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
Categories
Start a discussion

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 discussion

Fionn Lack of resilience dealing with life challenges
  • replies: 1

HI, Currently struggling through yet another period in life where I feel the challenges of study, work, family and life in general are beyond my capabilities to manage. I keep hating myself for having any ambition or dreams in the first place. I shou... View more

HI, Currently struggling through yet another period in life where I feel the challenges of study, work, family and life in general are beyond my capabilities to manage. I keep hating myself for having any ambition or dreams in the first place. I should know by now goals I set for myself are going to fail, but I keep putting myself in this situation.In good times I feel like the world is my oyster and there is nothing that can stop me. I just want to quit what I cant manage. Maybe I can be more relaxed and start enjoying hobbies and life again. Unfortunately I feel chained to what I have already started and don't feel I have the grit to push through. My partner believes I have ADD/ADHD which affects my ability to focus on completing tasks, leading to anxiety and depression. She believes in me as someone that can achieve anything they put their mind to.My past failures paint a different picture. I'm tired of this cycle. I cant break it. I just keep letting everyone including myself down.I cant run away from challenges because of the financial and other impacts to those around me. I feel like a fraud. Can life just be reset?

lisa1987 Pregancy
  • replies: 3

I have a severe fear of almost everything and I wanted to have a baby for a long time but I can't get over the fear of carrying a baby and the whole process it terrifies me Has anyone here wanted a baby and was so afraid but went for it just looking ... View more

I have a severe fear of almost everything and I wanted to have a baby for a long time but I can't get over the fear of carrying a baby and the whole process it terrifies me Has anyone here wanted a baby and was so afraid but went for it just looking for some advice not medication or anything please just how you coped with anxiety before during and after pregnancy?

Makay Introduce my self
  • replies: 2

Hey my name is Mikaela . I suffer depression and anxiety. I thort id join to build my courage up to fight the anixity

Hey my name is Mikaela . I suffer depression and anxiety. I thort id join to build my courage up to fight the anixity

Danmeacham Controlling your thoughts
  • replies: 1

Trying to cap my thoughts so they don’t spiral out of control. Why is it I always think of the worst possible outcome of a situation?

Trying to cap my thoughts so they don’t spiral out of control. Why is it I always think of the worst possible outcome of a situation?

Willowtree_21 Always having to ‘treat’ or ‘cure’ myself
  • replies: 2

Hey everyone, This is on my mind often and I wanted to see if anyone could relate or share advice. I have struggled with numerous mental and physical disorders throughout my childhood and teen years. Very much a neurodivergent person with anxiety! Wh... View more

Hey everyone, This is on my mind often and I wanted to see if anyone could relate or share advice. I have struggled with numerous mental and physical disorders throughout my childhood and teen years. Very much a neurodivergent person with anxiety! What really frustrates me is that for most of my life me, or my parents originally, pretty much had to figure out all my unique issues without the support of medical or mental health professionals. My parents were literally dismissed when asking if I was autistic as a child - I was diagnosed several years later. The same happened when I got chronically ill as a teen. I also struggled with food intolerances, anxiety and chronic illnesses through my teen years that we treated through a really good diet. It is such an alternative approach and most people don’t believe that diets play a big role in how you feel but it was absolutely the case in my experience. Literally was the difference between me functioning and being bedridden. We had to use these rigid restrictive diets to manage my issues as no one could recognise the disorders I have, let alone address them. I have a couple of people now who can help but I still don’t feel like I can rely on most medical professionals. They just don’t know how to help most of my issues unfortunately and it gets really tiring. Makes you feel invisible and that you have to carry it all.

