Current Events > Can someone explain anxiety to me?

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I've met a lot of people in grad school that say they suffer from anxiety but have not been able to explain it to me in a way I understand. Anybody think they can enlighten me?

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Fear, terror.

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Imagine being in a play where everyone except you has been given the script.
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It's like bags of sand on your brain

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BeyondWalls posted...

Fear, terror.

So usually I compare it to the irrational fear of death or claustrophobia but they say that's not right.

Antifar posted...

Imagine being in a play where everyone except you has been given the script.

What are the consequences if I do a poor job?

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Antifar posted...

Imagine being in a play where everyone except you has been given the script.

I had a dream I was on SNL without a script >_>. Then what made it more weird, is I was watching Family Guy, and Quigmire mentioned the same dream

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Largely irrational and excessive worry due to the feeling that you don't have the resources necessary to accomplish the task at hand.

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Flockaveli posted...

Largely irrational and excessive worry due to the feeling that you don't have the resources necessary to accomplish the task at hand.

So I can imagine it as worrying really hard and I'm fairly close?

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I have general anxiety disorder, and for me, it comes off as palpatations and a sense of "fight or flight".

It will likely be different for other people, but that's what it is for me.

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Musourenka posted...

I have general anxiety disorder, and for me, it comes off as palpatations and a sense of "fight or flight".

It will likely be different for other people, but that's what it is for me.

Ah, so it's almost like the lizard brain kicking in and over riding your more rational thoughts/ emotions?

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Jabodie posted...

BeyondWalls posted...

Fear, terror.

So usually I compare it to the irrational fear of death or claustrophobia but they say that's not right.

Antifar posted...

Imagine being in a play where everyone except you has been given the script.

What are the consequences if I do a poor job?

If you do a poor job you have no choice but to obsess over how poor of a job you did, the 100 ways you could have done it better, EVEN IF YOU DID A DECENT JOB... And you think about it randomly for a year.
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Jabodie posted...

So usually I compare it to the irrational fear of death or claustrophobia but they say that's not right.

Eh.... I guess.... but I'd say no to that too. My anxiety usually manifests itself as extreme dread. Like a crippling dread that can send you into a blind panic. It's like waking up knowing that you have to go to a job interview... where Jason Voorhees is also roaming the halls. Imagine feeling that way just about going to the grocery store.

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You remember when you were a little kid, and on Christmas Eve you could never sleep because you were anticipating what would happen the following morning?

It's that, but negative. You're constantly anticipating something bad, but with no real idea of what that might be.

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DocDelicious posted...

You remember when you were a little kid, and on Christmas Eve you could never sleep because you were anticipating what would happen the following morning?

It's that, but negative. You're constantly anticipating something bad, but with no real idea of what that might be.

No, my parents told me Santa wasn't real and my present was always specifically what I asked for since I can remember. The closest thing I can think of is a general sense of worry I had in the weeks before I was dumped by a couple girlfriends, but it was evidently well founded lol.

BeyondWalls posted...

Eh.... I guess.... but I'd say no to that too. My anxiety usually manifests itself as extreme dread. Like a crippling dread that can send you into a blind panic. It's like waking up knowing that you have to go to a job interview... where Jason Voorhees is also roaming the halls. Imagine feeling that way just about going to the grocery store.

Hm. So that brings up for me: 1) "panicked" feeling of getting jump scared, 2) fear of pain and death, and 3) the general unease I get from exploring in a souls/ horror game.

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That moment when you're rushing down the stairs and you feel yourself skip one so you slip and panic for a teeny tiny second; that but all the time.

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The best explanation I ever heard was to imagine you always hear video game boss music in your head but don't know where the boss is.

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Flockaveli posted...

That moment when you're rushing down the stairs and you feel yourself skip one so you slip and panic for a teeny tiny second; that but all the time.

Lmao, this I understand. That sounds awful.

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How different is it from shyness?
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Thanks for the replies. I feel there are people who just get it and just don't (though I know anxiety can start later in life so it may hit me). I have a couple buddies that also don't understand anxiety lol.

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The way my therapist explained it to me was the fight or flight response. Said whatever triggers you're anxiety caused this response to misfire. So you feel danger and like you need to escape, except there's nothing to escape from. You're just stuck in panic mode and have to wait till it passes.
...actually, that might have been him explaining panic attacks instead of anxiety. The anxiety would be the feeling of danger, or that something is wrong, the panic attack is when the full response triggers.

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For me it is punishing myself mentally, expecting the worse, fearing the worst, and worrying about various outcomes of things before they even happen. Sometimes, during attacks, all of that at once. It's a bit better these days but at it's height I could wake up on a day off at 8AM and not work until 5PM the next day, and right in bed I'd be thinking "I wonder if I'll have a job tomorrow." and then the anxiety was just there to stay irrationally.

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emblem boy posted...

How different is it from shyness?

Shyness goes away with repeated exposure to the stressor.

Edit: Also shyness doesn't lead to mental breakdowns and panic attacks.

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I never respect this community more than when ya'll discuss anxiety. It's like the one thing that makes everyone come together and cut the bullshit...I mean, aside from my contribution. Im just not in the reflective headspace for this atm.

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CommunismFTW posted...

For me it is punishing myself mentally, expecting the worse, fearing the worst, and worrying about various outcomes of things before they even happen. Sometimes, during attacks, all of that at once. It's a bit better these days but at it's height I could wake up on a day off at 8AM and not work until 5PM the next day, and right in bed I'd be thinking "I wonder if I'll have a job tomorrow." and then the anxiety was just there to stay irrationally.

This too, but I thought expecting the worst was part of my depression and separate from anxiety.

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From my understanding:
Depression is to sadness as anxiety is to nervousness. Like we've all felt sad or anxious but most of us feel it at a normal amount under reasonable circumstances. So that...but more and often for no real reason.

I dont suffer from either, but it's how I can get my head around it when I talk to people that do.

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