Existential anxiety is a unique form of psychological distress surrounding the meaning of life and your significance. It can cause a persistent feeling of uneasiness, which can greatly impact your day-to-day functioning. This anxiety can affect people across all cultures and generations. How it affects each person may be slightly different, but many of the symptoms follow a common theme.
Art-based therapy is an alternative method to treating mental health conditions and psychological disorders. Artistic activities can enhance well-being and foster a state of healing from anxiety and stress. When you tap into creative areas of the brain, it can offer new outlets and pathways to promote healing.
Anxiety and false memories can eventually start to fuel each other. Experiencing anxiety can lead to more frequent memory issues. When you can’t remember certain details, you may find yourself feeling more anxious. Therapy techniques are available to help address feelings of anxiety as well as navigating memory processing. Healthy coping strategies can be established to combat whatever is triggering you and your anxiety.
Social anxiety is very painful to live with, leaving many people isolated and alone. If you have ever wondered if you are shy or have social anxiety, and aren’t sure what to do about it, you are not alone. Shyness and social anxiety are often mixed up with each other. Shyness is a milder form of social anxiety which can definitely be uncomfortable, but is not disabling.
BIPOC carry additional risk factors compared to the average white American impacting onset of anxiety. Top that with certain stigmas that are carried as well; it can be hard to navigate and feel very lonely. Learning how to manage anxiety when it occurs is key to getting through it. Here are some ways to start.
Many of us were taught not to listen to our emotions or our bodies, and that we were supposed to rule them with our minds. This cut many of us off from these sources of wisdom, guidance, and protection. Women are often told we’re too emotional and that’s why we can’t be in leadership. Men are often taught that being too emotional is a weakness. But from this perspective, couldn’t we take being emotional as a compliment?
When you’re living with a chronic illness, it is natural to begin to have anxiety about the future. What will progression look like? How will symptoms evolve? Will there be a burden on your family? How will you afford to manage your health and daily activities? Worrying about any of these things can cause you to feel anxious, let alone worry about multiple factors. Treatment options exist to combat any anxiety you may have and allow you to be as mentally focused as possible to push through your chronic illness and find joy in living your life.
Unknown anxiety present one of the main threats to our nervous system regulation, so learning to companion and soothe ourselves in the face of unknowns can be hugely supportive to our well- being. Unknown anxiety show up in all kinds of ways. One type is the relational unknown, such as feeling uncertain about how our partner feels, how to communicate with our friend, or how others might feel about us. Another is the unknown about the future of our own lives
