Support
Support

Anxiety

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia. Share your own story and learn about other member’s experiences with anxiety.

Start a conversation

FAQ

Find answers to some of the more frequently asked questions on the Forums.

View the FAQ

Forums guidelines

Our guidelines keep the Forums a safe place for people to share and learn information.

View the guidelines
Categories
Start a conversation

Pinned discussions

BeyondBlue Hi! Check out this post if you're not sure how to start
  • replies: 0

Hi there and welcome to the Anxiety section of the Forums First of all, thank you so much for joining us here. We think it’s amazing that you’ve taken this step to getting support and learning from this Community. You are very welcome here and we are... View more

Hi there and welcome to the Anxiety section of the Forums First of all, thank you so much for joining us here. We think it’s amazing that you’ve taken this step to getting support and learning from this Community. You are very welcome here and we are really interested in what you might want to add to these conversations. We get it, having anxiety makes it hard to share in a public place. Remember, this is anonymous and the Beyond Blue team are here to help if you need it This section is for people who are experiencing anxiety in some form in their lives. This might be in social settings, at work, or just in the day to day. You don’t need a diagnosis to post here. If it feels like the right spot for your post, go right ahead! We know that feeling anxious can make it hard to reach out so we want you to know that getting this far is amazing and a great start. A few tips for getting the most out of this section: Get involved when you can! Posting and replying is the heartbeat of this community and you DO have something worthwhile to share (when you’re ready ) Every experience is different. There is no competition here. We know how challenging anxiety can be and how it comes in all shapes and sizes. What you are experiencing will be respected and supported here. Trust yourself! You are the expert in your experience. This community works because people like you share what has worked for you. Thank you for getting involved and taking a look. We can’t wait to hear from you! Beyond Blue

All discussions

Start a conversation

Dk_alexander Health Anxiety
  • replies: 5

Hi Everyone, I am suffering horribly from Health Anxiety, ie Hypochondriac. I am 31 and successful in my career, but i cant even work right now my anxiety is so bad. i have a pattern of discovering a disease, then believing i have it and not just bel... View more

Hi Everyone, I am suffering horribly from Health Anxiety, ie Hypochondriac. I am 31 and successful in my career, but i cant even work right now my anxiety is so bad. i have a pattern of discovering a disease, then believing i have it and not just believing but actually feeling the symptoms for real. It is horrible and often seemingly endless. I am seeing a therapist undergoing CBT - i tried some medicine, but it caused intense insomina and i couldnt handle it anymore so i stopped it. I feel enourmous guilt over putting my family through my episodes. I have an amazing wife and young daughter with another child on the way. i have endless medical appointments, at some stages one every day of the week. I have also spent lots of money on these invesitgations and feel guilty of the waste. I am a logical and mature person, i know i suffer from Health Anxiety but cannot seem to stop it. I love my life and am so grateful for everything i have but i cannot believe how bad my health anxiety is and how it is dominating me. I am struggling to work at all, and that is putting my career at risk. I am concerned about been able to take care of my family and support them properly with this condition. On top of all that, i constantly fear the illnesses i believe i have. I am quite confident the origins of my illness came from a serious accident i have about 7 years ago, as well as aid work i did for many years with very sick and terminal children. I often feel guilty that so many poor people out there have real diagnoses they are trying to deal with while i am here suffering over ones that dont exist. I am wondering if anyone else out there suffers Health Anxiety and any strategies they have undertaken to help manage it. for anyone suffering any kind of anxiety out there, i wish the best for you and hope that you can find workable strategies. It is a horrible sickness and so hard to explain, even to yourself.

