We have interviewed 92 people who have struggled with anxiety. These stories are full of tips on how to overcome anxiety.
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I’ve interviewed 92 people struggling with anxiety, and here are the top 5 most mentioned tips that helped these people overcome anxiety:
In our many years of publishing helpful mental health content, we always received questions from our readers about specific situations. While we have a lot of helpful tips to share on how to be happier, we simply can’t offer advice for every situation.
That’s why I’ve set out to interview folks with every type of mental health struggle. My job as an interviewer is to categorize these interviews and present them in a way that is most helpful to our readers.
“This was a different breed of anxiety. It took me down. I had never experienced suicidal ideation before. I am a fighter and have always been so proud of my resilience, but this was a whole different ball game. Resilience is no match for suicidal ideation.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Postpartum depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Treatment
“For months, no one knew I was struggling. I’ve always been a high performer, so I didn’t want to be vulnerable. Eventually, my husband noticed and I had to open up for the sake of our marriage.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Helped by:
Medication
Therapy
“The pressure I placed on myself only compounded my emotions. I was afraid to tell other people outwardly. I dropped hints to people in hopes someone would just ask because the humiliation of opening up felt too heavy a burden.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
“We were going to “take it easy” and eat around 800 to 1200 calories a day to get started. That did not work for me. I wanted to be “the best” at this diet. I would start at 800 calories a day, then think “well, why not 500? Why not 400? Why not 300?” until I was eating nothing every day.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Eating disorder
Helped by:
Therapy
“Because I wasn’t using solid evidence to understand my situation; I was just using my own thoughts and feelings, which were terribly limited. I mean, one person cannot possibly know all there is to know in order to make sense of themselves or the world. Life is simply too complex for that.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Suicidal
Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Self-Care
“I started to experience an anxiety disorder, an eating disorder (I lost around 10 kg), depression, trust issues, and other mental problems as well. I was becoming this person that I didn’t recognize anymore, all while drifting away from being the person I wanted to be.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Breakup
Eating disorder
“I remember collapsing in the stairwell and I thought I was having a heart attack. The staff that was in the building at the time recognized this as a panic attack and thankfully did not make the situation worse. Nobody there referred me to a counselor or therapist though.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Panic attacks
Helped by:
Exercise
Meditation
“I was embarrassed by my feelings and didn’t want anyone to know how much pain I was in, so I often put on a brave face. Even on my worst days, I tried to make it look like everything was okay when I felt anything but deep down.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
“I felt broken. I had suicidal ideation because I sometimes could not see a way out of it. A wise person told me my children would be much worse off if their mother killed herself. That stopped me in my tracks.”
Struggled with:
Anxiety
Depression
Divorce
Miscarriage
Suicidal
Helped by:
Medication
Self-Care
Therapy
“The worst symptom was the sharp chest pain and my pounding heart. Fear took over, which only exacerbated the horrible sensations I felt. I never understood why my body thought the best way to react to a perceived danger was to cause sudden chest pain and simulate a heart attack.”