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Anxiety is a condition, just like any other, that can wreak havoc on your life and leave you stressed, lonely, unemployed, and just generally all-around miserable. This is where I found myself when I was struggling with social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). However, again much like any other condition, it is something that can be treated successfully, and you can reach the opposite extreme where you have tons of wonderful friends, fulfilling employment, romantic success, and a general feeling of happiness and well-being.
So, how do you heal anxiety? Unfortunately, for many the solution is to visit the doctor and see which type of medication he prescribes. This is one possible step that you can take, but like any other condition, using a more comprehensive approach enhances the level of success you experience. If clichés make more sense to you, “you get out of it what you put into it.” Besides taking a few steps, there is an additional point to keep in mind: what works for one person may not work for another; it is up to you to build your own plan based on what experience teaches you.
Here are some of the techniques that I have learned:
1. Accept help from a professional counselor or psychologist
This is very scary for people in Western society where we are taught to live independently, but life works differently. Using the aid of knowledgeable others can be incredibly helpful. Counselors typically have very gentle personalities and an open, calm, and accepting manner. Their goal is to make it as comfortable as possible for you to interact with them. Attempting to recover from anxiety on your own does work, but working with a counselor is like strapping on a jetpack – it helps you to grow at an incredibly rapid pace. One caveat is that not all counselors or psychologists can work with all people. If things simply are not working between you and your counselor, feel free to move on to another one.
2. Exercise regularly
Not only is exercise good for you physically, but it is also great for reducing anxiety and stress. Exercise releases endorphins which cause you to experience a general sense of happiness and well-being. All you need to do to gain the benefits is 3 sessions per week of 20 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise.
3. Regular journaling
For me, I have found it incredibly helpful to journal in order to collect my thoughts at the end of the day. I typically spend 15-20 minutes writing about what happened. It helps me to gain clarity and focus, and there is something about putting words on paper that helps to remove the anxious thoughts from my head. While helpful for me, I have heard of many people who completely hate writing. If this is the case for you, this is one of those things that seems to be optional. But, it is always good to at least have the awareness of another tool to reduce your anxiety.
4. Avoid foods that cause anxiety
There are a few different foods and substances that will increase your anxiety if consumed. Caffeine and alcohol, which are difficult to avoid in American society, are two of the chief aggravators of anxiety. If you are like me and you really enjoy drinks which contain these two substances, the good news is you do not have to completely eliminate them from your diet. Instead, you just have to minimize your intake. “Minimizing,” in this case, means like 2-3 caffeinated and alcoholic drinks in a week. Of course, if you are willing to live with more anxiety, you can consume more, but this is the general guideline.
5. Eat foods that help to reduce anxiety
Be sure to stay well-hydrated. Dehydration can cause fatigue, and one of the body’s responses to fatigue can be anxiety. Foods rich in complex carbohydrates such as pastas, brown rice, sweet potatoes, corn, peas, and beans are excellent for maintaining your energy levels and keeping anxiety down. Another anxiety-reducing substance is tryptophan, and foods high in tryptophan include milk, oats, nuts, and peanut butter. Finally, one vitamin to make sure you have in your diet is vitamin B-6. This vitamin helps to regulate serotonin, a neurotransmitter which is responsible for managing your anxiety levels.
6. Maintain a supportive social network
A supportive social network is one that makes you feel okay with having your struggle with anxiety. Additionally, people who are supportive will offer to help you through the difficulty, or perhaps to find a new way to understand situations that are causing you anxiety. If people are trying to make you feel guilty, embarrassed, or simply do not want to acknowledge your anxiety condition, the best thing to do is to distance yourself from them. Of course, if they begin to show an understanding of anxiety, feel free to bring them back into your lives. You do not have to remove them from your life completely, but you will find that conversations about anxiety will end up going nowhere. This may be the second most difficult part of getting better from anxiety.
7. Continue to take risks
Without a doubt, this is the most difficult step in recovering from anxiety. For a while, it may be necessary to retreat from the outside world, find some help, think things over, and figure out how you are going to approach life now that you have recognized anxiety’s effects. But, eventually, there will come a time where talking and thinking must translate to action. Action means that you are actively putting yourself in situations that make you anxious. Most people are surprised when they do this because they actually experience more anxiety! But, never fear, because that is completely normal. You are moving outside of your usual comfort zone, and anxiety is a natural response for all people; the difficulty for people with anxiety disorders is that they experience too much anxiety in comparison to the average person. As you continue to take risks and work through the difficult situations, you will find that eventually you begin to grow in confidence, and people or situations that used to cause you anxiety now cause you little or no anxiety.
