Communicating anxiety to friends and family

[SuzanneD]

Hi! Does anyone have any tips for communicating anxious feelings to a partner or friend? I find talking about these feelings very helpful but I often struggle to explain them in a way that's understandable to people who don't experience anxiety.

[socialmoth]

Hi SuzanneD, welcome to the forum.

Communicating your feelings to others can be really difficult. Personally, before I go to talk to anyone about how I'm feeling, I write it down so that it makes sense in my head and I am able to simply explain the feeling to others. When I structure these conversations, I always try to start with stating how I'm feeling and then elaborating why afterwards.

Maybe some of the examples on this page will help too: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/have-the-conversation/talk-about-it

[quirkywords]

Suzanne

Suzanne
Welcome to the forum and thanks for this thread.

Have you tried a metaphor or a simile, like for mean anxiety feels like I am etc..

Also check out YouTube as people have produced little videos about how anxiety falls them. If you find something you relate to you could send to friends and family.