How to get rid of feelings of fear and anxiety. How to get rid of increased anxiety in adults

Good day, dear readers. Today we will define what the definition of anxiety is. You will find out why it occurs, find out how it manifests itself. Let's talk about countermeasures increased anxiety.

General information and types

Human anxiety is called psychological feature personality, which is revealed in the tendency of an individual subject to constantly experience severe anxiety, even for minor reasons. It can also be considered as a human characteristic. Anxiety is described by a feeling of discomfort and the expectation of a certain threat. This disorder is most often classified as a neurotic disorder.

There are different types of anxiety.

1. Uncontrolled, but conscious. There is a disorganization of human life.
2. Controlled, which is realized and compensated. Is an incentive. But, as a rule, activity is observed exclusively in familiar situations.
3. Hidden and unconscious. Ignored by a specific person, it manifests itself in a monotonous action.
4. Cultivated, yet conscious anxiety. Manipulation often occurs. A person seeks profit in everything.
5. Compensatory, which is protective, unconscious. A person tries to convince himself that everything is fine with him, that he does not need help.
6. Avoiding disturbing situations. When anxiety is absolute, a person, with the help of such withdrawal, tries to immerse himself in some kind of addiction or virtual network, and escapes from reality.

A person who is constantly in a state of anxiety makes things worse for himself. He suffers psychologically, and his physical health is harmed. Such a person often has tachycardia, pressure surges may appear, and a feeling of lack of air may occur. Due to strong emotional turmoil, excessive fatigue, a person does not have the strength to live normally. In the presence of constant anxiety the whole body suffers, interruptions in functioning appear various organs, women often experience hormonal imbalances.

An anxious state can destroy a person’s nervous system, while the presence of fear allows one to mobilize the body’s internal forces. For example, if a person is attacked by a dog while walking down the street, he will resort to certain actions to protect himself. In the case when an individual is worried that a dog might attack him while walking down the street, he programs himself in advance for a bad outcome of the situation and begins to get nervous when nothing has happened yet.

Why does it appear

In a state of increased anxiety, an individual begins to experience anxiety, which grows and contributes to the development of bad feelings. Let's look at what factors can influence the occurrence of increased anxiety:

• , lack of confidence in something;
• psychological trauma suffered in childhood, for example, when parents demand too much from their child and put pressure on him;
• moving to a new place of residence;
• sedentary lifestyle;
• experienced negative traumatic events;
• poor nutrition;
• feature of character, temperament;
• pessimism is a lifestyle;
• hormonal imbalance as a result of disruption in the endocrine system.

Characteristic manifestations

You can suspect the presence of increased anxiety based on a number of signs.

1. A person reacts too emotionally to his failures.
2. The individual is unable to work normally in stressful situations.
3. The desire to succeed is suppressed by the fear of failure.
4. The occurrence of mistakes completely kills the desire to move on, the individual gives up, he abandons the business he started, which failed.
5. Perceives many things as potentially dangerous.

In the presence of high degree With anxiety, a person may experience the following health problems:

• deviations in work of cardio-vascular system, in particular, tachycardia, hypertension;
• abnormal manifestations on the skin, namely rash, itching;
• breathing problems, in particular, a feeling of suffocation, shortness of breath;
• problems with the reproductive system (in women it may be disrupted menstrual cycle, in men - impotence develops);
• frequent urination;
• increased sweating;
• dyspeptic disorders, digestive problems;
• pain in bones, joints, loss of coordination.

A person with increased anxiety is often prone to emotional and professional burnout. As a rule, he is not satisfied with his life, feels hopeless, he does not like his profession, and is often depressed.

Anxiety in adults can be confirmed using the Spielberg questionnaire, which also helps to determine the nature of anxiety. You are presented with 40 judgments to which you need to answer “no” or “yes.” The result is a certain level of situational and personal anxiety. If there is high level, then there is a need to work on increasing your confidence, and if it is low, motivation and activity.