Hope_for_the_best Mild fear of flying
  • replies: 6

I know there are a lot of nervous flyers out there. I would consider myself one, though I am not to the extent of not being able to board a plane and cannot sleep nights before a flight etc. I have been flying since the age of one, and basically I ha... View more

I know there are a lot of nervous flyers out there. I would consider myself one, though I am not to the extent of not being able to board a plane and cannot sleep nights before a flight etc. I have been flying since the age of one, and basically I have been on some 100 flights from as short as 1 hour to 12 hours. People would think I am very used to flying and comfortable with it. Well, to some extent it is, but indeed I am not too comfortable with take off and turbulence. I can deal with take offs pretty well: a headphone and closed eyes for 2 minutes when the plane leaves the ground. Once the plane is in air, I am completely okay. I often book a window seat so I can look at the view of the city from the plane. The great view out of the window and in-flight entertainment often make me forget about any fears. I would be relaxed for the rest of the flight unless the seat belt sign comes on / the plane gets bumpy. I can endure some bumpiness, but I start to fear when the turbulence is like rapidly ascending and descending for 10 floors. I know in real life the plane is not going to drop that much and turbulence is rarely dangerous (from my aviation friends), but I can't help being scared! I was flying back from England once and encountered some pretty bad turbulence, like the whole plane was in a washing machine for 2 minutes! My mum was with me that time, so I held her hands very tightly until it was over. My mum was surprised that I got that scared because I have been flying a lot of long haul flights on my own (at least two each year). What she does not know is - I did not encounter that sort of turbulence in those flights! For some reason the passengers around me appeared very calm in the middle of a bad turbulence. They were watching movies as if nothing was happening. I wanted to scream but I worried about making a fool of myself. I wonder if I was overreacted. Does anyone feel the same with turbulence? My psychologist is aware of my fear, and she reassures me that my fear is perfectly normal because this does not stop me from flying. My desire for holiday always overcomes any fears of flying, but I wish to feel more comfortable with turbulence as this is unavoidable. She suggests that I do some breathing exercises when the turbulence comes. Do you have any other tips? Thanks.

Willowtree_21 Anxiety and guilt around losing weight
  • replies: 1

Hey Beyond Blue community, I’m not really sure if posting this will help anything but I thought to give it a try.Among many other stressors, I’m really struggling with anxiety and guilt around trying to lose weight. The short version of this story is... View more

Hey Beyond Blue community, I’m not really sure if posting this will help anything but I thought to give it a try.Among many other stressors, I’m really struggling with anxiety and guilt around trying to lose weight. The short version of this story is that I put on some weight when I was in my mid teen years which I didn’t really like. It was never a ‘health’ problem as I wasn’t ‘overweight’ (whatever that actually means) but related to how I felt about my physical image. Now that I’m older and know a bit more about nutrition and life in general, I’ve managed to get my weight down to a spot where I am more or less happy. Life got hectic for a while but now I am back to moderate calorie restriction to lose the last bit that I’d like to lose. I am doing it a safely as I can with a long term sustainable diet plan that ensures good nutrition and actually tasty food (I grew up with tonnes of food intolerances so I got a lot of nutritional knowledge early on that allows me to do this. One upside to dietary restrictions) I just feel so guilty and anxious about doing this though. It makes me feel like I’m a terrible person for actively pursuing a smaller body type when we live in a world where fat phobia is clearly being challenged and addressed. I am very confused by the whole situation because having this kind of body is important to me but I really don’t want to hurt anyone else by making them feel they weren’t enough if they were a larger body size. It doesn’t help that I am really involved within the performing industries where being small is unfortunately the norm (in my experience at least). Being the same small size as those other performers makes the process of losing weight worth it to me because I don’t want to look different - I’m on the Autism spectrum already and there’s a tonne of unusual things about me so I guess I want to be like everyone else for once. Which is ironic because I logically get this whole issue around skinny body types is about it not being super normal. I guess I’m just impacted by the thin ideal as well, and maybe this is my way of coping with it? The whole issue just makes my head spin. Note: I am aware that I have also fallen into disordered eating tendencies and poor mental health. I do have mental health specialists involved to help me I am not sure what kind of responses I want. Just thought to put this out into cyberspace in case someone has also been through something like this.