Academy How to read replies in anxiety discussion?
  • replies: 3

I posted in anxiety discussions and it says there is an unread reply. How do I read it?sandra

I posted in anxiety discussions and it says there is an unread reply. How do I read it?sandra

Caite Weaning off Medication
  • replies: 8

Hey guys, I have now been off my medication for about a month I was on this medication, my dr won’t listen to me about how I feel and I’ve recently connected with a herbalist who is saying what I’ve been saying from the start, I have serotonin syndro... View more

Hey guys, I have now been off my medication for about a month I was on this medication, my dr won’t listen to me about how I feel and I’ve recently connected with a herbalist who is saying what I’ve been saying from the start, I have serotonin syndrome and too much histamine in my body, just this afternoon a panic attack has come on and is making me feel a lot worse, I have vitamins coming from the herbalist to help reduce the chemical imbalance, I’m just struggling with just reminding myself I’ll be okay cause of the almost blacking out feeling and increased heart rate, my dr is trying to put me on other medication but I just don’t want to be medicated, has anyone else experienced this?

Johnny_ Muscle Tension Crying Relief
  • replies: 7

Hello everyone, Happy New Year!im hoping someone can help or share a similar story…I am lost on what to do. My story, I have been off work due to stress for over 6 months. I had a break down, had severe anxiety and muscle tension. I see a physio, psy... View more

Hello everyone, Happy New Year!im hoping someone can help or share a similar story…I am lost on what to do. My story, I have been off work due to stress for over 6 months. I had a break down, had severe anxiety and muscle tension. I see a physio, psychologist, acupuncture and masseuse apart. While my progress is going well…and my anxiety is reducing, I get bad tension in the traps/upper back and in my hamstrings. When I get deep tissue massages to relieve this, the next day I go through a period of very intense crying for 24/36hrs. When the crying stops, I do feel much better mentally, like my head is really clear and even the tension feels a little less too. initially, most of my body was like this and over time it has lessened. My question, has anyone been through anything like this before? Is there an end? I am determined to beat this.. just a hard day today. thankyou for reading.

imstruggling I feel so sad
  • replies: 2

I lost my job a week ago and I’m just so upset constantly. I feel like I can’t do anything right, I’m scared for the future. I’m scared if I will ever get a job, if anyone will ever want to employ me. I just signed a contract for a house and booked m... View more

I lost my job a week ago and I’m just so upset constantly. I feel like I can’t do anything right, I’m scared for the future. I’m scared if I will ever get a job, if anyone will ever want to employ me. I just signed a contract for a house and booked my wedding, I feel like I don’t have the right to be sad because everything is meant to be perfect for me. I feel so alone and have such a large lack of motivation. Every morning I feel an overwhelming sadness a constant reminder that I am a mistake. I have applied for every job possible, I’m worried that I won’t hear back from anyone. I don’t know what to do, I feel lost, sad, nervous , unwell. I feel like I will never be me again. I need help

HK3 The opposite of a relaxing shower
  • replies: 3

Hi, this is my first time posting here. I live with GAP, PTSD and Depression. A lot which developed from sexual assult, grooming and sexual harassment that finally ended over 6 years ago. I struggle a lot with sleep and have recently been trying to f... View more

Hi, this is my first time posting here. I live with GAP, PTSD and Depression. A lot which developed from sexual assult, grooming and sexual harassment that finally ended over 6 years ago. I struggle a lot with sleep and have recently been trying to form healthier sleep rituals to help set me up for sleep. My problem is when I get in the shower I start to overthink that someone is in my house and going to attack me if I close my eyes in there or turn around and I end up more stressed than before the shower and sometimes even end up having an anxiety attack. Does anyone have any tips for overcoming this feeling and how to calm down after an anxiety attack to be able to sleep? Please.

AnxiousBird123 Health Anxiety
  • replies: 3

Hi everyone,Hope everybody is doing better then I am right now. I'm wondering if anyone has the same anxiety as me. I have this new sensation in my hand, it's like a sharp shooting pain that runs down my hand. It comes and goes and only last a few mi... View more

Hi everyone,Hope everybody is doing better then I am right now. I'm wondering if anyone has the same anxiety as me. I have this new sensation in my hand, it's like a sharp shooting pain that runs down my hand. It comes and goes and only last a few minutes, I'm trying not to over think it but I keep thinking maybe something is wrong with me.

