I know better than to self diagnose but I've taken many tests and talked to medically diagnosed people with anxiety disorder, and they've all told me I display the symptoms. I over exaggerate smaller problems and worry too much and over think every little thing, you name it I likely do it. are there any particular signs that actually PROVE I have it? It seems to be getting worse.:help:
That's a really frustrating aspect of mental issues. Its nearly impossible to "prove" an anxiety issue. First, if this is causing a disruption in your life, it's real, and I highly suggest talking to a professional. Beyond that, if anyone doubts you, the word of any such professional should be enough for just about anyone.
As someone with (fairly severe) diagnosed anxiety, here's what I know about it- First, there's no real way to prove you have anything. The main thing that matters is really whether or not it's affecting your life and, like Tiger said, causing a disruption. Sometimes anxiety is normal and even helpful- anxiety before a test might make you study more. But if you find yourself constantly dreading car rides because you're afraid you'll crash, that's disruptive and unhelpful. Really the only way to get (most) everyone to believe you is to go to a psychiatrist or a therapist and have them diagnose you. I'm gonna be honest, though, there's no easy solution for anxiety. Most doctors won't give addictive anxiety meds like Xanax to anyone under 18. There are a few non-addictive ones, but from what I've heard and experienced, they make you feel pretty zoned-out. The one I tried made me incredibly dizzy constantly, like the room was spinning, which gave me more anxiety than it relieved. Really the best way to help anxiety is just therapy and working on trying to banish/ignore thoughts that freak you out. A lot of self-talk, letting logic in. For me, and this is gonna sound pretty weird, but what helped was literally naming the emotional part of my brain, and telling it to shut up when it's being ridiculous. "You might get kidna-" "SHUT UP BRIAN THAT'S NOT EVEN GONNA HAPPEN" For me, this is what anxiety looks like- I'll have this fear of impending doom sometimes. I'll have lots of little reasons for why, but in the end, it seems to be reasonless. I have these sort of bad memories, except they're things that never happened and probably never will. Basically accidental daydreaming about terrible things. When you find yourself thinking/feeling sure that something bad is gonna happen that has a small chance of actually happening, that's a pretty good sign for anxiety. Lots of people get physical symptoms too. Like, a fluttery/fast heart rate, butterflies in your stomach, a stomach ache. Generally your anxiety needs to be decently bad to experience any of those. If you let your feelings keep you from doing everyday things, that's a big sign that you need professional help. To me, self-diagnosing has always felt useless. The only reason you would self-diagnose is to be able to tell people you have it, which doesn't really do anything to be honest. If you get a real diagnosis, though, you can get help with fixing it, and you can even get help with certain things at school if it's bad enough. (Lots of schools will give you a pass to keep with you that you can show your teacher when you start having an anxiety attack. It'll let you leave class, no questions asked, to go to the nurse/school counselor/designated school support person until you calm down.)
If you do have anxiety one of the biggest things to remember is you tend to over exaggerate the problem while underestimating your ability to deal with it. If planning things or seemingly large tasks seem to make it worse try breaking then down in to smaller steps. Try to define a clear starting place no matter how big or small a task may be and if you find your self getting overwhelmed take a break. Make sure to focus on the task you are currently doing and not what you need to be doing later or what you have already done. As a person who suffers from anxiety these are a few things that help me manage it. The biggest part of anxiety is worrying about what will happen in the future if you catch your self doing that a lot chances are you have anxiety to some degree and just try and make your self deal with what you are currently doing.
I have anxiety, it's tied to my hormones (for a few days a months I'm a wreck, and I know it's 'in my head' but my head doesn't believe that). My anxiety bubbles up quietly, and before I know it I'm in its grip. I feel like I get in people's way, that I don't belong anywhere, I recount every stupid thing I've ever done and tell myself I'm absolutely worthless. It's not just the thoughts though, it's a crippling feeling, I feel it in my chest and throat, they tighten, I cry uncontrollably, I clench my fists, I feel like the moment won't pass and I'll feel like that forever. It could be nothing that brings it on or maybe I'm feeling down and someone looks at me the wrong way and I feel judged and it sets it off. My breath quickens, I feel like I can't take air into my lungs properly and sometimes I feel light headed. I've been to see a doctor many times, but I'm always offered meds. I'd rather talk to someone, I'm too scared of feeling numb or becoming dependant, and over the years have figured out my triggers and how to avoid them. I've never been put on the waiting list for talking to someone because I've never tried to take my life, therefore I'm not eligible as the waiting list is too long. Anxiety is hard to explain, I imagine it's different for everyone. Attacks for me last a few minutes to a few hours, and depending how long it goes on the after effects can last for days. The main thing I can probably tell you from my experience is remember that there is the truth of the situation the way you feel about it. For me, it's trying to convince my feelings what I know to be true in my head. I didn't understand what people meant when they said 'their demons' till I had my very own telling me what a worthless £&@* I was, have to convince yourself it's wrong. If you do find yourself have this, try writing in a journal every time you have an attack. What I do is write out every horrible thing I tell myself (sometimes writing it down feels like it flows out of you and onto the page, so out of you head) and when you feel the attack has passed, read through it and give your counter argument as to why it's not true. When I started doing this it forced myself to really think about how I was viewing a situation. Don't get me wrong, I still get anxiety, and the thoughts never really go away, but by doing this I feel like I'm gaining some control over my thought pattern instead of letting it own me. I'm not sure I've explained it well, but to me being critical of myself was the next best thing to therapy (but also incredibly hard). I hope you're ok though, anxiety isn't an easy thing to talk about.
