Anxiety

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

FAQ

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

Forums guidelines

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

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

Lisa888 Social anxiety raging leading up to family visit
  • replies: 1

Hi all, I thought I'd post something here as my anxiety is pretty bad at the moment. I live in Australia but am visiting my home country from tomorrow onwards for a bit less than a week to see family and friends. Leading up to these visits my social ... View more

Hi all, I thought I'd post something here as my anxiety is pretty bad at the moment. I live in Australia but am visiting my home country from tomorrow onwards for a bit less than a week to see family and friends. Leading up to these visits my social anxiety always gets really bad, as it feels like everyone wants time with me, has expectations of me and wants to schedule something, whereas I also have to balance that with my own needs of seeing them as well as having worry time to recharge in between, and having a partner who finds social interactions very draining. My calendar is now basically fully booked for the next few days and I keep ruminating that people will be disappointed with the time they get with us, or that my partner will feel overwhelmed with it all. I don't even know where I sit in all this as I've always gone with the flow and am still learning to hear my own voice. Any tips for how to calm down and navigate this situation would be welcome.

Olive83 Easy strategies for quick response
  • replies: 10

Recently my anxiety has 'flared'. As soon as I wake of a morning I feel sick and dry reach. At times, during overthinking mostly, I have a pain on the right side of my chest. I am currently doing acupuncture weekly for relaxation and processing traum... View more

Recently my anxiety has 'flared'. As soon as I wake of a morning I feel sick and dry reach. At times, during overthinking mostly, I have a pain on the right side of my chest. I am currently doing acupuncture weekly for relaxation and processing trauma, I try to walk daily, I eat fairly well. What are some strategies I can do whilst caring for my children, being in a crowd etc to help with immediate relief from overthinking and what perhaps is more of a panick attack.

Guest_55166016 Peripheral Neuropahy
  • replies: 1

Has anyone has success with HBOT Therapy for Peripheral Neuropathy?

Has anyone has success with HBOT Therapy for Peripheral Neuropathy?

lonelyworrierwoman Need help with emetophobia
  • replies: 1

Hi all, I’ve had emetophobia since I was 8 (I’m in my 50s) and it morphed into anxiety and OCD. I am petrified of me *v and others. I have tried what feels like most therapy but will try parts work and potentially virtual exposure therapy. If these d... View more

Hi all, I’ve had emetophobia since I was 8 (I’m in my 50s) and it morphed into anxiety and OCD. I am petrified of me *v and others. I have tried what feels like most therapy but will try parts work and potentially virtual exposure therapy. If these don’t cause a shift then I’ll just have to accept it as continuing to be part of life. I have a long-term partner, it’s hard on us both me having this. Has anyone tried parts work or virtual exposure therapy for this? I’m really struggling and feel like a burden. Thank you

Guest_28908038 Apprentice mechanic
  • replies: 3

I'm 4 months in to my apprenticeship and em struggling all day just to get to the end I'm struggling with tasks that I have done for years with no issues I em constantly worried that I'm going to forget something blow a engine up leave a sump plug lo... View more

I'm 4 months in to my apprenticeship and em struggling all day just to get to the end I'm struggling with tasks that I have done for years with no issues I em constantly worried that I'm going to forget something blow a engine up leave a sump plug loose and end up loosing my job the workplace is great the other people working here are great I'm doing great at Tafe the employer is happy with me but I'm not coping with the fear of constant failure it took years to get this job I probs won't have another chance if it doesn't work out I was told for years I'd never get one or that I would not make it and it is constantly in the back of my mind that I'm not good enough and I'm going to be sacked

Guest_16677420 Depression and Anxiety
  • replies: 1

I am currently an international student. I already feel desperate for my future and I don't know how to deal with my life.

I am currently an international student. I already feel desperate for my future and I don't know how to deal with my life.

