Immediate support
Immediate 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 discussion

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
Jump to
Start a discussion

Pinned discussions

Chris_B Forums etiquette: give support to receive support
  • replies: 0

Hi everyone, particularly any new members who may be reading. From time to time, we get contacted by members who are unhappy that they haven’t received a lot of replies to their posts. Our community champions work very hard to make sure that all newb... View more

Hi everyone, particularly any new members who may be reading. From time to time, we get contacted by members who are unhappy that they haven’t received a lot of replies to their posts. Our community champions work very hard to make sure that all newbies are welcomed when they first post, and we understand that it’s a big step to post for the first time on a forum like this, especially if you aren’t feeling great. It’s important to remember, though, that these forums are a community of real people, just like you, not a one-on-one support environment like going to see your psychologist. To get the best out of being here, one of the best tips we can offer is give support to receive support. Being a good community member means: participating in different threads (not just your own), replying to people who have taken the time to reply to you (even if it’s just to say thank you), and... posting words of emotional support and encouragement when you see others who are hurting and reaching out. You don’t have to feel obliged to solve the problems of others: that’s not what we’re here for. But you can offer empathy and what you’ve learned from your own life experiences, even if it’s just a line or two, eg. “I don't know what to say, but I want to give you my support and tell you I care about what is happening to you and hope life will get better soon.” Try to develop an interest in the journeys of others here on the forums. You may be surprised at how good being an active, caring member here can make you feel. For those of you who have had good experiences giving support here on the forums, please post in this thread here and let us know how it has helped you on your journey.

All discussions

Start a discussion

KMTE Sunday Blues
  • replies: 20

Does anybody else feel even worse on a Sunday? I feel like the working week takes alot of effort to get through most of the time and when it gets to the weekend it's like a rest almost. My anxiety is never as severe (obviously not always sometimes it... View more

Does anybody else feel even worse on a Sunday? I feel like the working week takes alot of effort to get through most of the time and when it gets to the weekend it's like a rest almost. My anxiety is never as severe (obviously not always sometimes it strikes no matter what day it is) on the weekend I have my husband and kids home which just having the company is a help and a distraction and if i need some time to just relax my husband is there with the kids. Also we tend to do fun things and while we keep busy the anxiety tends to stay relatively easy to manage (again not alwAys) also every Sunday we spend the day at my son and husbands sport I'm always anxious if I'm going to have any of my health anxiety symptoms that day or anxiety will take over in front of everyone which would be embarrassing. Also Sunday means its Monday tomorrow and I have to make my way through another school/work/sports/kinder gym week which at the moment im funding quiet difficult and draining. Can anyone else relate?

racer Undiagnosed but suspected anxiety
  • replies: 6

HI all, I'm new here and unsure but think I may have undiagnosed anxiety that I have just learned to live with. I also think this is starting to get out of control. As a child I suffered from debilitating shyness but learned to overcome by self talk.... View more

HI all, I'm new here and unsure but think I may have undiagnosed anxiety that I have just learned to live with. I also think this is starting to get out of control. As a child I suffered from debilitating shyness but learned to overcome by self talk. I am now finding myself encountering irrational thoughts, have feelings of dread, suffer from a random racing heart and always feel the cold (this one has a major impact as I get sick often). I have noticed my irrational thoughts but always disregarded them. However this week went for a quick trip to the snow with my family and as we were having a snowball fight I had the thought that now something bad was going to happen, found myself looking around for someone watching me and felt like I should get back to my 'normal / work life'. This made me realise that I feel like I need to be always doing the 'right' thing and hanging out, being lazy or just having fun with my family seems wrong. I teach and increasingly I feel I am not doing enough, I feel students, parents and other teachers are critical of me. I feel I will say or do the wrong thing at anytime and need to watch myself. I would appreciate any feedback as I am not sure what to think about all this. Thanks

Jay1 Living with Anxciety
  • replies: 3

Hi I am new to this and I am seeking some help and advise. I love with anxciety and some days and months are a breeze however on my bad days I feel like I'm a tornado. I snapped it the other day at my husband I feel all alone I feel like my adult kid... View more

Hi I am new to this and I am seeking some help and advise. I love with anxciety and some days and months are a breeze however on my bad days I feel like I'm a tornado. I snapped it the other day at my husband I feel all alone I feel like my adult kids hate me and have no time for me . My past relationship haunts me from evidence of medical records I came across, and now I'm having flash backs of the situation. Lacking motivation for my job due to a negative work colleague. Any help and advise would be appreciated on how to cope and deal with this. I am not on any medication as doctor previously prescribed medication which I took for two days and threw the bottle away. I couldn't function I have two small boys that need me to be strong be their happy mummy again . Just need to feel love from my husband and patience and understanding instead my family all think I'm crazy

Diamondback Dramas in life cause my anxiety to subside
  • replies: 3

So I know this is a weird one but over the last 9 months I have experienced anxiety I have tried everything I have my good days and my bad but it always seems to be there except when there is some drama in my life caused by one person which I try not... View more

So I know this is a weird one but over the last 9 months I have experienced anxiety I have tried everything I have my good days and my bad but it always seems to be there except when there is some drama in my life caused by one person which I try not to have contact with yesterday there were was some "drama" caused by this person and continuing and for the first time in a long time I have had 0 anxiety today has this happened to anyone else????