Ways to fight

1. Initially, it is necessary to establish the cause that provokes the development of anxiety. If taking certain medications or drugs is to blame, then you just need to avoid their use. If the presence of a somatic disease is to blame, then, first of all, therapy will be aimed at healing from this illness. If anxiety persists even after healing from the disease or stopping medication, then a consultation with a psychotherapist is necessary, and sometimes drug therapy. Modern medicines, which are designed to relieve anxiety, are safe, effective and easy to tolerate. They help reduce anxiety and help eliminate insomnia.
2. If a person has post-traumatic stress disorder, comprehensive drug therapy will be prescribed. Drugs are prescribed taking into account concomitant mental disorders, in particular depressive state, panic disorder, dysthymia. Antidepressants will be indicated.
3. When a feeling of anxiety occurs, strong tension. If you get rid of it, the negative feelings will gradually dissipate. It is important to learn to relax. For example, this will help physical activity. If you are visited by disturbing thoughts, at least do exercises or go for a walk. Fresh air. Breathing exercises will also help cope with this condition.
4. Share your feelings and concerns with people you trust. Relatives will help you cope with fear, because for them it will not be as great as for a person who experiences anxiety. If there are no people you can trust, then you can write down your worries in a special diary, which you then need to re-read and analyze.
5. Try to communicate with people who are constantly in good location spirit, they smile, have fun. If there is no such person nearby, then you can turn on a comedy or humorous program. It is important that you have joyful emotions.
6. Find yourself one that will allow you to distract yourself from negative thoughts, gain satisfaction with your work, and increase your self-esteem.
7. You need to learn to switch your emotions. When a person begins to replay in his head bad thoughts, thinking about his loved ones, about himself, he further aggravates the situation and builds up the energy of fear. As you know, thoughts materialize. If a person changes his thinking, begins to behave differently, he will be able to achieve certain successes. It is necessary to realize that each individual has the power to create his own future. You need to learn to switch your feelings and thoughts to a positive attitude. First of all, you need to get rid of all the negativity that may surround you, do not watch horror films, do not listen to depressive music, not scary books, do not watch the news that show some tragic events. Create only a positive environment for yourself.
8. Replacing the image. When a person with increased anxiety begins to worry, terrible pictures of upcoming events appear before him. They can constantly be in front of your eyes. In such a situation, it is very important to be able to replace the terrible picture with something pleasant. When some kind of horror appears before your eyes, remember something good that caused excellent emotions, joyful experiences.
9. Try to evaluate the current situation with different points. This will make your view more objective and reduce increased anxiety. Imagine how other people, such as a neighbor, a relative, or just a stranger walking down the street, would react to this situation. You can imagine how you would react to it if you were 5 or 10 years older.
10. Affirmations. Yours emotional condition can be controlled with positive statements. As soon as some bad thoughts appear in your head, start telling yourself that you, as well as your loved ones, are always completely safe, you are protected by your Guardian Angel, nothing threatens you. You need to repeat this phrase several times until complete calm occurs. The phrase may be different. The main thing is that she has a positive attitude and helps at the moment.

Psychological techniques

Treatment may include psychological approaches. Mainly behavioral psychotherapy, the essence of which is changes in the patient’s reaction to factors that influence the provocation of anxiety.

1. The psychologist will advise that it is necessary to engage in self-help in order to get rid of increased anxiety. For example, you can change your lifestyle. In particular, it has been proven that physical activity burns excess adrenaline and releases anxiety from the body. Physical exercise also helps improve mood, improve self-esteem, and develop a positive outlook on life.
2. Find 20 minutes every day when you can sit in silence and think about what worries you. If necessary, cry at this moment. The main thing is that when this period of time expires, completely stop thinking about worries and calm down, go about your daily activities.
3. Find a cozy place where you will feel comfortable. Relax, do it deep breath. Close your eyes, create an image of a burning piece of wood with smoke rising above it - this is a manifestation of anxiety. Imagine how the smoke dissolves in the air.
4. Handicrafts are a great way to cope with anxiety. When a person is concentrated on some monotonous activity and all his thoughts are aimed at getting a good result, he does not allow anxiety to arise in his head.
5. Art therapy. An individual can express his or her concerns through visual art or other types of creativity.

Traditional methods

You can cope with increased anxiety with the help of folk remedies. However, if the case is too advanced, you cannot avoid communicating with a psychotherapist. A specialist will be able to determine the reasons that influenced the development this state, will indicate how you need to change your life, learn to control yourself, cope with a similar condition, and improve the quality of your existence.

1. Chamomile. You can prepare an infusion or brew tea with chamomile. This plant helps to relax and relieve anxiety.
2. Green tea. Promotes peace and calm, allows you to concentrate. Also normalizes heart rhythm, balances arterial pressure, reduces anxiety.
3. Hop. The cones of this plant can be brewed or used essential oil hops, its extract or tincture. Be prepared for the tea from this plant to be bitter, so it is better to add chamomile, mint or honey to it. Hops can improve the quality of sleep, especially if you add a few drops of valerian to it.
4. Valerian. Causes drowsiness, is excellent sedative. This drug can be used both in capsules and tinctures.
5. Melissa. It is important to know that this plant should be consumed in moderation; if the dosage is exceeded, anxiety may increase. You also need to know that it is not used at low blood pressure.
6. Lavender. This plant helps to calm down. It may also affect concentration reduction, so this must be taken into account.

