Anxiety. How to recognise the symptoms and what to do to help.
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Most people think they know the symptoms of anxiety. They don’t! most people recogmise the symptoms of an anxiety attack. Prolonged anxiety has an array of symptoms. Here’s what to look for.
Like depression is not feeling a bit sad anxiety is not feeling worried. When it’s bad anxiety can be absolutely crippling. I find there tend to be 2 extremes when someone is anxious. Either they have to do absolutely everything all at once or they’re so paralysed by the feeling they can’t do anything.
Symptoms of anxiety
When someone has anxiety problems long-term you won’t necessarily associate the symptoms you’re seeing with anxiety. Most people think of anxiety as hyperventilating, sweaty palms, and looking as if they’re panicking. These symptoms indicate an anxiety attack. Anxiety can show itself in all these ways:
- Tiredness
- Difficulty Concentrating
- Unusual irritability
- Difficulty sleeping
- Aching muscles
- Dizziness
- Headaches
- Nausea/Diarrhoea
- The need to pee a lot
- Feeling cold
- Avoiding social situations
Do any of these surprise you? I’m sure if you picked a few of them you’d think the person had a tummy bug or maybe a migraine. They are all symptoms of anxiety though. Hopefully, these will help you recognise if someone you care about that has anxiety is struggling.
So now you know they’re struggling — what should you do?
As I explained in the post on depression just being there for them is a great start. It must be on their terms though! Even more than with depression it is incredibly easy to overwhelm a person with anxiety problems. Hold their hand, give them a hug if they want one, and try your best to project calm. Even if you’re worried they can’t handle your worry on top of their own. If there are things they feel they need to do to feel better then help them do it. It may seem irrational to you but if they need to do the dishes, or reorganise their books or repaint the…
