Common condition
Situational anxiety sits on the borderline between nervousness and anxiety. It isn’t a diagnosable disorder, but its symptoms look very much like an anxiety disorder. If your anxiety is interfering with your daily life but you aren’t sure whether it warrants treatment, it is always worth asking your GP or other healthcare professional. Perhaps they can help you! Mental health treatment is life-changing.
Nervousness Versus Anxiety
There’s a difference between a fleeting episode (nervousness) and an intense, prolonged experience (anxiety disorder). Virtually everyone experiences nervousness, but not everyone experiences anxiety. Nervousness goes away once the prompting event is over, whereas anxiety sticks around longer. Nervousness is a natural, healthy response to a prompting event, whereas anxiety is less rational and often stems from a psychological disorder.
Situational anxiety sits on the borderline between nervousness and anxiety. It isn’t a diagnosable disorder, but its symptoms look very much like an anxiety disorder. If your anxiety is interfering with your daily life but you aren’t sure whether it warrants treatment, it is always worth asking your GP or other healthcare professional. Perhaps they can help you! Mental health treatment is life-changing.
Common Anxiety-Provoking Situations
Situational anxiety only happens when you’re in specific situations. These situations act as the prompting event for an episode of anxiety. It can be anything, but some common ones are going to school, going on dates, traveling by plane, taking exams, seeing a doctor, speaking in public, interacting with authority figures, being in large crowds, driving at night, etc. This anxiety lasts longer than nervousness would and is recurring. There are therapies available that treat situational anxiety, such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy). Some people with situational anxiety end up getting diagnosed with a phobia; these are also very treatable.
Anxiety Symptoms
For most people with anxiety, it is a full-body experience. Sure, most of it is mental, but it manifests physically, too. There are a lot of ways in which it can manifest, and it’s different for everybody. It isn’t always easy to know when these symptoms are due to anxiety versus when they are due to a physical illness. The most common symptoms are panicked thoughts, racing heart, and shallow breathing. Anxiety can also bring irritability, headaches, trembling, fatigue, stomachache, diarrhea, sweating, and random pain in the body. Your sleep can also suffer; having anxiety increases your chances of insomnia and nightmares.
Tips For Easing Anxiety
Remember that while anxiety is super uncomfortable, it won’t kill you. DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) skills are super useful when it comes to soothing and preventing anxiety. Learning to ride the wave of anxiety until it passes can make the experience less uncomfortable. Remember that anxiety is a feeling, and feelings are not facts. Learning to check the facts can also ease anxiety symptoms. There is also the TIPP skill - here, you use either temperature, intense exercise, paired muscle relaxation, or paced breathing to calm your anxiety down.
For example, this could look like taking an ice pack and placing it on your neck, or breathing slowly as you count down from 50. The best way to hack intense anxiety is slowing down your exhale. Normal breathing while anxious is shallow and rapid. If you breathe in for ~4 seconds, then breathe out for ~6 seconds, it tricks your brain into taking it down a notch. Try doing this for ten breath cycles. You can read about how this works here.
Take-Home Message
To get help managing your anxiety, talk to your GP or other healthcare professional. You want to do this as soon as possible so that if your GP recommends seeing a specialist, you can get your name on the waitlist sooner. You can also contact Anxiety UK for assistance finding resources for you. If the DBT skills mentioned above seem like they might work for you, consider joining a DBT skills group; in-person availability depends on the area. You can find a wonderful DBT skills program online here; it consists of weekly lessons, easy homework, and an optional discussion forum. Having anxiety is incredibly difficult, but remember, there are lots of treatment options out there to try.
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