Content Caution: this blog talks about some of the symptoms and feelings associated with Generalised Anxiety Disorder.
Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of many forms of anxiety. The main thing that separates it from Social Anxiety Disorder is the “thought content”. People experiencing GAD tend to feel anxious about a range of situations over a long period of time. It can be hard to relax and is more complex than simply being able to tell someone with the disorder to “stop worrying”. One of the most important things to remember about anxiety is that it can cause your brain to massively overestimate the danger. This isn’t your fault and can be difficult to cope with.
GAD can cause many symptoms:
- feeling restless
- having trouble concentrating
- having trouble sleeping
- palpitations
- dizziness
- nausea
It’s really important to ask for help if your worrying is having an impact on you and your life. For some, therapy can work as a way of finding the roots of certain worries – at which point you can figure out how to remove those worries or change your way of thinking to stop worrying about those things.
As well as therapy, there are things you can do yourself to try and reduce your anxiety. These won’t make your worries disappear overnight, but they can have a positive impact on how much thinking you’re doing!
- Using a self-help book/course
- Journaling your worries
- Writing your worries down and then ripping up the paper
- Practicing breathing techniques to help when you’re having palpitations
- Letting someone know that you’re struggling so they can be there for you if they need to be
- Going outside and getting some fresh air
Never let anyone tell you that your worries are “not big enough” or that you don’t need help because you’re “not worried enough”. For a long time, I thought that I wasn’t worthy of help because “other people are in worse situations than me”. There will always be someone worse off than you, just like there will always be someone better off than you. Help isn’t conditional: if you get help that won’t hinder someone else’s chances to get help. You deserve any help you need to get better.
Love and good vibes
Amrit