Sez93 Serious work problems, help me
  • replies: 9

Hello everyone out there, I'm really struggling with severe anxiety in my job. I'm a sewing machinist for a company that makes wedding gowns and I seriously have good days and bad, mostly bad! I'm good at what I do when I work on my own pieces at hom... View more

Hello everyone out there, I'm really struggling with severe anxiety in my job. I'm a sewing machinist for a company that makes wedding gowns and I seriously have good days and bad, mostly bad! I'm good at what I do when I work on my own pieces at home and I did quite well at college in my final year in 2016. But in a work environment, I get so nervous and I start screwing up and it all snowballs from there and I look like an incompetent idiot and they don't feel they can give me anything too difficult and they're stressing about me and that makes it worse. Sometimes I can have good, successful days where I get all my work done without any catastophies but it's not enough to stay on the team. I don't want to get out of bed in the morning. When I'm at work I'm usually do wound up that I can't eat but when I'm at home a eat too much. I talk to my boyfriend and he's very supportive but lately it feels like he's heard it all before and there's only so much I can vent to him. He wants me to quit so I can't go home upset cause I don't want to encourage him in that. I just feel so stupid and small and embarrassed every single day I have trouble sleeping and so I'm always exhausted in the mornings. If I've made mistakes or pissed someone off I can't forget about it. Most of all I just feel like a useless piece of crap who's a liability and all I want is to be a useful member of the team. What makes it worse is that I had a similar situation with an former job where I got fired and it hung over me for ages. I've been going online researching strategies and using apps for brain training but I don't know if they will help long term. Please help me, Sez

amelie-j Derealisation for the past two months
  • replies: 1

Ever since I got back from a great trip, I've been more anxious about a lot of things. I'm definitely in my better days now from the past two months, but I'm still living with derealisation -- where I'm constantly spaced out, feel like I'm on autopil... View more

Ever since I got back from a great trip, I've been more anxious about a lot of things. I'm definitely in my better days now from the past two months, but I'm still living with derealisation -- where I'm constantly spaced out, feel like I'm on autopilot and not in control of anything I say or do, and there's a thought/question rooted within me that could all of this (life, my life) actually be real? A week and a bit ago I started experiencing depersonalisaion, where I would look in the mirror or at photos of myself and not even recognise myself and freak out because I don't know who I am. As I said, I am living in my better and happier days, but there's definitely still the constant derealisation. Is there any way to stop this, or at least make it better / ways to feel more present? Thank you.

Alexia1 Heart rate
  • replies: 2

Has anyone had a panic attack where the heart rate has reached 250bpm at any stage... mine did for the first time and I can't stop thinking about it

Has anyone had a panic attack where the heart rate has reached 250bpm at any stage... mine did for the first time and I can't stop thinking about it

Peterzim95 Panic attacks and my heartrate.
  • replies: 6

Hi everyone, i'm peter, 22 and I've just joined beyondblue. I wanted to talk about the problem I have with panic attacks and see if anyone else could empathise or share their own personal recovery story with me. About 7 weeks ago I smoked marijuana w... View more

Hi everyone, i'm peter, 22 and I've just joined beyondblue. I wanted to talk about the problem I have with panic attacks and see if anyone else could empathise or share their own personal recovery story with me. About 7 weeks ago I smoked marijuana with my friends and when one of them (who had never smoked it before) who was acting odd asked me to check his pulse i freaked out because i touched his skin (nowhere near his wrist) and hallucinated that his heart was basically exploding. I freaked out, I instantly became aware of my own heartbeat, which was throbbing in my chest and rocking my head, felt like a blood vessel would burst. I ended up calling an ambulance and going to hospital all night where i was panicked the entire 4-5 hours and passed out at one point when my heart reached 240 bpm. It's been easy to account that experience to the drugs and traumatic experience but ever since im now constantly aware of my heart rate. I have increased anxiety and every few days my heart rate spikes and everything becomes super sensitive because of the adrenaline. Wind on my leg hairs feel like the tingling one supposedly experiences before a heart attack. My shirt rustling against my chest feels like my heartbeat. It suffices to say, im really stressed about my own heart rate. Ive had blood and blood pressure tests, they say im fine and won't be experiencing a heart attack anytime soon. But just the memory of that first panic attack, every sense amplified by the marijuana, and the fear of believing i was about to have a massive heart attack or brain aneurysm is enough to send me into a panic. An irrational fear considering the evidence weighed against it, but my nervous system doesn't care how irrational it may be. Id really like it if someone replied, i feel so hopeless at the moment, as if I'll never return to life as normal. Oh and after thinking for a while i could deal with it, after a panic attack tonight ive decided to organise a psychologist visit

Alexia1 Extreme dizziness
  • replies: 2

Hi, i am new here. I have had severe anxiety for 2 years now. I like to refer to anxiety as "it". It sounds better. i use to get severe panic attacks. The past 4 months have been okay, I work 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. I am also planning my weddi... View more

Hi, i am new here. I have had severe anxiety for 2 years now. I like to refer to anxiety as "it". It sounds better. i use to get severe panic attacks. The past 4 months have been okay, I work 12 hours a day, 5 days a week. I am also planning my wedding. until last Friday night I have been nothing but extremely dizzy/lightheaded and this hasn't stopped , it's been a week now. I went to the doctors and checked my blood pressure and it was normal then. I keep thinking of the worst. Is this extreme dizziness normal for 'it' ??? Sometimes I feel sick or my heads more dizzy when I get up real quickly too. Please let let me know

Hylo46 OCD intrusive thoughts worse on SSRI
  • replies: 20

Hi there, day 6 on SSRI (meds) and my intrusive thoughts are more prevelant and nastier - keep thinking I will act on the them due to the thoughts - anyone out there have a similar fear?

Hi there, day 6 on SSRI (meds) and my intrusive thoughts are more prevelant and nastier - keep thinking I will act on the them due to the thoughts - anyone out there have a similar fear?