Anxiety And Depression (Pt. 1)

Anxiety and Depression (Pt. 1)

This particular Wrytup is focusing on anxiety. I’ll continue the series with panic attacks, how to handle them and depression.

Trigger warning! Because I do not know if you are sensitive to all the things anxious people do.

I’m going to be straightforward and blunt because anxiety doesn’t come knocking and hesitating.

Well, the first things to do is define what these terms are because the Gen Z is very casual with using the terms every day when they do not know the depth of how it actually feels to have anxiety or depression (I’ll address this topic in another Wrytup).

Anxiety- Intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Fast heart rate, rapid breathing, sweating and feeling tired may occur. (Did I take this from google? Yes, I did. Because I don’t want to sound stupid putting it down to my own words. There, you have a mild anxiety example!)

Anxiety disorder- A mental health disorder characterised by feelings of worry, anxiety or fear that are strong enough to interfere with one's daily activities.

Now we can get down to it.
Firstly, people who don’t have severe anxiety or depression don’t have a good idea of what it feels like to have it. Even this Wrytup of mine is going to be from a normal person’s point of view (this statement does not mean that people with anxiety/ depression are abnormal, but there’s no other word for people not suffering from it), because I do not personally suffer from either. My Wrytup is purely based on research.

Secondly, normal people, at times, need to actually see people with anxiety have a mental breakdown to understand how much someone was actually enduring when they have everything alright. How anxiety actually looks when they go around saying they suffer from an anxiety disorder.

Yes, maybe many people get anxious, they don’t have enough confidence to go up on the stage and talk in front of a crowd, some are scared they’ll mess up, some are afraid of an interview going wrong. There are many circumstances that we get anxious in, but we do not, live in a constant state of anxiety.

We feel better later on, after getting down the stage, acing or completely failing the interview, sometimes the fear lingers but we mostly get over it and continue on with our everyday life.

You know the best description of anxiety I’ve ever heard?

It's hearing the boss entering/ evil music in your brain but not knowing where the threat is.

Emotional abuse is the most common reason alongside the mental and physical abuse for anxiety and depression. (here on said as A&D)

People with A&D have trust issues, mostly. Notice how I don’t say, generally, until completely necessary, because some of them do at times find or have people that understand them and confide in, in life to not suffer these issues.

Social anxiety disorder, is more common and most can be felt at the majority of times, is more frustrating because you have to meet new people at some point of life, and then your anxiety kicks in and boom! Everything is going down in your head before it did in real life.

•That’s why sometimes you feel like escaping to the bathroom or bedroom when there are guests over or you are out.

•Feel uncomfortable without something to hold onto
•Follow that one person that invited you or the person who you feel comfortable with. And not leave their sight. At all.

•And then worry if you look obnoxious because of it to the said person.
•Fake an illness to get out of the social event.

If you’ve done anything of the above then… oh dear.

Some things I’ll like to point out that people suffering from anxiety go through in daily life
•Hesitate a lot before dialling a number and then hesitating even longer to press the call button.
•Waiting for someone to submit their paper first so as to not stand out
•Feeling anxious when they are late in class and everyone stares at them. Sweating by the time they make it to their desk.

•Mostly cannot order food without panicking
•Want to ask someone to move but feel that they will be rude
•Do not like loud noises or crowds.
•Try to control their sneezes or coughs to not invite attention

You wanna know how childhood anxiety disorder comes up?

Children who are applauded for having a mature stature due to mostly being quiet, not disrupting the elders or the class, you’re not attention seeking and that you don’t want much. All these become expectations when you grow older that you start thinking that it’s a virtue.

That, that is what is you should always be behaving as otherwise or it will change people’s way of seeing you. And worse, you are not used to having attention on yourself, talking to people and mixing up, taking part in conversations and having someone come talk to you because you mostly gave a mature and secluded vibe.

And then suddenly you see other people your age doing these things with ease that it starts feeling suffocating.

And it's not just “feeling anxious”. Nah fam, this thing also gets physical.

It can cause many or any of the following:
•Upset stomachs
•Vomiting
•Ulcers
•Muscle aches
•Insomnia
•Loss of breath
•Infections
•Lowered immune system
•Teeth grinding
•Heart palpitations
•And more
And I haven’t even come up to the anxiety attacks yet.
Maybe in the next episode of “Anxiety and Depression”.

If any of the statements sound ignorant or uneducated please do tell, I will make the necessary changes.