Everyone experiences anxiety at one time or another but there is a huge difference between normal anxiety and a diagnosed anxiety disorder.
Normal anxiety includes:
- Having the ability to control your anxiety
- Your anxiety does not interfere with daily activities
- Your anxiety only lasts for a short period of time
Anxiety disorder includes:
- Feeling like your anxiety is uncontrollable
- Having trouble getting and being relaxed
- Obtaining intrusive/ anxious thoughts
- Feeling restless and fatigued
- Dealing with nausea and stomach problems
A little bit of my story:
I remember many times, mainly in High School, when I felt so anxious that I broke down crying in class. My anxiety became so uncontrollable that I felt as if there was no way out. When I was in that state of mind it was hard to realize anything else going on around me because the only thing that was evident to me was the way I felt since the emotions were so strong. I remember feeling so lost. I felt so abnormal and inhumane for feeling so out of control. I felt so out of control because I did not the root of why I was so anxious, my brain couldn’t obtain that information. All I knew was the way it felt to have a whole classroom ignore you when you’re having a panic attack during class. If you have any idea what what that feels like, please research more about it. I can tell you, from my own personal experience, taking the time and learning about anxiety disorders lead me to decrease my panic attacks by a tremendous amount.