1. There is no need to leave your problems unresolved. It is important to realize that increased anxiety does not allow you to live normally and is harmful to your health.
2. Try to talk to yourself, understand what you are worried about, whether it is worth it.
3. Get rid of those things that influence the appearance of anxious thoughts.
4. Learn to see something good in everything. In any situation, try to guess positive result. There is no need to look at everything in negative terms. Imagine that everything will be fine.
5. There is no need to worry about what hasn't happened yet. Learn to compromise and seek mutual help.
6. Communicate with people, expand your social circle. Learn and feelings. Don’t isolate yourself, don’t shy away from communicating with people.

Now you know what anxiety is and how to get rid of it. You need to understand that an individual cannot live a normal life if he is constantly worried about something, worried, or in a state of stress. Learn to control yourself, come to the realization that such a life is not normal, it’s time to change it.

Have you ever found yourself thinking the same thing over and over again? Do you often think about what didn't happen but could have happened? If so, you probably suffer from anxiety and anxiety. Worry is a form of thinking. It can be repetitive and unproductive because it does not solve the situation and can sometimes make it worse. When you worry, your stress levels increase. It can affect your decision-making skills, your happiness, and your relationships. Anxiety may not seem like a big deal at first, but it can quickly spiral out of control and take over your life. If you feel like you can no longer control your anxious thoughts, then it's time to take back control of your mind and eliminate your worry and anxiety.

Steps

Definition of anxiety

What is anxiety? You can't solve a problem if you don't know what it is, so the first thing to do is find out what anxiety feels like to you.

• Write down how you feel when you think you're worrying. This will help you begin to write down your feelings, what is happening around you, and your thoughts. Pay attention to the sensations in your body - perhaps your muscles are tense or your stomach hurts. Later, you can go back to your notes and analyze what led you to these feelings.
• Ask others to help you identify when you are feeling anxious. Sometimes when people feel anxious, they start asking a lot of questions in an attempt to feel like they know what will happen next. Typically, people who are anxious will talk about it, and their friends and family will know that they are anxious. Let people close to you point this out to you, so it will be easier for you to understand how worried you are.

1. Separate the real from the unreal. The cause of anxiety is the unknown. This makes sense because the unknown can be scary. The future holds many possible options developments of events. Their problem is that the worst of them will most likely never materialize, which means your anxiety will be unfounded. This is why worrying is counterproductive. When defining anxiety, it is important to understand whether you are worried about something that is actually happening, or about something that just COULD happen.

   Ask yourself, are your thoughts productive? When we think about something, it can be easy to get off track and start thinking about what could have happened. When you're in stressful situation, anxiety may prevent you from knowing whether you've chosen the right path to deal with the situation. Ask yourself, are your thoughts helping you get out of the situation? If the answer is no, then know that it is anxiety.

   • A good example here would be a broken car. You need to get to work, but you have no idea how you can do it without a car. You immediately start thinking about how you're losing your job because you don't show up to work. Then you start to think that you won't have the money to pay rent and you'll lose your home. As you can see for yourself, thoughts quickly replace one another, spinning up a possible negative situation. However, if you focus on the current situation, you won't have to deal with losing your job or apartment. This can be a huge relief since you don't really know if these things will happen.
   • You love your children very much. You don't want anything to happen to them, so you accept everything necessary measures precautions so they don't get sick. You stay up all night thinking about all the new in different ways, with which they could catch the infection that day. Instead, focus on their health, safety and happiness, this will allow you to spend good time with children that will be beneficial for them, come back to the present and stop the downward spiral of anxiety.

2. Write down the reasons for your anxiety from the past, present and future. Some people worry about the past and how it affected them. Others worry about what they are doing now and how it will affect their future. There are even those who worry about everything at once - about the past, present and future. Write down the reasons for your worries to bring yourself an instant feeling of cleansing and relief.

   • Keep a journal to write down what worries you every day. You can do this at the end of the day, or simply journal about your worries as they arise.
   • Use your smartphone to log your worries. You can use a notes app or a dedicated journaling app.

Express what's bothering you

1. Talk to someone you trust. This will help you vent what's bothering you. Choose a friend or family member who will understand your feelings.