8. Use medication
For many, this is the first step to recovering from anxiety. However, medication is a short-term false fix to a long-term real problem. When you take medication, it simply reduces the intensity of the physiological effects of anxiety (shaking, sweating, tingling etc…) and the accompanying emotions. If you have social anxiety, you do not suddenly become a confident and competent extrovert; you still have to take risks and do the work. Additionally, it can take much time and thousands of dollars before you find a medication and dosage that is right for you. A certain medication may work for most people, but not all people. And finally, the side effects of medication may end up outweighing the benefits. All that being said, medication does have its place, but it has its highest level of effectiveness when working in combination with the other factors given before.
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There are many more methods for healing from anxiety; however, with the exception of journaling, these are the most critical. Other creative methods for healing from anxiety include playing Nintendo Wii, getting a pet, and using biofeedback, but those require separate articles in themselves.
Overall, the most important point to draw from this article is that anxiety is a challenge that requires a comprehensive, rather than singular approach. The more of these solutions you use, the lower your anxiety level will be. If you feel confused or frightened, hopefully this article has helped you to discover which direction to go in the future. Good luck to everyone who chooses to help themselves and heal their anxiety!
The Blogging Blog
Dan, what a great article. Being a sufferer of OCD, I also deal with a high amount of anxiety on a day-to-day basis. These tips that you’ve provided all make sense to coping with anxiety. For example, the one on caffeinated drinks can make me really anxious, and I realize the anxiety becomes higher after I drink a soda can or a full cup of coffee. Water, however, makes my body more relaxed.
Furthermore, I love the example on working through the difficult situations. Part of why we are anxious is because we are afraid to go into that discomfort zone, but the more we are exposed to it, the more we understand that it’s not as bad as we think. Although this may take a slower step-by-step approach, it does help to cope with anxiety, and even heal it in the long run.
Thanks for your compliments and I’m glad you find these beneficial for OCD as well! I suffer from social anxiety and generalized anxiety, and my theory was that many of the things that worked for these anxiety conditions worked for other anxiety conditions as well. Good to hear and glad that I could be of help!
this is a very helpful article.
I can add ‘Learning how to relax quickly’ to this list.
Learning how to calm yourself down is very important and it can be learned. There are various breathing techniques that are easy to do at any time (like 7/11 or 3/5).
There is a ‘mindfulness’ technique, which is becoming very popular for overcoming anxiety. I recently installed a software application on my laptop to remind me to relax while I am working. You can have a free trial that would teach you some simple ways to relax and be present ‘in the moment’. Try it at http://www.stillnessbuddy.com
Yes another good point to add, which I have not yet fully discovered in my own life. Deep breathing has been helpful at times, but I haven’t fully found that “quick relax” method yet. I would challenge the effectiveness of a deep breathing technique to teach you to quickly relax, but at the very worst, it is still helpful.
Thanks for a fantastic post! The food tips are great – I honestly had no idea about some of these. One other tip I would add is to spend time outside – literally just being in natural light has made a huge difference for me in terms of keeping my energy levels up and my attitude positive :)
Yes – spending time outside is wonderfully helpful, especially since the Winter thaw is just coming now. Larger amounts of sunlight are very helpful; there are many other methods for reducing your anxiety as well – I tried to name the ones that seemed most effective for most people.
I have been dealing with anxiety for as long as I can remember… to the point where I have developed hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating condition) which just seems to make my anxiety higher. It’s a vicious circle. I grew up not very well liked by my peers and I am sure that it caused me to have low self esteem and I have not yet gotten to the point where I feel comfortable in my own skin. I liked some of the tips you gave because there are definitely ways to make it better. I feel like I have tried everything except medication, so that might be the next step.
Glad that the article could be of help! My wife had similar circumstances happen in her own life, and she is still figuring out how to deal with it. If nothing else, the bottom line is that you are motivated to get better, which means that in time you will get better; it’s just a matter of finding that right mix, as you noted.
Deep breathing meditation (and many other forms of meditation) is a wonderful reliever for anxiety. Its a free, natural alternative to medication.
All very good points! Except medication in my opinion. I’m studying psychology and medication linked with depression can cause more harm than good. For example, more people have committed suicide using medication than without.
Interesting point about depression, which is a different subject than anxiety. I would like to see a study that showed those results about suicide. And, you’re right, very often medication can do much more harm than good, which is why I recommend that you be extremely cautious and use the least amount of medication that you feel is needed. But, that is a whole different subject in itself!
This is all great advice! I agree that one’s diet and exercise definite influence anxiety levels. Yet sometimes, diet and exercise are the base cause of one’s anxiety. But, overall I think the methods you aligned here are definitely helpful. Also, for me, writing in a journal and getting “anxiety ridden” thoughts on paper sometimes serves as a stress release. Maybe this could work for some of you too!
Nice tips. I like the one about food, it works for me. When I eat healthier, feel so much better.
A great recommendation that I think a lot of you will intuitively connect with is to jog lightly on grass bare feet for 20 minutes every day. It gets you back in touch with nature and gets rid of all anxious thoughts. Don’t try to think your way out of it though, that will just keep you thinking eg anxious!
great post as usual!