Do You Suffer from Anxiety? Here’s How to Overcome it
If you suffer from anxiety, you’re not alone. Approximately 284 million people worldwide experience different forms of anxiety, such as general anxiety, health anxiety, panic, or social anxiety. While anxiety is a normal part of our survival mechanism and can even enhance our performance, it becomes a problem when it interferes with daily life.
The good news is that overcoming anxiety is possible. As a clinical psychologist trained at Oxford University, I have successfully treated numerous patients with anxiety disorders over the past 20 years. I’ve witnessed people transform their lives and overcome anxiety.
To live a happier, calmer life free from anxiety, it’s important to understand its triggers and identify the type of anxiety you experience.
Understanding Anxiety Triggers
Anxiety can be triggered by various life stages and events, including:
- Adolescence
- College/university
- Starting a career
- Relationship changes
- Parenthood
- Empty Nest Syndrome
- Menopause
- Ageing and retirement
- Significant changes
Recognizing these triggers can help you understand why you experience anxiety and provide a starting point for overcoming it.
Identifying Your Anxiety Type
To manage your anxious thoughts, it’s important to identify the thinking patterns associated with anxiety. Here are some common anxiety thinking patterns:
- Catastrophiser: Always assuming the worst outcome and overestimating negative consequences.
- All-or-nothing thinker: Seeing things in extremes without considering a middle ground.
- Over-generaliser: Projecting a single bad experience into a never-ending pattern.
- Fortune teller: Predicting negative outcomes for future events.
- Mind reader: Assuming negative thoughts or actions from others towards you.
- Mental filterer: Focusing only on negatives and ignoring positives.
- Labeller: Defining yourself negatively based on one attribute.
- Personaliser: Taking responsibility for bad things beyond your control.
- Exaggerator: Believing that everything always goes wrong for you.
By recognizing your anxiety thinking pattern, you can challenge and overcome it.
Managing Anxious Thoughts
To manage anxious thoughts, start by identifying and understanding them. Consider the following questions:
- When you feel anxious, what thoughts come to mind?
- What were you doing or noticing before these thoughts arose?
- What triggered your anxiety spike and what did it make you think about yourself?
- What is your worst fear and why?
- What recurring worries do you have?
- What predictions do you make about future events?
- What conclusions do you jump to?
- What thoughts occur during strong anxiety sensations?
By answering these questions, you can gain insight into your anxious thoughts and work towards overcoming them.
Remember, overcoming anxiety is possible. With the right strategies and guidance, you can live a happier, calmer life free from the burden of anxiety.
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