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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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Chestnut I feel like I have no friends
  • replies: 5

As long as I can remember I’ve always struggled to keep a friend for a long time. I’m 16, just left high school early a couple months ago to do nursing. I don’t talk to anyone I did sports with or went to school with. I’ve been waiting for that to st... View more

As long as I can remember I’ve always struggled to keep a friend for a long time. I’m 16, just left high school early a couple months ago to do nursing. I don’t talk to anyone I did sports with or went to school with. I’ve been waiting for that to start to make like minded friends but that’s just been pushed back another 4 months. I try talking to old friends from my high schools but I fall onto deaf ears, and I know it’s not necessarily me but the different positions in life we’re in and experiences so we don’t have much to talk about. I feel like I’m in such a hole, I don’t have the energy to go out and make friends- even if I did, I find myself shying away out of fear I’ll be “too loud” or “too much” as previous friends have suggested. I know I’m digging my own lonely hole, I’m 16- I feel like I should have more friends than just my mum( she’s 17 years older than me so she’s like a sister) though she’s awesome.. it’s just not the same. I want someone to hangout with, sleepovers, go out to the beach or stuff like that. I don’t know what I should be doing anymore tbh. So Im writting this, if anyone’s been there what did you do?thank you for spending your time to read

ionic emetophobia how to cope?
  • replies: 1

emetophobia has plaged my life for awhile now it completely ruined me and it was debilitatingly bad a few years ago and even now that i've slighly overcome it I still find myself dealing with excess anxiety then i already feel due to it how can get o... View more

emetophobia has plaged my life for awhile now it completely ruined me and it was debilitatingly bad a few years ago and even now that i've slighly overcome it I still find myself dealing with excess anxiety then i already feel due to it how can get over or improve my fear to help me reach a more comfortable future. Any tips would be appreciated.

MoodyGuy87 Feeling anxious and depressed about my past and present
  • replies: 2

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. I am a guy who is in his late 30's and has Asperger's syndrome. For almost my entire life I have been feeling very anxious. Most recently, I have been feeling nostalgic about my past. When I was younger, I have... View more

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum. I am a guy who is in his late 30's and has Asperger's syndrome. For almost my entire life I have been feeling very anxious. Most recently, I have been feeling nostalgic about my past. When I was younger, I have struggled to interact with my peers when I was at both primary and high school. Making friends was challenging for me. There were a few times when the other students (most of them were girls) would offer to be my friends when I first started high school, but due to being too shy and having difficulty with communicating, I rejected them (which I now live to regret that decision). I also used to get bullied a lot and my mum had to pull me out of school, and then I had to be home schooled (which made me feel isolated and depressed). I wanted to return to school so I could be around the other kids and maybe I could even reconsider the friendship offers from those students who I have previously rejected. But when I did return to school, the bullying got worse, so I had to go back to being home schooled again. I missed out on a lot of opportunities. But now that I am in my late 30's, I have lost interest in my current life. I am now married and have two children. Right now, I am living in the past because I am not coping in the present day. I always wished that I did things differently in the past, so that my present would have been better. I am very nostalgic, and I wish I could go back in time and be a teenager again and fix up all the mistakes that I made in the past. To make matters worse, I am also currently unemployed, and I have limited access to being able to get an internship or work placement anywhere despite that I have done some TAFE courses.

charbear999999 OCD??? Convincing myself I’ve done something bad when I don’t even think I did
  • replies: 4

Hi, I am in need of some advice! I have always had problems with intrusive thoughts and needing reassurance that these thoughts aren’t true, but recently I’ve noticed something that I’m unsure of whether it’s real or not and it’s scaring me. A few mo... View more