   • Let your loved one know that you know you're worried, but you just need to get it out of your head so you can move on. In most cases close person will understand you and will be more than happy to listen to you.
   • If possible, find someone who has the same concerns as you, you will feel less alone in your anxiety. You can then work together to release your fears by focusing on what is true in the moment.
   • Sometimes anxiety is caused by the feeling that you are going through something difficult alone. Talking to a loved one will provide you with a feeling of support and comfort.

2. Write in your journal about situations that bother you. Keep writing until you can't write about it anymore. This kind of free form writing can open up some of the issues that your subconscious mind is currently dealing with. You may be surprised by what you write, since most of the time your worries are hidden in something that you don't really understand on a conscious level.

   Talk to a therapist about your concerns. A professional can help you express your worries, process them, and let them go. The therapist understands that anxiety is a state of mind that can be changed. You just need to work at it and follow the instructions of the specialist.

   • Find a therapist who has experience working with people who suffer from anxiety and anxiety disorders.
   • Let your doctor know that you are working on eliminating your anxiety to improve your emotional well-being and your life.
   • Don't be afraid to discuss your deepest feelings. Sometimes it's the only way bring them to the surface and release them.

Let go of worry and anxiety

1. Ask yourself if worrying is doing you any good? After all, you want to take care of yourself and you don’t want to harm yourself in any way. Worry can be harmful to you, so remind yourself of that. As a rule, when a person is able to be honest with himself, it is easier for him to let go of his experiences.

   Train yourself not to worry. Put a rubber bracelet on your wrist and slap your hand with it every time you start to get nervous. This is a form of thought stopping technique that will help you stop the flow of anxious thoughts and return your focus to the present.

   Take something in your hands. Research shows that people who have their hands full are less likely to worry. When you're focused on what's in your hands, you'll be less focused on your thoughts. You can pick up a rosary or an anti-stress ball. Try counting the beads on a rosary or squeezing a ball in a rhythm.

Take care of yourself

Get enough sleep. Most people need seven hours of sleep a night. Because sleep deprivation can contribute to increased stress levels, leading to anxiety, it is important to get enough sleep.

Eat healthy. Vitamins and nutrients that you get from healthy food, will help you reduce blood pressure and improve brain function, which can help relieve stress. This may cause you to worry less.

1. Exercise. Physical exercise reduce stress levels and you stop worrying so much. When you are worried, go for a run, it can help you as it is very difficult to be physically active and worry. Active physical activity also helps the body produce endorphins, which can calm you down while giving you energy for a long day.

   • Ride your bike while enjoying the beautiful scenery of the area around you.
   • Go for a run in the park.
   • Play tennis with a friend.
   • Take a walk around the garden.
   • Go on a hike in the forest with your friends.

Anxiety takes away strength, thoughts, and the ability to react to a situation and look for opportunities to solve it. Anxiety drives you into depression and acutely makes you feel your own helplessness and insignificance. Is there a way to get rid of this oppressive state?

According to many psychologists, anxiety has a greater destructive effect than even depression. A state of constant tension, expectation of something terrible, lack of the slightest opportunity for relaxation, inability to accept correct solution and generally take at least some action that can overcome feelings of anxiety and get out of this difficult psychological state- this is how people experiencing constant feeling anxiety. This exhausting, oppressive feeling contributes to the development of various psychosomatic diseases, sleep disorders, digestion, physical and mental activity. This is why it is so important not only to determine in advance the slightest manifestations anxiety and immediately begin treatment when its main symptoms occur. To overcome anxiety state caused by stress, psychologists recommend using several methods to help cope with the first symptoms of anxiety:

1. Recognize the existence of the “lizard brain.”

It means coming to terms with the fact that our fears, concerns and our anxiety come from a small part of the brain called the amygdala, which is responsible for the emergence of primitive reactions and feelings. Of course, our thoughts, decisions and actions in a normal situation arise in the frontal lobes of the brain, the part of the brain that is responsible for cognition, learning and logic in reasoning and actions. But as soon as a threat arises to our basic needs (our life, health, well-being of loved ones and relatives), logic is powerless, we are overwhelmed by feelings and emotions that have very deep roots and we act more instinctively than judiciously. What solution can be found in this situation? Every time, feeling your hands getting cold, your stomach shrinks into a tight ball, and words begin to get stuck in your throat, in general, feeling a full range of approaching alarming symptoms, it is worth remembering that the situation is now controlled by the “lizard brain”, and not by us. It's worth remembering this and talking to this overly dramatic creature and offering to take control! Realizing that you can find a way out of any situation, you just need to think about what resources we have at the moment, you can return to logical reasoning, ceasing to be afraid and worried about who knows what.

