When stress lasts for a long time, anxiety sets in. A person becomes worried and scared of certain situations.
Anxiety may motivate a person to perform better but in other cases may interfere with one’s normal activities. This leaves a person feeling down and unmotivated about many issues especially those enjoyed before.
It is a normal phenomenon and can affect anyone.
Anxiety attack could set in prior a big task; a job interview or an examination. Other causes of anxiety can be:
- Persistent stress
- Trauma
- Abuse(sexual, physical, substance, etc)
- Phobia
Anxiety can come in different forms. Among them are:
- Normal anxiety: The normal feeling of worry or fear prior to a big task.
- Health anxiety (hypochondria): It is a psychological disorder characterised by an excessive irrational worry about having a serious medical issue.
- Anxiety disorder: This occurs when a stress stimulator persists. It can also be caused by some psychological disorders.
- Generalised Anxiety Disorder(GAD): It is a marked anxiety for no logical reason.
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Phobias, Panic disorder, etc.
The most common sign of a person experiencing anxiety attack is a rapid heart rate. The individual becomes more alert of his/her environment and tries to avoid the situation they are in. As we see in people experiencing panic attacks and phobias.
The effects of anxiety disorders are:
- Panic attacks
- Depression
- Chest pains
- Breathing problems
- Headaches and migraines
- Fatigue
- High blood pressure
If anxiety is not treated, it may result finally into a number of long term problems like heart problems for example. Hence, a person may not have a normal life again.
Most depressed people experience anxiety attacks.
A person dealing with anxiety is required to seek medical help and also practice some activities like; sleeping more, exercising, meditating, spending more time with family and friends and also practicing self love.
You can talk to us at MANI if you need help dealing with your anxiety. You don’t have to keep quiet about it, or be ashamed to talk about it.
-Radiyyah
Good afternoon, I think I may be having Health anxiety (hypochondria)
I was diagnosed panic disorder for about 2yrs now, recently i started developing obsessive thoughts, thoughts that weigh me down in ways i can’t explain and i hate (thoughts like why do people have sex before marriage, is the woman I’m going to marry have sex with another, why is the society going that way, the worst part ok if they are promoting it why can’t i change like everyone else and go with the flow, why am i different), ( I’m an introvert, all i want is to be with one woman, i don’t have that ability to just flex or party, i want a quiet life, but the society doesn’t encourage that, i once saw a post that read “our 20’s are for living, then thought to myself, does that mean I’m not living life, people like me are pushed around, disrespected, thought as though we are not brave and just shy people, it makes me hate my personality sometimes, in truth my personality doesn’t fit this generation, I’m sure I’m not the only one realizing this, I’m INFJ-T ) believe me I’ll do anything to get rid of this thoughts… I got the contact of a therapist from a radio station who offered one day free therapy session in the name of mental health day and went to her office, almost getting lost in the process cause I’ve never been to the location, only for me to get there, narrated my issues, the disgust she looked at me with, I’ll never be able to forget, she questioned me “why are you judging other people”, it’s not your business, almost like she didn’t understand my situation, well obviously she didn’t from her response, “i don’t want to think this way”, i tried to tell her many times, I’ve done everything, challenged the thoughts, try to distract myself, but they are forcing themselves into my head… I regret that day but she did help me in a way, one of the last things she said is that, I’m beginning to have Obsessive compulsive disorder, i once read that untreated mental illness could metamorphose into other psychiatric disorders so i wasn’t really suprized but sad, but then again if she knew i had this new disorder why accuse me and blame me for the thoughts? Maybe because i didn’t pay, but she was the one who offered one day Free session, I’ll never know.
My whole point of my story was most times the only one that understands what we’re going through is ourselves, no matter how we narrate it, I can’t even narrate all, this is just a fragment of the thoughts I’m having, i don’t know how to narrate the rest, I’m sure Even someone might read this and still blame me, … In summary sometimes we can’t blame those who can’t speak up, sometimes words don’t even exist to narrate these issues but yet we go through them, maybe if there was a way people could narrate their issues in an anonymous way just like I’m doing and could be helped maybe more would be comfortable, as for me though I’m doing all i can, I’m only faced with two possibilities, commit suicide or fight with everything i can, I contemplate suicide from time to time when it’s getting really hard,but on reasoning the process, i just withdraw Everytime, it’s like they say, Nigerians love their lives… So I’m fighting, i know more about my condition and doing everything i can, downloaded apps to help also, to anyone else going through this please keep fighting, even with the help of a therapist at the end you’re the one who determines if you get better, and that’s why you have to fight cause you can get better… Mental health is important.
This was super helpful
I thought I had gotten over my mom’s death, I thought I had gotten over not getting my degree 2years ago, I recently just got into a relationship which I have triedy best to stay away from until I am very much stable and now I find myself over thinking and anxious almost every time …. I even started getting negative, my smile is fake and I honestly feel sad.