Hi, I am in need of some advice! I have always had problems with intrusive thoughts and needing reassurance that these thoughts aren’t true, but recently I’ve noticed something that I’m unsure of whether it’s real or not and it’s scaring me. A few months ago I was at a party with my boyfriend and my friends. I was trying to keep up with the levels of alcohol that everyone else was drinking, but I get severe anxiety, so drinking never serves me well. I don’t remember a large chunk of what happened during that time period, but I do know that I was surrounded by my friends and my boyfriend and we were just standing around chatting and playing music. For some reason, I have this fear that I did something really terrible, like flirt with another guy or possibly even cheat on my boyfriend??? Even though I am almost certain I was around my boyfriend and our friends the whole time. My boyfriend and I however, at the end of the night had an argument about something completely different and so I attach a lot of anxiety to that night. I have this strong feeling of guilt and all of these thoughts of “what if” that sends me into a complete spiral and I keep trying to go over the experience in my head and look through photos and ask my friends what they remember. I know there is no evidence that I did that, and I know that that is something I would never do, but I can’t help but spiral into the “what if’s” purely because I can’t remember exactly my conversations or anything for a period of a few hours. I keep having these thoughts of what if I did do that, and everyone knows but no one is telling me or my boyfriend and I always feel like when I walk past people and my friends that they hate me for that reason, when it actually seems fine and no one actually thinks that of me. But what if they do? I don’t remember doing anything like that but I do remember having an argument with my bf at the end of the night about something completely separate, and I know I probably didn’t even look at another man, because I never feel the urge to do so. But my brain is making me second guess that and think “what if I’m repressing the memory of doing something like that because I don’t want to remember it”. i have googled my experience obviously, and I have recently discovered false memory OCD, and have thought that maybe I am experiencing this, but then I can’t be certain because that might just be me rationalizing???? Advice would be appreciated! Thank you

Guest_43352125 Abandonment Issues
  • replies: 2

I suffer from abandonment issues. It’s definitely caused by issues from my childhood. But I feel no matter how hard I try and work through them, they never go away? I do not understand. If I get left on read, IT WILL TRIGGER ME and I have had enough.

I suffer from abandonment issues. It’s definitely caused by issues from my childhood. But I feel no matter how hard I try and work through them, they never go away? I do not understand. If I get left on read, IT WILL TRIGGER ME and I have had enough.

sheebah28 Anxiety symptoms
  • replies: 4

Hello, 1st time posting, i am 66 years old, Female, and atm my worst symptom is lightheadedness and blurry and dry eyes, every day is a struggle, i am waiting for my new glasses, fingers crossed this will help some, i have had anxiety for most of my ... View more

Hello, 1st time posting, i am 66 years old, Female, and atm my worst symptom is lightheadedness and blurry and dry eyes, every day is a struggle, i am waiting for my new glasses, fingers crossed this will help some, i have had anxiety for most of my life due to abuse( childhood)sexual and psychical, i have also lost 2 children.I use to get a lump in my throat, grind ny teeth,( got dentures now) nail biting, only ever had two anxiety attacks, shaking hands, buzzing in body, a lot of them have settled, but the lightheadedness and blurry eyes remain.Thank you for your time

meeeeeeee horrible term
  • replies: 5

im not having a good school term social wise and i just wanted to see if anyone could help or really just having someone who i can talk 2

im not having a good school term social wise and i just wanted to see if anyone could help or really just having someone who i can talk 2

Guest_48030704 Sadness
  • replies: 1

Life is so hard at the moment sadness all around hard to keep positive

Life is so hard at the moment sadness all around hard to keep positive

99isthebest Mental health retreats that are affordable?
  • replies: 4

Hi everyone, Not sure if this is the right place to post this but since I suffer from extreme health anxiety and ocd I figured this would be a good place to ask people who have gone through similar things. In my search for my sanity recently I’ve fel... View more

Hi everyone, Not sure if this is the right place to post this but since I suffer from extreme health anxiety and ocd I figured this would be a good place to ask people who have gone through similar things. In my search for my sanity recently I’ve felt quite alone and just feel like walking away from work and just life in general to curl up in a ball somewhere. Then I had a thought these mental health retreats seem to allow you to do just that. But instead of being left alone with your own thoughts you’re surrounded by other people with similar issues and are given help to overcome your illness all while having a great relaxing time. Problem is of course all of this adds up, nice beach location, physiologists, accomodation, food, activities, (flights if necessary). Most places I’ve seen don’t even advertise there price and I have a feeling I know why. The ones that do advertise are quoting $5000+ My question is basically has anyone ever been to a retreat that is a reasonable price? I myself am located in Brisbane so I’m willing to drive up to 10hours to save costs on flights etc. when I mean reasonable I mean perhaps there’s one out there that has a long weekend option 2-3 days away just to relax and is under say $1000. I know that might sound crazy but I guess if there’s a place that maybe let’s you pick and choose what options you have this could maybe be doable.

Whatsinaname Horrible week
  • replies: 85

Hi everyone, I'm having a horrible week, so just thought I would post to see how everyone else is going? I'm having a hard time getting out of the shame spiral this week, but trying to remember this is only temporary. Anyway, hope others are well, ha... View more

Hi everyone, I'm having a horrible week, so just thought I would post to see how everyone else is going? I'm having a hard time getting out of the shame spiral this week, but trying to remember this is only temporary. Anyway, hope others are well, happy to chat about anything.