2. Understand the cause of anxiety: try to find out what causes your anxiety, why you feel anxious and what it is aimed at.

Having found out what your anxiety is, where it came from, in other words, what or who you are worried about, it is much easier to stop worrying and think about what can be done to neutralize the alarming situation in which you find yourself. It might be worth calling the family whose trip you're worried about to find out how they're doing, sending an SMS to a child who's late from school, talking directly to your boss to clarify your situation at work.

3. Perform breathing exercises.

They are necessary to calm down and pull yourself together. The principle of these breathing exercises It’s quite simple: you need to consistently inhale through your mouth, hold your breath, then exhale through your nose and hold your breath again; only the abdominal muscles should work, not the chest. The main task is to relax all the muscles of your body as much as possible while inhaling and focus on the state of relaxation that gradually covers you during this exercise.

4. Imagine the most terrible outcome for your alarming situation, what could happen to you in this situation and accept it.

Try to feel what you might feel if the ending were like this. Calm down, don't forget about breathing exercises. Now imagine how you will act in this situation, find all possible solutions and ways out of this situation. See how you can fix everything. By preparing in this way, you can stop worrying and worrying and start taking action. So, instead of anxiety and a feeling of fear, you were prepared for the worst outcome of the situation and were able to find a solution for it, although the situation may not happen! Is it worth worrying about minor troubles now?

5. Distract yourself from any source of anxiety.

Stop watching news coverage of disaster scenes if you are worried about them. You shouldn’t multiply your own anxiety by looking at the nightmarish pictures in the news. This will make you even more anxious. Find yourself a hobby that can captivate you, try to avoid topics that cause you anxiety when communicating with family and friends. Hang out with people who exude confidence and a positive attitude, watch interesting movies, take up new sports, start collecting stamps, or join any environmental society.

6. Write a letter to yourself.

In the letter, list your worries, the reasons for them, and the decisions you are going to make to stop worrying.

7. Time management: divide the day into minutes and hours.

This gradation will allow you to escape from disturbing thoughts, especially eating. Your whole day will be busy with some important and not so important things. By concentrating on them, you can safely set yourself not to worry until tomorrow, almost as Scarlet did from the movie “Gone with the Wind.”

8. Eat tasty and healthy food.

Limiting diets in order to lose weight, become slimmer and more attractive, especially if the decision to “go on a diet” was made independently, without necessary recommendations from doctors, can play a bad joke on your mood. There are enough other things to worry about in this world than adding a few extra grams to your weight. Your body will thank you if you do not burden it with diets, but create a balanced diet that includes vitamins and minerals that your body is used to receiving in full.

9. Double your physical activity.

Running, swimming, skydiving, cycling and mandatory evening or morning jogging - any physical activity will help you cope with anxiety. No matter how good you are at this sport, just do it consistently and to the point that your doubts and worries fade into the background. It doesn’t matter what exactly you do - aerobics or weeding in the garden, the main thing is a combination of determination and physical activity, which can distract you from disturbing thoughts.

10. Use visual anchor images.

Choose an image that suits you that represents calm and relaxation. For example, clouds, with their measured and smooth flow across the sky, or the deep calm of the ocean, its waves gradually rolling onto the sandy shore. Every time you look at a picture of the ocean or look out the window at the clouds, you will feel that they are helping you calm down and stop worrying.

11. Repeat your own mantra.

For everyone it is different, the one that brings peace and serenity. For example, in a wonderful cartoon, Carlson loved to repeat “It’s not a big deal, it’s just an everyday matter,” and he blithely waved his hand, turning away from the newly broken toy, which threatened to turn into a disaster for the Kid. Come up with any phrase for yourself that will help you overcome the approaching anxiety and remind you that you can always find a way out of any situation, the main thing is to know that it is possible!

Sometimes the feeling of anxiety ceases to be rational and literally takes us prisoner. And then we worry about everything: from the likelihood of a sudden cold in a child to the onset of global warming... the site is about how to get rid of bad thoughts and drive away the feeling of constant anxiety.

"Hello. I ask you for help. I am almost in constant anxiety for my nine year old daughter. I am very afraid that something will suddenly happen to her.

Feelings of anxiety arise spontaneously in especially happy moments. Or after reading the next terrible news on the Internet (killed, stabbed, set on fire, etc.). Violence and aggression are the main themes of the media.

Knowing that thoughts are material, I simply go crazy: it’s impossible not to think..."

