Getting The Help You Need For Anxiety

Adam shares five tips for identifying and accessing support for anxiety

- Adam Jones

Anxiety is something that everyone feels at different points in their life. However, the severity of it can differ from person to person. Sometimes, you may have to make that step to get help for when it gets out of control. When that anxiety builds, everything can feel scary. Nothing is simple. However, you’re not alone; there’s more people than you think that are going through a similar situation right now. Don’t’ ever feel like you’re a burden on anyone else. Get the help you need.

Here are five ways that you can get help when going through a tough period with managing anxiety:

1. Talk to friends and family

When times get hard, it’s important to talk to the people closest to you; the people you can really trust. Whilst it can be hard to acknowledge that you do need help for anxiety, speaking to your friends and family sometimes, can help.

Although they may not be able to provide professional advice, the people closest to you will know you inside out, and will be able to give you advice and look out for you, seeing as you may either live with them or see them frequently. If they don’t know about how you are feeling, they won’t be able to help as much. Please do speak up about anxiety when you feel comfortable enough to do it!

2. Get the external help you need

If your anxiety is quite severe, it could also be wise to seek professional advice. Booking a doctor’s appointment would be the first step in doing that. They’ll have a good idea as to what could help depending on the type of anxiety you experience and the severity of it. From there, they may refer you on to services like counselling where you will have the chance to talk about how you’re coping and how you feel. These counsellors will be especially trained to support the anxiety you’re going through as well as providing possible solutions. 

Alternatively, a doctor could decide to prescribe you medication in an attempt to aid your anxiety. Without booking a doctor’s appointment, you may not be able to find out exactly what help you may need. Whichever route you take, it’s always wise to seek professional advice and help.

3. Find coping mechanisms that work for YOU

Everyone’s methods of coping with anxiety are different. It’s always good to test out different methods that suit you, and to not persist with strategies that you don’t find helpful.

Whilst you need to find your own ways of coping, it’s always good to research ways that other people deal with their anxiety. This is especially useful information to have when these tips are given by people who experience a similar type and severity of anxiety to you.

However, if these tips don’t work for you, don’t panic. Everyone is different. It may take a while to find your own coping mechanisms, but it’ll be worth the wait when you do find ways of coping!

4. Learn to respect the boundaries of anxiety – then test those boundaries

Whilst you may be very frustrated, like I am sometimes, at having very high anxiety, I wouldn’t be tempted to go completely out of your comfort zone to push its boundaries straight away. Doing this may give you panic attacks, which could have a long-lasting effect, or could make you feel even worse both physically and mentally.

It can be great to push the boundaries of the anxiety that you have. However, it would be a good idea to find coping mechanisms that work for you first, then gradually push them. That’s how I’ve learnt to deal with my anxiety, and I feel much better for it. You can overcome it!

5. Help yourself by helping others

Even if you may have received professional help for anxiety, self-help can be a really useful form of therapy. Often, the battle with anxiety is ongoing, so it’s always important to take care of yourself.

One way you can do this is by helping other people who are going through similar things. It can be very self-rewarding and help reassure yourself when you give these words of support to others. It can be as simple as listening to friends and giving them advice. Another thing that you could do is write about your experiences and share advice with the internet, in the form of social media and blogs. There are so many things you can do to help others where you can also help yourself.

You can find more information and advice on anxiety here. 

Hello! My name is Adam. I study Journalism and Media Production (BA Hons) at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. Being a keen blogger and having several experiences during my academic studies, I hope that I can help people along the way whilst enjoying writing for you