Having an anxiety disorder can make it difficult to live day to day life. Wether it be the stress that arises from attending to school or work to going to going out with friends it can be difficult to live your life freely. How can we lessen the side affects caused by anxiety and continue enjoying out lives with less stress? Well there are a few ways.
Method 1: Social Anxiety
Though it may not be possible to completely remove social anxiety from your life there are several steps you can take to lessen it. Whether it be concern what other think of you or a fear of saying something wrong there are methods to help. According to WedMd these methods can help.
Slow controlled breathing- By focusing on you breath for a short period of time, you can recenter your attention on a different topic and if your breathing was elevating, it is an effective method to slow your breath. In five seconds hold five out five. Repeat.
Prepare ahead of time- By being prepared for an event or party ahead of time can help lower intense anxiety; however, over preparing is not the point and could lead to even more anxiety. Being prepared and understanding the even can help without going overboard and planning too much. Practicing some breathing techniques before leaving the house or doing muscle relaxation could even help.
Focus on what is occuring around you rathe than intrusive thoughts- By redirecting your attention to what is happening around you rather than what you are thinking. Make eye contact with people and if you are starting a conversation but don’t want to talk a lot then try asking questions and let the other person speak.
Begin with small social situations- Rather than jumping into large parties or something that feel overwhelming right away, try starting with small gatherings and building up to larger ones when you feel comfortable.
Talk back to negative thoughts- though it can be difficult to fight a negative thought when you having racing ideas of what everyone is thinking, try to pause and slow it down. When a thought presents itself, talk back to it. Try fact checking, is this really true or am I mind reading? Then, think of a positive thought to challenge that negative thought.
Method 2: General Anxiety
Battling general anxiety can be difficult because there can be many different situations that cause it to arise; however, here are a few recommendations I have to manage the anxiety, some of which I personally use.
Ground yourself- There are many ways to ground yourself when you feel an anxiety spiral starting my personal favorites are using your 5 senses (5 things you see, 4 things you can feel, 3 you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste). I also enjoy cold ice and other sensory items such as stress toys. Finally, finding all the items in a room that are a certain color. For example finding everything blue in your room.
Fact checking- Once you feel more grounded, an effective method to challenge intrusive thoughts is to fact check them. Is there really a monster under the bed or am I catastraphising? Did he make that facial expression at me or am I mind reading? By challenging these thoughts with a counter thought you can lessen their power and further calm yourself.
Medication- Sometimes when anxiety becomes very severe it can be difficult manage on your own. This is where medication can play a helpful role in helping anxiety. There are SSRIs, Anxiolytic, Antidepressants, and many others you may be able to take but you must consult a psychiatrist to have these medications prescribed.
Therapy- Therapy can be an effectI’ve method to treat anxiety though it may not completly fix it, it can help significantly. There are many form of therapy to try, for example you could do CBT, DBT, ACT, Art therapy, mindfulness, and others. Test different kinds out and see what works best for you.
Method 3: Panic Disorder
Learn relaxation methods- By calming or grounding yourself you can decrease anxiety and try to become more centered.
Deep muscle relaxation- Researching and learning more about this method can be effective in removing muscle tension and is a method that should be practiced daily not only in times of stress.
Coping Cards- When feeling extremely overwhelmed it can be hard to ground yourself on your own but when you have coping cards you can use them in times of panic. These can be very simple or as fancy as you want and can contain positive reminders or statements to challenge scary thoughts, whatever will the most helpful to you.
Author‘s Notes- These methods are all recommentaions from my personal experience and research but I can only speak from my personal experience and it may be best to consult a doctor for medical treatment.
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