Fear or other strong emotions cause a person to jump to conclusions. Thus, we generalize completely unrelated facts, draw conclusions from isolated cases, and for some reason we try on everything that happened somewhere and with someone in our own lives.

An anxious person tends to worry about the most insignificant things and see disasters and horrors in everything. To reduce anxiety, such a person comes up with various rituals.

For example, it checks 10 times whether it is closed Entrance door, controls his loved ones, calling them every half hour, does not allow children to go out with their peers, imagining horrible consequences such communication...

An anxious person is sure that the world is very dangerous and full of threats. He sees obstacles in everything and expects problems.

It must be said that the means mass media greatly contribute to this perception, feeding us daily stories about the horrors happening in the world.

So it turns out that anxious people live, constantly worrying about the future and trying to protect themselves and their loved ones from possible troubles. They spend a lot of effort, time and emotions on this.

Unfortunately, in most cases these efforts lead to nervous disorders, depression (after all, a person thinks about bad things all the time) and irritation of loved ones (after all, they are constantly monitored).

It turns out that anxious person Life is hard on all sides. But despite this, he continues to worry because he cannot do otherwise.

It depicts everything that happens around and has meaning for us, everything that we take on faith or feel: this is our perception, what we call experience or the sum of ideas about reality.

The picture of the world is created from childhood and it describes in detail what is possible for us in this life and what is not.

The child’s picture is created based on the picture of the people around him - parents, friends, teachers, etc. And with this map he goes through life.

With the passage of time and the emergence of new experience, this map expands, but the whole paradox is that all subsequent events are perceived by a person from the point of view of previous experience, the boundaries of which are very difficult to go beyond.

The world consists of thoughts and is in the head. Any picture of the world “comes to life” with frequent attention to it.

Replaying horror stories in your head about yourself or your loved ones is absolutely futile - the energy of fear can only aggravate the situation. What we think about is what we most often encounter in life.

By changing your thoughts, you begin to behave differently and achieve different results.

The fact that you have the power to create your experiences, rather than simply react to external circumstances or memories of the past, means that you have a lot of choice, the ability to manage your life and create your own future.

That's why good way get rid of anxiety - shift your focus to a positive direction.

Firstly, if possible Eliminate bad news from your life.

Don’t watch or read crime stories, reports about disasters and wars, because you yourself create a reason for fear by plunging into negativity.

Turn off the TV, skip articles on this topic. There is no benefit from this information, but your impressionability begins to paint terrible pictures.

Create a positive information field for yourself, concentrate on on the positive side life.

Eliminate negativity from your life

1. Favorable exchange

4 ways to beat anxiety

The appearance of fear is largely ensured by a person’s imagination and ability to associate. When you worry, your imagination draws pictures of a terrible future.

Pictures can be huge in size and remain in front of your eyes all the time. What if an unpleasant picture is replaced with a pleasant one?

Imagine a situation that brings back pleasant memories for you. As you vividly imagine this joyful experience, determine how you feel.

Pay attention to your feelings again. Have they changed? Maybe they have become stronger?

Now let the imagination recede, become smaller, more sketchy, weaker, until it shrinks almost to the size of a postage stamp.

How do you feel now? Once you have determined this, return the image to its original position.

What happens to most people is this: when a positive experience approaches, positive feelings intensify, and when it moves away, they weaken significantly.

If you want to experience positive emotions more intensely, simply bring them closer to the eyes of your imagination.

But if you want the experiences to be less intense, you can move them away from you.

You can do the same with anxiety, pushing unpleasant pictures far, far away or turning them into a barely noticeable point.

You can take temporary systems: What significance does this event have in 5 years? In two years? Tomorrow? Right now? In general, it all depends on specific situation, and logic is optional here.

1. Affirmations

Very helpful in regulating your emotional state positive statements, called affirmations.

For example, as soon as you catch yourself having negative thoughts, immediately repeat the phrase “I and my loved ones are always and everywhere safe,” repeat as many times as necessary to calm down.

You can come up with any phrases that suit your situation. The main thing is that they are positive and in the present tense.

If something is constantly bothering you, repeat affirmations every day in any free minute - this is the only way you can achieve a positive effect.

By learning to manage your condition, you can not only get rid of anxiety, but also open your life to a whole rainbow of positive emotions, which, in turn, will attract a lot of pleasant situations into your life!

