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Anxiety

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

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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. Remeber, this is anonymous and the Beyond Blue team are here to help if you need it This section is for people who are experiencing anixiety 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 you 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 worthile 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

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Noomi Anxiety about work
  • replies: 4

I am looking for serious advice.. I feel like this is the only place I can turn. I am 24 and I work in marketing, however I have found that I have been made redundant from nearly 2 roles already. I am just so upset and taking it to heart/personally t... View more

I am looking for serious advice.. I feel like this is the only place I can turn. I am 24 and I work in marketing, however I have found that I have been made redundant from nearly 2 roles already. I am just so upset and taking it to heart/personally that it’s my fault and I am very incompetent at doing my job. I have started at a new job now and really just want to stay here for a while because my partner and I are looking to buy a home this year. Can someone please help me with my worries. I feel so upset that I’m just incompetent at everything.

Crannie Heya
  • replies: 6

Hi, I thought I'd give this a try, I used to see a psychologist before covid n it kinda helped but i still felt like i held back from telling them everything, so i thought I'd try talking to some like minded strangers. I've just had my 2nd child and ... View more

Hi, I thought I'd give this a try, I used to see a psychologist before covid n it kinda helped but i still felt like i held back from telling them everything, so i thought I'd try talking to some like minded strangers. I've just had my 2nd child and am struggling with extreme anxiety, I always feel angry n get the shakes often. What can I do?

Birdy77 Sense of Impending Doom
  • replies: 132

Hello everyone. I have been really struggling today, and I thought writing here might help. What I am about to describe may sound weird, but it is a true feeling for me. I wondered if anyone else reading has experience of it? Every now and then, I ge... View more

Hello everyone. I have been really struggling today, and I thought writing here might help. What I am about to describe may sound weird, but it is a true feeling for me. I wondered if anyone else reading has experience of it? Every now and then, I get this terrible sense of impending doom. Like, everything, everything, is about to go horribly wrong. I have realised that I have been having these feelings semi-frequently for the last few years. A few years ago I experienced an intense trauma in my life, and I'm wondering now if there are triggers, like little, tiny things, that possibly happened before the trauma, that I am not necessarily conscious of, that again happen now, in my life, and set me off on this spiral of doom. This morning, the feeling of impending doom had me thinking that the police were likely to turn up at my door and take me to prison. My life is good. I am safe. In my house. Consistently not committing crimes. And yet ... occasionally this feeling that the world is conspiring against me and everything good is about to implode just takes over. I understand that it's irrational, but there's something that sends me in a spiral, and anything simple can bring me back up that spiral as well, like a text from a friend, or something tiny like that. It brings me back to safety. I just wanted to put this out there in case anyone else feels this way. I want you to know that you're not alone, and I thought I might feel some relief voicing this in a safe space. I'm not really looking for advice or anything, just kind of wanted a place to talk about it, not just for me but for anyone who experiences this. I feel so vulnerable. I mentioned something similar to my dad once and he said it's because I have a guilty conscience. birdy

StressHead63 Feeling anxious - life and uncertainty after car accident
  • replies: 2

Hi everyone, I'm normally a "stress head" anyway but this has been exacerbated recently as I was injured in a traffic accident in May. I'm currently two months into a physiotherapy program for my injuries but am having problems going back to work. My... View more

Hi everyone, I'm normally a "stress head" anyway but this has been exacerbated recently as I was injured in a traffic accident in May. I'm currently two months into a physiotherapy program for my injuries but am having problems going back to work. My work environment is stressful normally and coupled with my current pain level, I can't seem to manage being there, even for a few hours. My stress lies in the fact that I only have limited annual leave/sick leave hours and the TAC only pays 80% of my pay. My husband does not work (unable to do so at this stage). My specialist tells me that I may be up for another 4 months or so of pain. So I stress about when I can return back to work and my potential loss of income, leading to loss of my house etc if I can't pay the bills. I still have 10 weeks worth of annual leave up my sleeve but that isn't 6 months worth. I worry constantly about what will happen after the 10 weeks worth of annual leave is up. We don't have many savings. This anxiety is at me constantly and what is making it worse, is that I am normally a person who over-thinks everything and likes to be fully prepared for any circumstance. Now that control has been taken out of my hands and I struggle. Please help me to help deal with this all.

