition that the dictionary has on anxiety, which may not be the same term used by the medical field. When you speak of anxiety, what do you think about? What are you referring to?

 

[TheHarlequinnCat]

@Ignitedstar


The constant feeling of foreboding disaster, the apprehension, the heart palpitations and frequent chest pain afterwards/before... I think about just the worrying and the fact my body is going into fight or flight mode against my will, also the fact I feel as though if I get into a certain situation I may have a panic and I try to avoid it.. that just accompanies day-to-day tasks. Walking into school; concern and dread, I'd rather be home even if I know I can do it. Talking about personal matters with friends, I check my pulse because it feels like I'm going to have a heart attack. It's like I felt as though I really had those feelings because I set so many deadlines with my competitions and activities out of school- but I dropped all of them, even though I still love them, and it's still there; even worse than three years ago because I'm getting worse at numbing out and closing in on myself.


I just am afraid that maybe it really is getting worse, and that by the time I get to college in a year or two then I might start suffering the long term affects of having it get worse... :\ I was thinking about setting up an appointment with a therapist after I work enough to get the money too (I have quite a few things I have to purchase before that; glasses, etc.)

 

[Ignitedstar]

Okay.


Have I ever experienced anxiety on that level? Maybe. Public Speaking seems to do to this to a lot of people. There are studies that show the average person is more afraid of public speaking than they are of heights, insects, and dying. It's also a required course at almost all colleges and universities. The most helpful way of relieving myself of that anxiety was thinking about the situation in a reasonable manner. I thought about what I'm afraid of, then what's real about the fears and what is perceived about them. Then I thought about which fears are actually small parts of much bigger ones and which ones are more of an excuse.


Doing what I could to minimize those fears helps a lot. I was graced with a very lenient PS instructor who let me do speeches on almost anything we wanted (so long as it was college appropriate). It's a freedom that's a blessing and a curse, because there's so much one could talk about. I talked about subjects I like, not ones I am fascinated with because peoples' interests vary greatly. If I talk about something that no one can relate to, the less people who are genuinely interested. I wanted a topic that is general enough people would know what it is, common enough for them to sympathize with, something with no political affiliation, yet nothing too ordinary so it's still intriguing.


Coming up with a speech like that is kind of difficult, I will admit. I study my speeches meticulously. I hate bringing notecards with me, because I know I spend too much staring at them instead of at the audience. If I do bring notecards, I only bring one that reads, "Your notes are your PowerPoint."


My first speech was about what Toy Story did for me as a child growing up and what I think of it now that I'm much older. My second speech was about why all (yes, ALL) educational institutions do not allow students to use Wikipedia as a source which ironically required the wiki as a source. My third speech was about... something I forget. It wasn't as interesting as the first two, I remember that much.


Was I still afraid as crazy getting up there? Yeah, of course. But in a case like this, it isn't a matter of whether I can or can't do it. I have to do it. My grade depends on it. Otherwise I have to take the entire class all over again. Oh hell no!


This is just for public speaking. I don't claim to be an expert, so I'm not sure if I can offer real advice or even if this can be qualified as real advice... and I don't know if I want to write it down. I think I need more time before writing it down.