When we think about anxiety, we think about it in two types of ways – either that you have it or you do not. Not everyone realises that we all have anxiety, it stops us from doing silly things like jumping out of a plane without a parachute.
We all need anxiety in our lives, but when it starts to take over our world and becomes something that stops us from doing everyday things, then it’s an issue we need to look at. When you think of someone who suffers from anxiety, you don’t think of someone like Ryan Reynolds the Deadpool actor. He famously announced on a talk show, that he has anxiety, yes, the one that stops you doing silly things but also the other type, the one that “Takes you to the darker end of the spectrum.”
Which I think is a great way to describe it.
Anxiety can affect us in lots of different ways. One of them being generalised anxiety, this is where its stop you doing something that you normally don’t mind doing. It’s characterised by excessive, uncontrollable, and irrational worries.
Social anxiety is when it stops you wanting to be sociable it’s as simple as that. You don’t want to go out to places, meeting friends or new people. You feel like you don’t want to put yourself in any social situation where you must be talk to someone. Social anxiety also has irrational thoughts and worries. These are called automatic negative thoughts.
Health anxiety is yet another way of anxious thinking, this is where you think something is wrong with you, health wise. You may go to the doctor for reassure but then you convince yourself that the doctors got it wrong. This is called catastrophising, and example of this is, you have a headache, just a normal headache but you convince yourself it’s a brain tumour, not just a headache. The automatic thought pattern is to think the worst-case scenario first, and not allow the rational side of the brain to counteract that. Anxiety can strike at any time in your life, and it can seem for any reason. Therapy is a great way of taking back control of these automatic negative thoughts. We can work together to help you move forward and away from the anxious thinking