I have anxiety: how do I tell my environment?

Tips on how to communicate what happens to us when we suffer from anxiety problems.

Anxiety problems not only produce discomfort due to the immediate experience of noticing how the feelings linked to stress and anxiety spread through our body.

They also put us in the complex situation of having to manage our personal relationships at the same time that we suffer from this excess anxiety, and to explain what is happening to us to avoid misunderstandings, so that others can take it into account and, if necessary, so that they can help us at key moments.

In this article I will offer several tips on how to explain to the people around you that you have an anxiety problem in your daily life. in the day to day.

The main thing you need to know about anxiety problems.

Let's start with the key ideas that we need to understand in order to know what anxiety problems are. This is a term used to refer in a general way to a set of experiences associated with discomfort, which have to do with anxiety, and which detract from our quality of life more than they give us.

On the other hand, anxiety is a completely natural psychological and physiological phenomenon, and that in most cases In fact, it is a resource that helps us to survive and adapt to life's complications, predisposing us to be alert in special situations and to react quickly to avoid unnecessary dangers and risks.

However, as with any other Biological or psychological trait, what is normally adaptive can give rise to health alterations (physical or mental, respectively).

As anxiety is always linked to a certain context and on the other hand is related to the way we have learned to manage emotions, almost without realizing it, we can develop a maladaptive way of living anxiety.

In some cases this causes us to suffer general discomfort caused by excessively high levels of anxiety, and in the most extreme cases, this discomfort takes a qualitative leap and becomes part of a psychopathology, such as any of the anxiety disorders (phobias, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, etc.).

On the other hand, there are other psychopathologies that are also capable of making us overly anxious: major depression, OCD, drug addictions, etc. In other words, all anxiety disorders are all anxiety disorders are anxiety problems, but not all anxiety problems are psychological disorders..

But regardless of whether we suffer from a psychological disorder that is behind our anxiety problem, what we do when interacting with the environment and managing our emotions and thoughts can help us to overcome the discomfort and gain in quality of life. Of course, if we suffer from a psychopathology it will be essential to go to therapy.

How to communicate that I have anxiety problems?

When communicating to your environment everything related to your anxiety problem, keep in mind the following tips.

1. Do not use "labels" to describe your essence.

As we have seen, anxiety problems are always linked to a particular context and a history of previous learning, which you may have done consciously or unconsciously. That is to say, that the fact that you feel anxious on a frequent basis does not say much about the core of your identity, nor does it describe your essence..

Keep this in mind when explaining what is going on with you, because if you use stigmatizing labels with yourself, you will be predisposing others to do so as well. You are not an anxious person, but you are in a situation that generates anxiety problems for you, which can go away just as they have come.

2. It uses examples

The anxiety is a complex phenomenon, and it is complicated to understand in what consists sticking to abstract ideas. Better that you combine them with examples and practical cases about how anxiety problems affect you in your day to day life..

3. Explain how what is happening to you can affect your relationships.

It is important that you put special emphasis on the social implications of your anxiety problems, since explaining this part is the part that has the most practical utility.. Of course, if you want your interlocutor to understand you at a deeper level, explain also the other areas of your life.

4. Make it clear that your reaction to anxiety peaks is not something you choose.

Extreme anxiety has the ability to make us lose control of what we do.. Therefore, it is important that others understand that what we do in those moments does not represent us as much as what we do at any other time. This way you will avoid misunderstandings.

Looking for psychological support?

If you find yourself in a complicated situation in which you need professional psychological support, I invite you to contact me.

My name is Javier Ares and I am a psychologist specialized in emotional and couple problems; I can attend you either in my office in Madrid or through online therapy.