AlexC1993 An issue has been causing me anxiety lately
  • replies: 3

Hi everyone How are you? It’s been a while since I have posted on here and there is something that I would like to talk about please. Recently I was with friends in Perth and we were minding our own business when one of us was accosted and threatened... View more

Hi everyone How are you? It’s been a while since I have posted on here and there is something that I would like to talk about please. Recently I was with friends in Perth and we were minding our own business when one of us was accosted and threatened by a member of the public for wearing a ‘Sons of Anarchy’ jacket. According to the stranger, the shows creator, Kurt Sutter, has told people not to wear these things. I had never heard this before and we were doing nothing wrong but showing our love of a TV show. No offence intended. Although this man became angry and threatened violence if the jacket was not removed. I am not a fan of confrontations and I detest violence and dealing with angry people is not my forte. We were all shocked and upset that this occurred. However, after some research, I uncovered news stories and personal blogs of people who have been assaulted and badly treated by those who take umbrage at certain fashion choices. My anxiety levels rose as I discovered that websites such as Wish, AliExpress and EBay were selling counterfeit versions of patches of real life Motorcycle clubs. Apparently donning this type of garb can in some cases have lethal consequences. I am very worried,scared and anxious that these websites are selling items that they must not. Ignorant buyers may purchase clothing articles and find themselves in deep trouble. I think more needs to be done to have this removed from the internet or at least a warning of some kind should be present. I know we live in a free society and the fashion police are non existent but with our personal experience of being abused for wearing clothing associated with a fictional club I would hate to think about what would happen to those seen wearing the logos of real life clubs. I imagine there would be some horror stories. Can someone please help me out? People are wasting their hard earned money on something that is very dangerous and I would hate for anyone to get hurt. Thank you very much for reading this.

Panicked_Kylie Newly Developed Panic Disorder
  • replies: 4

Hi! Im about to type a novel. I don't expect anyone to read it, I just wanna write it out. I'm not into posting my stuff on Facebook for the world to see, and I know it's safe here. I'm 32 years old and I've always had general anxiety. These last two... View more

Hi! Im about to type a novel. I don't expect anyone to read it, I just wanna write it out. I'm not into posting my stuff on Facebook for the world to see, and I know it's safe here. I'm 32 years old and I've always had general anxiety. These last two months though, I've developed a full blown panic disorder. I'm constantly nervous and my chest is in almost constant discomfort or pain. I've been on anti-anxieties for a few weeks now that have only slightly worked. I've had my heart checked, I recently had all my bloods done and they came back clear. I'm in otherwise good health apparently. I have no idea why this is happening to me now. My doctor recommended I quit coffee- apparently I drink a lot of it. I use it to substitute sweets, snacks, and food cause I have a habit of binge eating. So my coffee consumption might have a little to do with it. We'll see. It's my only vice, and I'm not sure what I can replace it with. Otherwise, I'm tired, frustrated, confused, in a constant state of discomfort and worry... it's become a self-fulfilling cycle of panic and symptoms. It's difficult to know how to stop it when it keeps feeding itself. I do a lot of things to help distract me. At night, I play thunderstorm sounds. I still get woken in the middle of the night feeling like my heart is beating out of my chest. Feeling waves of nervousness wash over me as I try sleep through it or ignore it. The pounding heartbeat just gets louder and louder. I have a lot of trouble sleeping these days. Either I don't get to sleep til all hours of the morning, or I get woken at all hours and can't get back to sleep for hours after. My GP has finally prescribed me with something to help me sleep... I hope it helps. I still have a couple of weeks to go before my anti-anxiety starts taking full affect. I have to trust the doctor when he says he's not worried about my heart. Its really difficult with the physical chest symptoms, but I have to have faith. It's been going on for 2 months now, and I'm not dead yet. I don't feel sick- just nervous and uncomfortable with an almost constant chest discomfort/pain. For it to apparently develop out of nowhere just adds to the anxiety. I've had anxiety my whole life... why is it now suddenly eating me alive?

Sadie23 Messed up interview
  • replies: 4

Hi There I have been unemployed for 3 years and havent done a job interview for that long. Applying for a new job has been completely triggering my anxiety but I finally applies for a job last week and got an interview. I was so excited but also got ... View more

Hi There I have been unemployed for 3 years and havent done a job interview for that long. Applying for a new job has been completely triggering my anxiety but I finally applies for a job last week and got an interview. I was so excited but also got very stressed. The interview was this morning via zoom and I botched it. I talked too much, went off on a tangent, didnt answer questions properly and sweated so much it must have been noticeable. Now I am feeling like a failure and overwhelmed with anxiety. Any tips to calm me down. I did go for an hour long walk.