Ekaterina Gorshkova,
psychologist

Try to understand the cause of anxiety and worry. Realize whether it is objective or did you make it up? Take some time to introspect and answer the question: what will happen if your worst fears are confirmed, can you live with it? Surely your problem is solvable and does not pose a threat to life or health. If you can’t mentally level out anxiety, do yoga, meditation, listen to your favorite music.

If the feeling of anxiety only intensifies, you cannot find a specific cause of anxiety, and it interferes with your life - consult a psychotherapist. You may be suffering from generalized anxiety disorder and need to begin treatment on your own. In other cases, you can try to change the situation yourself - with the help of simple exercises and internal dialogue. How to get rid of anxiety and fear, how to overcome anxiety? We'll talk about this later.

Causes of anxiety and worry

An internal oppressive state of either fear, or uncertainty, or melancholy. Each of us has felt it at least once in our lives. It is normal for a state of causeless anxiety to occur rarely. It’s worse when it haunts you constantly, preventing you from living, working and developing normally in the direction that interests you. According to scientists, anxiety is a mixture of fear, shame, guilt and sadness. It often leads to the emergence of unreasonable and even absurd fears, although anxiety itself is not fear.

Rather, it is a strong anxiety, the causes of which are the following factors:

• Negative experience. We find negative events in our past and transfer them to our own future. Let's say you once failed an exam in a particular subject or with a particular teacher. Obvious reasons that was not the case - you were preparing. You were just unlucky, you were worried, didn’t get enough sleep, and so on. But remembering the negative events of the past, you feel a lot of anxiety before a similar exam in the near future.
• Negative example. It works in a similar way, but instead of our own negative experience, we take examples from the surrounding reality or from history. People often worry about catching the virus, cases of which have been reported thousands of kilometers from their country. We hear about the alleged appearance of a maniac in our city and feel alarmed, even if there have been no documented cases of attack.
• Low self-esteem. Frequent feelings of anxiety are common to people who lack self-confidence. By various reasons they have low self-esteem and at the same time a developed sense of shame. In school, work and even in relationships, they are afraid of failure. It is because of this fear of failure that most often happen. Studies have found that anxious people cope better with uncomplicated work in which they are confident of a positive outcome. Whereas for people who do not suffer from anxiety, failures only spur them on, and they cope with more complex and risky tasks.
• Childhood. Put it down, don’t touch it, you’ll break everything, you won’t succeed, leave here - you’ll ruin everything, you can’t do anything. If you often heard this from your parents and teachers as a child, you are at risk. Such an attitude towards a child provokes not only the development of low self-esteem, but also the appearance of an uncontrollable feeling of anxiety. It can also be triggered by children's fears, uncertainty about the reliability of relationships (for example, a difficult divorce of parents), about stability and a favorable outcome of a difficult situation.
• Nervous disorders. Many experts say that anxious people have slow metabolisms. Accordingly, the causes of anxiety should often be sought in disruption of the normal activity of the central nervous system. Therefore, not only psychologists, but also psychiatrists work with the elimination of anxiety. The key diagnosis is generalized anxiety disorder, which is treated primarily with medication.

Generalized anxiety disorder

In this case we are talking about serious illness, which must be immediately excluded.

Pay attention to the symptoms if you are constantly haunted by an uncontrollable feeling internal anxiety. It is best to consult a psychotherapist to rule out a diagnosis.

Only then can you try to cope with anxiety on your own. Generalized anxiety disorder occurs against a background of persistent worry or anxiety that is in no way related to specific dangerous situations or objects.

The key symptoms of the disease are:

• Persistent nervous state.
• Muscle tension, spasms, trembling.
• Increased sweating.
• Cardiopalmus.
• Dizziness and nausea.

Often, people suffering from this disease become very worried about possible death and/or illness. They project this state onto loved ones and worry excessively and inappropriately about them. A person is constantly visited by fears and thoughts of failure. Tension is observed - the patient cannot relax, fussiness can be seen in his actions.

Against the background of what is happening, severe headaches, increased sweating, and dizziness may be observed. The state of anxiety and the symptoms described above are stable for at least 3-7 days, and tend to intensify and subside for a short time.

What is the difference between anxiety and fear

Scientists disagree on whether fear and anxiety should be equated. According to some researchers, these are the same thing, but in different quantitative terms. That is, if anxiety is “milder,” then fear is severe form anxiety. However, in to a greater extent another point of view is accepted. According to her, fear and anxiety are completely different feelings, both in mechanism and in implementation. If fear usually occurs when real threat, with the coming soon dangerous situation and is regulated primarily by instincts, then anxiety appears long before events that may not occur at all.