Guest_91699169 Help
  • replies: 1

Just need help processing things, been diagnosed with complex PTSD and am on work cover and been assessed having a 24% impairment.Had been seeing a psychologist who was helping, but now workcover have become slack as I have been on workcover for two ... View more

Just need help processing things, been diagnosed with complex PTSD and am on work cover and been assessed having a 24% impairment.Had been seeing a psychologist who was helping, but now workcover have become slack as I have been on workcover for two years.The worst part is what I nicknamed: ‘uncertainty Anxiety’.You have this so called thing they label anxiety, but you don’t know why or what your anxious of or what your cause of anxiety is.Everything is a wave of craziness mixed with nightmares, lack of sleep etc etc etc.

KCT Anxiety Spiralling
  • replies: 3

I’ve recently sold my mortgage free home that I’ve lived in for 30 years to move to the city. My adult daughter lives with me and suffers from social anxiety. She has no friends or social network where we live so this is one of the major reasons for ... View more

I’ve recently sold my mortgage free home that I’ve lived in for 30 years to move to the city. My adult daughter lives with me and suffers from social anxiety. She has no friends or social network where we live so this is one of the major reasons for our move. We live in a country region and there is really no support here once you are over 18. Now I’m going to have a mortgage and a new job. I’m worried once repayments etc are made I’m not actually going to have much money left to be able to enjoy living in the city anyway. I’m having panic attack after panic attack. It’s debilitating. I’ve got so much to do still as far as packing and organising everything to do with the move whilst dealing with brokers and real estate agents. I’m second guessing all of my decisions and really just want to curl up into a ball and stop it all from happening. Normally when I’m feeling like this I can avoid or change the thing that is making me anxious but in this instance it’s too late to do that which means I have to actually face it which petrifies me. I’m not sure how I’m going to get through this. It’s really hard to explain to people if they’ve never suffered with debilitating anxiety. My head is just full of negative talk. I’ve be been to the GP but there’s really only so much they can do.

Guest_98574445 Anxiety
  • replies: 4

I have always suffered from anxiety but the last week has gotten bad, with panic attacks serve enough to goto ED multiple times. I have been put on antidepressants for anxiety which I find only works for 1-2 hours. Does anyone have any tips for when ... View more

I have always suffered from anxiety but the last week has gotten bad, with panic attacks serve enough to goto ED multiple times. I have been put on antidepressants for anxiety which I find only works for 1-2 hours. Does anyone have any tips for when my chest and mind is going crazy?

EllaUmbrella How do I care less about mean people?
  • replies: 3

I suffer from anxiety in general but have found it’s been triggered a lot this year. Over the past year I’ve had some hard-hitting awkward moments that I keep replaying in my head every night. This has caused me to have on and off insomnia for over 6... View more

I suffer from anxiety in general but have found it’s been triggered a lot this year. Over the past year I’ve had some hard-hitting awkward moments that I keep replaying in my head every night. This has caused me to have on and off insomnia for over 6 months and made me dread going to bed. The first incident was a manager falsely accusing me of a GDPR breach on my final day of work (I’d handed my notice in 6 weeks prior) then sending me home on the spot with no formal meetings or warnings - this was 3 days before I left the country to move overseas so it really left a bad taste in my mouth about returning to my home country. I had worked so hard on that job but only ever received toxicity and small passive aggressive blows from upper management. I followed up on the incident afterwards and it was cleared that it wasn’t actually a GDPR breach but I was never given an apology and no formal follow up was done by HR. In fact HR just palmed off the incident back to the same managers that I had the problem with.After this when I moved away I caught up with a new friend and we had a disagreement over my partner - she didn’t agree with me having a partner who drinks every weekend and yelled at me over the phone telling me to never contact her again. A total change of personality from the person I thought she was. I have no desire to rekindle the friendship as the way she spoke to me was really rude and my partners lifestyle has nothing to do with her but I keep replaying her shouting at me in my head. A more recent incident happened tonight where I told the agency I work for I can’t do a shift I’ve signed up to next week (gave her 8 days notice) and she’s basically bullied me into doing the shift knowing that it means I’ll have to pay $50 for a taxi home because it’s in the middle of nowhere. I feel like my confidence just keeps getting ripped apart and I’d like to know how to disconnect from these type of incidents as I know on the grand scheme of things they are meaningless and inevitable. Any advice would be great!