Elephant86 The power of loving healing relationships
  • replies: 1

The connections we have with our family our friends or other important relationships in our lives are the things that keep us going and persavering in life. The first relationship is your mum and the relationship I have with my mum is very prominent ... View more

The connections we have with our family our friends or other important relationships in our lives are the things that keep us going and persavering in life. The first relationship is your mum and the relationship I have with my mum is very prominent in my life because everyday I spend time with her and we cook dinner with dad every night. The connection you build will not only be with your parents but other prominent relationships like your teacher at school. The story that resonates with me was I was walking behind everyone on the camp but my teacher was walking with me. In another instance I went snorkling with my principle. My beautiful sister, I have a close bond with my sister and she is my great guidance and compass she always showed me the right path in life. My sister is super intelligent and I am so proud of the beautiful powerful women she has become. My brother is a larican and we ave a beautiful connection with a laugh of helping him with homework. We would also watch the foot ball and cricket and play cricket for that matter. We have knowlegdable conversations about many topics like science and history. There are many other connections in life that we all develop through out our lives these connections guide us and protect us all of our lives. We also have our close friends and confidants that guide us in our key decisions in life the show us the right path in life. Then you have the myriad of female confidants that give you giudance and protection in a loving and caring guiding force. I have been extremely blessed to have these powerful womwn in my life and surrounding me like angels. I feel we are sent people to guide us protect us for a purpose and I am gratful for the love and guidance of these powerful women in my life. We are surrounded by angels and people who love us and guide us and we must never take them for granted that they exist in our lives and you never be rude and disrespectful to them. You must realise how lucky and how precious they are and always show love and kindness to them. In giving we receive You must always beleive in the good hearts of the people around you and relise they only want to help you. There are wonderful doctors and nurses that are there to guide and protect you and get you better and we must show them love respect and gratitude for there honourable work they do for us everyday. You must find strength and comfort in the powerful relationships that surround us and respect what they bring to our lives.

Flop Starting work when you've never had a job before
  • replies: 3

Hi all, I've been heavily considering working as of late. It's a big leap but one I think would be most beneficial... at the same time extremely nerve wrecking. I seem to struggle when it comes to schedules, having things to do on certain days stress... View more

Hi all, I've been heavily considering working as of late. It's a big leap but one I think would be most beneficial... at the same time extremely nerve wrecking. I seem to struggle when it comes to schedules, having things to do on certain days stresses me out a lot. I wonder if that's common? I'm concerned about work itself, but also the days leading up to it. I don't want to worry myself sick prior then the day to arrive, I don't see how I could force myself to go with all that worrying. It wouldn't be manageable. If I do proceed, I'm planning on going through CVGT, which sound really understanding, they provide work experience and keep in contact after your employment. Sounds like a decent support structure. Anyone have experience with employment companies that help people get work and stay in work with anxiety? I'm seeing a psychologist monthly, my next appointment is coming up soon. I'm on medication... so this step makes sense? Although my presumed stress makes me extremely apprehensive. I don't want to do nothing with my life, but I'm also scared of everything that work entails, despite actually wanting to do it. Any advice, your own personal experience and encouragement/kind words are appreciated. Thank you for reading

creative_thinking I have not felt the same lately it's been strange for the past couple of months. So much has changed
  • replies: 1

So much has changed nowadays, I have to think about a lot more things than before the prices of everything are so much and it's getting really hard to survive. The demand for everything is so high and don't think I have caught up to that demand of pe... View more

So much has changed nowadays, I have to think about a lot more things than before the prices of everything are so much and it's getting really hard to survive. The demand for everything is so high and don't think I have caught up to that demand of people getting employed. After I finish my degree it might not be relative to the job market but it'll still be good to know what those topics are. It's so hard to do university studies. I'm trying to adjust but I feel like I don't have time I'm eighteen and I'm really stressed people might say u have so much time but I'm alone by myself doing so much stuff by myself working full-time and renting my place. I failed some of my subjects it's getting annoying I don't have anyone to talk to in person it's all online which I really dislike, I know some people say just move on but I tried but I can't. I have been trying to do new things like go the gym, rock climbing, bike riding, swimming and skating. I still feel like I am missing something, everything is so new to me as I moved cities it's taking time to get used to but I still feel like I to be socialising to make friends. If there is anyone out that wants to be friends or needs a chat I want to be there for someone and I need someone so we can hang out and get bubble tea.