That is, anxiety is considered rather as a reaction to an uncertain, and often to an unknown or imaginary signal, while fear is a natural reaction to danger. Accordingly, the appearance of these two feelings is associated with different principles operation of the mechanism. When anxiety occurs, the sympathetic nervous system is excited. When fear occurs, the parasympathetic system is activated. nervous system, the body’s activity is inhibited, and sometimes paralysis occurs.

How to get rid of worry and anxiety

If you have ruled out a mental disorder, or there is no reason to suspect its presence (there are no key symptoms, the state of anxiety is short-term), then you should turn to the method of internal dialogue. First of all, try to find out for yourself real reasons anxiety in the soul.

Ask yourself: what are you really afraid of? Next, try to assess this situation and determine the most likely scenarios for the development of events.

Let's say you're feeling anxious before an exam. What are you afraid of? Don't give it up. But if you get more specific and turn to details, then you are afraid not of the worst mark, but of its negative consequences. Which ones? You won't be able to get into the university you really wanted? Will you get it from your parents? Will your teachers judge you, will your friends and classmates laugh at you? It will depend on what exactly you are afraid of. Possible Solution your problem.

In this case, the anxiety inside can be easily eliminated by having an action plan outside, or by leveling the problem. Can't get into university? There are plenty of others. In addition, you will be able to enroll in a bunch of other educational institutions. Will the teachers judge? You won't even see most of them after leaving school or university. Will the parents be upset? For them, the main thing is that everything is fine with you - you can do anything even with a bad grade. Will your friends laugh? So why do you need such friends, find yourself more adequate acquaintances.

TOP 5 most effective exercises

1. Intimate talk. You can talk to a person who understands you and will always support you. Under no circumstances choose as your interlocutor someone who will only increase your anxiety and aggravate the situation. Remember who is always ready to support and reassure you? If there are none, consult a psychologist. If you don’t have money for a psychologist, talk to yourself. But your inner voice should convince you of a positive outcome.
2. Worst case scenario. Mentally transport yourself to the atmosphere of what you are so afraid of. Try to spur yourself on with an unsuccessful outcome and find a way out of the situation. As soon as you can find a way out of this situation, you may be able to extinguish the state of internal anxiety. After all, everything is not as bad as you thought. It’s another matter if we are talking about an overtaking feeling of shame due to dependence on the opinions of others. It will be difficult to do without the help of a psychologist.
3. Take a break. The essence of this method is to immerse yourself in a completely abstract state. You should find yourself in a situation where you don't want to think about anything at all. Close to trance. Perhaps it will be meditation, listening to music (preferably without text, it is important that you do not think about anything). Yoga is effective, in which extraneous thoughts and anxiety also occur quite rarely.
4. Game in the present. A rather cruel game, during which you have to think that there is no longer any past or future. Some psychologists suggest imagining that today is the last day of your life. Will you spend it worrying and worrying yourself? Hardly. But here it is worth mentioning that in the case of a mental disorder, such an exercise will only make you worse, and significantly so.
5. Breathing exercises. By the way, generalized anxiety disorder is often treated with the help of breathing exercises. Any relaxing method will do. The most popular is deep breathing with hand movements. Raise your hands and take a deep breath. You lower it and exhale. Repeat this several times until you feel a slight, barely noticeable dizziness. It also makes sense to strain your cardio system - go for a run, sit down several times, and do push-ups.

How to Manage Anxiety with Lifestyle Changes

If anxiety is not associated with a mental disorder and real danger, then it can become a reaction to a lifestyle that is detrimental to your body. It makes sense to change it at least, do the following:

• Eat less sweets and fatty foods.
• Minimize alcohol consumption.
• Go in for sports, at least regular jogging.
• Try to eliminate stressful situations.
• Rest more often and sleep more.

It also makes sense to pay attention to your surroundings.

If there are constantly people around you who complain about life (they don’t experience tragedies, but just like to complain), if they escalate the situation and treat you inappropriately, refuse to communicate with them. You won’t lose much, but your soul will certainly become calmer. If your job is stressful, change it. No amount of money is worth living in hell.

Summary

The key causes of anxiety are negative experiences, childhood fears, low self-esteem, heightened feeling responsibility and mental disorders. Anxiety cannot be equated with fear. More often than not, anxiety is a mixture of fear, guilt, sadness, and shame. To get rid of it, find the root of the problem. Once the cause is identified, try to eliminate it. If nothing works, and the condition worsens or remains the same, contact a specialist, preferably a psychotherapist right away. It may be more complicated than you think.