10 tips to help make positive habits stick
Just as bad habits are hard to break, positive habits are hard to make. Here’s 10 tips for how to make those habits stick.
Read moreAnxiety is more than a passing feeling of being worried or nervous when you have an important or stressful event coming up. When anxiety is long term and doesn’t go away after a stressful event, it can start to affect your everyday life. Here we look at the anxiety symptoms and causes of anxiety.
Anxiety is a natural response to a stressful situation. You may feel nervous, worried or apprehensive about what might happen. You may feel that you’re not prepared to face the situation, or you feel overwhelmed. It may be something new that you’re not used to, and you are not sure how things will turn out. These feelings of nervousness and worry are normal and are usually short term. When these feelings remain after the stressful event has resolved, that’s when anxiety can start to interrupt your life and have a negative impact on your daily activities.
Anxiety can cause psychological and physical symptoms. Anxiety varies from person to person, but here are some of the most common anxiety symptoms:
Approximately 14% of Australians are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder each year, making it the most common type of disorder in Australia[1].
If your anxiety is severe, persistent, long-lasting and affecting your life, it may be diagnosed as an anxiety disorder. The main types of disorders are:
If you are concerned that your anxiety is negatively impacting your wellbeing, thinking and physical health, speak to a health professional.
There isn’t one answer for what can cause anxiety, however there are several risk factors that can contribute to having anxiety. These risk factors include:
If you start to notice anxiety symptoms, you should get help as soon as you can to manage your anxiety. Your GP is often a good place to start as they can make a make a mental health assessment and discuss treatment options. Your GP can refer you to a psychologist who may use cognitive behaviour therapy to help treat the anxiety. Mental health nurses, mental health social workers, and counsellors can also provide help.
If you need to speak to a counsellor, you can call Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.
In addition to seeking treatment, you can also try some self-management strategies to manage anxiety. These include:
If you’re struggling to cope, call 1300 659 467 to speak to one of our counsellors. You can also click on the floating chat button on the right to chat with a counsellor online. Suicide Call Back Service counsellors are here 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If it is an emergency, please call 000.
References
[1] Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). National survey of mental health and wellbeing: Summary of results, 2007
Just as bad habits are hard to break, positive habits are hard to make. Here’s 10 tips for how to make those habits stick.
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