Everyone experiences some amount of anxiety when recognizing a real threat such as an impending car accident, the illness of a loved one, or a tiger chasing you. Feeling temporarily anxious and even panicked in such situations is a natural and healthy response that is hard-wired into your body in order to keep you alive.
A problem arises when you feel anxious or in panic even when you aren’t about to be a in car accident, your loved ones are well, and there isn’t a tiger chasing you, and when there is no real crisis threatening to undo you.
When you regularly feel significant anxiety or even panic when all is essentially well, that is a medical condition/disorder in your body just like diabetes or a headache. A doctor or counselor can help you confirm an official diagnosis.
I mention that it’s a medical condition or disorder in your body just like having a headache or a disease like diabetes because I used to feel a great deal of shame and embarrassment about my struggles with anxiety and panic. I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me and why I couldn’t fix it. I was embarrassed that I was taking medication for anxiety and panic, and at one time even developed a dependency on one of those medications.
That was until my counselor at the time helped me to understand that it takes more energy to hide than it does to just be honest. He also helped me understand that anxiety and panic really are nothing to be ashamed about any more than a person should feel shame about having any other disease or disorder. It’s just something not working well and there is no shame in relieving the symptoms and working to understand and address the root causes (and some of these will vary from one person to the next).
If you struggle with anxiety and/or panic attacks, I encourage you to let go of shame and stigma. Receive the good news that it’s just something not working right and that it’s ok and even healthy to tell others whom you trust about it. Struggling with anxiety and/or panic doesn’t mean you are a bad or emotionally immature person who just needs to work harder to get their stuff together. It just means you’re a human being dealing with your body not working optimally, and that you need to discover and apply the strategies that will best work for you to find relief. In order to do that, it’s helpful to understand something bout the causes of anxiety and panic, as well as proven strategies that help. That’s what this website is about!