Andy999 Sleep anxiety !
  • replies: 19

Hey so i used to suffer a lot of sleep anxiety a few years back, this lasted quite some years, basically the more I’d try to push myself to sleep the harder it was. it was always worse when I knew I had to be up early (ofcourse) but at the time of my... View more

Hey so i used to suffer a lot of sleep anxiety a few years back, this lasted quite some years, basically the more I’d try to push myself to sleep the harder it was. it was always worse when I knew I had to be up early (ofcourse) but at the time of my life I didn’t have to be often. It’s suddenly all kind of come rushing back to me, last night I was lucky to get maybe 2-3 hours sleep before I was up for work at 5am, and tonight it’s happening again. it’s really bothering me now because I’m up at 5am 6 days a week for work. what used to work for me best was just kind of telling myself I’ll close my eyes and rest it’s better then nothing, and it would work eventually, but I’m just pretty stuck atm. Nothing seems to be helping much and leading into sleep time I’m just thinking about it which definitely doesn’t help. I may notice myself dozing off at times because I am tired ! But I’ll like catch myself and Continuously keep myself awake. I’ve been through all the helping mechanisms, breathing techniques, meditation, turning of technology and so on, not having a lot of luck I just seem to have been sucked back into the cycle and yeh I just don’t know what to do, I work a physical job and have quite a bit of responsibility so I’m really worried about this happening again. I have a pretty structured sleep schedule and usually in the past I’ll get into bed, put Netflix on and im out like a light and before I know it I’m up at 5am ready for another day but now that falling asleeps on my mind it’s not that simple, anyway I see what the problem is but I can’t really work out how the break out of the viscous cycle so if anyone has any recommendations that would be great, thankyou !

heyfriday128 Why do I get scared over little things/always see the bad in things
  • replies: 5

I had to call a professor at a university today for my research project (I'm in highschool) and I was so scared. Thank god the zoom link wasn't working and I rescheduled to talk to them with my tutor because Im scared to do it alone but reflecting on... View more

I had to call a professor at a university today for my research project (I'm in highschool) and I was so scared. Thank god the zoom link wasn't working and I rescheduled to talk to them with my tutor because Im scared to do it alone but reflecting on that and why?? I also had a job once but I left after my 4th shift because I was so stressed and scared of the clique that people had there, I also overheard them saying that I'm so nervous so that didn't help. I just wish I could be normal and not get scared over little things and be so sensitive.

Bee40 Anxious each day
  • replies: 3

Hi all. For a week or two now I've been feeling anxious each day. Anxious about my daily responsibilities. Cause of that anxious feeling. I've been tired more, body pains and not being able to connect in a happy way with the guy I've been seeing . I ... View more

Hi all. For a week or two now I've been feeling anxious each day. Anxious about my daily responsibilities. Cause of that anxious feeling. I've been tired more, body pains and not being able to connect in a happy way with the guy I've been seeing . I feel hopeless at work and been even upset over small things that my boss has said to me . I usually go to listen to music to calm me but this time around it hasn't helped. What ways ppl have calmed self down from bring axioms?

As an organisation that supports people from across Australia, Beyond Blue acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of Country and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay respect to Elders past and present.

First Nations Peoples are advised that this website may include reference to and images of deceased persons.

Beyond Blue is committed to safe inclusive spaces, policies and services for people of LGBTIQ+ communities and their families.

Helpful information

Stay in touch

Sign up below for regular emails from Beyond Blue, filled with information, advice and support for you or your loved ones.

Stay in touch

Talk it through with us, we'll point you in the right direction.

Call 1300 224 636

24 hours / 7 days a week

Chat Online

24 hours / 7 days a week

Email us

Get a reply in 24 hours

Copyright � 2026 Beyond Blue Ltd

All rights reserved

Contact us Terms of use Privacy policy Site map