WHATS YOUR BELIEVE ABOUT ANXIETY?

What People Really Believe

People believe that stress are part of the human condition Delusions are beliefs that you hold despite considerable evidence to the contrary. They're this feeling that you know a fact to be true even if others have more proof that the fact is actually false. It would be like believing without a shadow of a doubt that TVs have little people inside that are acting for you.Delusions are linked directly to psychosis, but not all delusions are that extreme. In fact, anxiety commonly causes delusional thinking, simply because of what it's like to deal with anxiety. Different Anxiety = Different DelusionsEvery anxiety disorder is characterized by different fears and symptoms, which means that it's also prone to different types of delusions. If you haven't taken my anxiety test yet, try taking it now to get a better idea of what these delusions may be.When we talk about delusions, we're not talking about believing that the CIA is monitoring your home, or that aliens have abducted your parents. Those are paranoid delusions that often occur in mental health disease that cause psychosis, and in these cases you would never know that you're suffering from the potential of delusions because you will have lost touch with reality.But that doesn't mean that delusions still do not occur. Let's share a few examples, and you'll see why these are still delusions:"There is Something Wrong With My Health"This is probably the most common delusion that happens with anxiety. It especially affects those with panic attacks/panic disorder since the disorder has so many physical symptoms, but it can affect those with other anxiety disorders as well.The belief comes almost entirely from the physical symptoms of anxiety. These physical symptoms mimic those of terrible diseases, like:Heart AttacksMultiple SclerosisBrain TumorsLyme DiseaseThe physical symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks are nearly identical to many of the symptoms of these disorders, and so ultimately the person suffering from these symptoms starts to fear that their health is in danger.The reason this is a delusion is because seeing a doctor rarely helps. You can see a doctor and get tested for nearly every disease, but you'll often find that you simply "cannot believe" that your symptoms are caused by your mental health. They feel too real, cause too much fear, and cause too many symptoms to be something that isn't actually health related.People sometimes experience similar fears just about their anxiety. When you suffer from intense anxiety it becomes hard to believe that your brain would do that to itself. So health fears become common, and even after a doctor rules out some of those health fears it's not uncommon to either believe the doctor was wrong or believe that some other disorder is occurring. There is Something Wrong With My Health"This is probably the most common delusion that happens with anxiety. It especially affects those with panic attacks/panic disorder since the disorder has so many physical symptoms, but it can affect those with other anxiety disorders as well.The belief comes almost entirely from the physical symptoms of anxiety. These physical symptoms mimic those of terrible diseases, like:Heart AttacksMultiple SclerosisBrain TumorsLyme DiseaseThe physical symptoms of anxiety and panic attacks are nearly identical to many of the symptoms of these disorders, and so ultimately the person suffering from these symptoms starts to fear that their health is in danger.The reason this is a delusion is because seeing a doctor rarely helps. You can see a doctor and get tested for nearly every disease, but you'll often find that you simply "cannot believe" that your symptoms are caused by your mental health. They feel too real, cause too much fear, and cause too many symptoms to be something that isn't actually health related.People sometimes experience similar fears just about their anxiety. When you suffer from intense anxiety it becomes hard to believe that your brain would do that to itself. So health fears become common, and even after a doctor rules out some of those health fears it's not uncommon to either believe the doctor was wrong or believe that some other disorder is occurring."X is Dangerous/Scary"Another common delusion that affects not only phobias, but also those with generalized anxiety and more, is the idea that something specific in life needs to be avoided or deserves the fear placed upon it.The easiest way to understand this is with phobias. Someone with a fear of birds, for example, convinces themselves that something about the bird is going to result in fear - whether the birds will attack, or the birds carry disease, or something similar, they convince themselves despite all available evidence that birds are to be feared.It's the same with other phobias, like a fear of spiders or a fear of dogs. It's also common with those that have obsessive compulsive disorder, where they may fear germs, disorder, or even their own thoughts. Those with OCD may fear that they left the oven on even though they know they turned it off until they're compelled to check it. Even those with post-traumatic stress disorder may fear that the trauma may happen again, no matter how rare it may be.Every anxiety disorder has its own fears, and often these fears can become delusions when they start to control your thoughts."I Can't Be Helped"Another delusion has to do with treating anxiety. It's caused by the difficulty in treating anxiety in terms of recurrences and setbacks. Even the most effective treatment will occasionally have some setbacks and problems working. In addition, very few people actually choose effective treatments (most fall for marketing scams), and one of the symptoms of anxiety is a belief that you're stuck with it and that the anxiety is natural.