_blank i feel like my anxiety has been getting worse
  • replies: 4

I feel like my anxiety is just progressively getting worse. I really don't know what to do except try to cope with it by typing about it. I feel like every time i am feeling any sort of emotion it causes me to overthink. Overthinking is all i seem to... View more

I feel like my anxiety is just progressively getting worse. I really don't know what to do except try to cope with it by typing about it. I feel like every time i am feeling any sort of emotion it causes me to overthink. Overthinking is all i seem to do and i have no idea how to distract myself from it. I wish i could just stop but it feels like i am stuck in a vicious cycle where one thought leads to another and i am just left upset. My main worry at the moment is about my girlfriend who suffers from depression and anxiety like me. Due to circumstances we have had to make our relationship long distance and now she is on the opposite side of the world. I love her so much and i honestly don't know what i would do without her. I feel so distant from her and it just feels like i can't protect her, it's just so far outside of my control. I want to be there for her but the only way I can be is through words. I am just really not sure how i am meant to show her that i love her. I am mainly scared of her leaving me, from what my friends have told me and put into my head is that the long distance relationship is a bad idea. They don't understand how much i love her and how much she means to me, they think that she will leave me the first chance she gets and won't even tell me. I have a lot of trust in her but frankly it is really hard to block out their input because it means a lot to me. I feel like it is some sort or warning but i just don't want it to be, i love her and i don't want to breakup with her but i feel like i also want to protect myself. I am really hoping that it gets easier for me to live with the fact that I can't physically be with her but for right now it just scares me and makes me really nervous and anxious. In the past she has also tried to self harm, this scares me because i don't want her to try again. The experience I had with this situation was really terrible and I honestly didn't know how to cope with it, it just hurts so much seeing someone i love so much go through these things. I have tried my best to pinpoint the cause of my anxiety lately outside the basic things like school that are always sort of there. I just feel like it's getting worse and harder to cope, it just puts me in a depressive state which i hate being in.

aegidius Approaching dementia has made me hypervigilant and anxious
  • replies: 5

I don't actually have a dementia diagnosis. I can sit in a doctor's office and ace the MMSE, because I'm not distracted and never had trouble with exams. But I'm forgetting things more and more as the years wear on. I've become convinced - perhaps wr... View more

I don't actually have a dementia diagnosis. I can sit in a doctor's office and ace the MMSE, because I'm not distracted and never had trouble with exams. But I'm forgetting things more and more as the years wear on. I've become convinced - perhaps wrongly - that dementia is in my future. I'm 67, and my father suffered from it (but not the quick-onset familial kind, afaik). It has made me very worried about forgetting things, which makes things worse I know, and I'm checking and rechecking everything. I feel greatly ashamed when I (for example) turn up at the shops having forgotten my wallet. Eventually I fear I'll mess up something with real consequences. I can go along for a few days when everything works fine, and then something happens to remind me that it is all a house of cards. I've had to give up creative pursuits of various kinds in order to reduce the distractions and just do what has to be done in the present. I know there's no answer to this, and no answer to the big question of how will the future play out. Just had to get it off my chest.

Petal_17 New to here. Feeling overwhelmed
  • replies: 7

Hello everyone, I am struggling today with my mental health. I have anxiety disorder, depression and OCD. Thoughts of low self-care and worth as I cannot shift ruminating thoughts over a mistake I made last weekend in a social situation. I have been ... View more

Hello everyone, I am struggling today with my mental health. I have anxiety disorder, depression and OCD. Thoughts of low self-care and worth as I cannot shift ruminating thoughts over a mistake I made last weekend in a social situation. I have been seeing a guy and we've been spending bit of time together, just going out for dinner on weekends as both work during the week. Well last Saturday night he asked to kiss me which was OK, but things got a bit heated and he touched me. I was ok with it at the time, not ideal. I went home and slept. The next morning I woke in complete panic as if I had done something wrong, and I just didn't feel my normal self. As the day went on I started crying. I felt a failure, I can't even message him or feel a connection with him any more. I feel like I have ruined a perfect situation by giving in and letting him touch me. I feel so unclean. I feel depressed. I don't want to see any friends. I can't look at my family in the eye. I recognise my thoughts are over the top but I cannot shift from feeling intense doubt, fear, failure. I've been in similar situation about 2 years ago with a different guy, and took me ages to get over. Feeling quite unwell. Not sure if others get similar problems. Think it's my OCD rearing it's ugly head.