5 Beliefs About Anxiety That Can Make You Even More Anxious

“It’s okay not to be okay all the time.” ~Unknown I never thought of myself as an anxious person. But here I was again, staring at a computer screen in my office, so stressed I could barely type. I’d been throwing myself into work and I had crashed—hard. And this wasn’t the first time. Unfortunately, our mental image of who we think we are and who we actually are don’t always match up. But part of being human is that we learn to live with that, we embrace the struggle, and we grow. Over the last five years I’ve had a number periods of high anxiety, often triggered by work-related stress. In that time I’ve realized that my beliefs about anxiety were unhelpful, and they often worsened the experience. When I was able to let go of the firm grip I had on these ideas, I found that when anxiety came to visit, it didn’t stay around as long as it used to. Here are five beliefs about anxiety that can make you even more anxious. If you recognize them in yourself, I hope you can let them go when they arise. 1. It’s not normal (or okay) to have anxiety. When you first start to notice your anxiety, you might think it’s not normal. The feelings in your body will be so intense that when you look around at other people, who on the surface look so calm, you won’t be able to believe that what’s happening to you might happening to them. But I want you to know something. You are not alone. Though everyone’s experience will be different, there are dozens of people you’ll come into contact with daily who have probably had similar feelings. That guy who gave you your coffee this morning, he had a panic attack before work. The girl next to you at the bus stop, she’s trying to calm herself down right now. The boss who yelled at your coworker an hour ago, he’s anxious that his own boss is breathing down his neck. Anxiety is common. Holding onto the (false) belief that what’re you’re experiencing isn’t normal only intensifies the problem by making you feel separate from everyone else around you. It keeps you in your head where the question “Why is this happening to me?” may circle round and round without ever finding a good enough answer. 2. I need to get over my anxiety in X weeks, months, years. Putting strict deadlines on when you want to completely rid yourself of anxiety is never useful. But I used to do this all the time. The role that anxiety is going to play in your life isn’t predictable—you just can’t know. Telling yourself that you must overcome it in a certain amount of time is just going to feed it. Once you can truly learn to accept that you don’t know when or for how long it will come to visit, you’ll notice it does so a lot less often! 3. I can use my anxiety as a motivational tool. One common way we often justify our anxiety is through the cliché “I work best under pressure,” but what we’re usually doing is placing an unnecessary amount of stress on our bodies and brains. In the long term, this can leave us drained of the necessary energy to prevent and ward off anxious thoughts. When you experience stress, don’t focus on doing more. Just ride it out, let it pass, and try to be productive from a place of relative calm. 4. The magic bullet cure for my anxiety is out there somewhere. Overcoming anxiety is a process and holding onto the idea that you’re just one more book, course, or technique away from the ultimate cure will inevitably lead to disappointment, and typically more anxiety. Take it day by day and relish in the small victories, and over time you’ll make progressive but sustainable changes in the way you handle your nerves. 5. Anxiety is all in my head. This is completely false, and an unhelpful way to look at anxiety. It’s an issue with your nervous system, so it’s just as much in your body as it is in your head. Trying to think or rationalize your way out of panic can often be a losing battle. By seeing the mind and body as connected, and both as home to your anxiety, you can develop more skillful control over your thoughts and feelings and not get caught up in a maze of worry. If you don’t already have a movement related practice, something like yoga, Qigong or Tai Chi can be really useful for improving your ability to calm your body. I’m not yet completely anxiety free, but every year I cope with it better and better. Make small steps every day, congratulate yourself on the little wins, and remember that you are not alone!