Personal Narrative: My Symptoms Of Anxiety

To you, I am just another story to tell. My phone is on, but I haven’t received a text in weeks. You remind me of that every day. You laugh at me, call me a whore, tell me I am crazy. To you, I am just another girl for you to destroy. Depression, you make me physically ill. You make me thoughtless. I can’t concentrate on conversations or school anymore. I am just so exhausted. I look forward to the moment I can crawl into bed and sleep my life away. You made my life not worth living. Anxiety, you lowered my self-esteem. I can’t even wear my hair up in ponytails because you told me my forehead was too big. You told me that everyone was watching me walk down the hallway, judging my plain outfits. You pulled me into extreme isolation. When you

Since than living with anxiety has been doable for me. I feel I can manage it. I feel I have control over my anxiety. My grades went up because I was able to focus on school and not anxiety. My friends and I created a closer bond because once again I was able to focus on us and not the anxiety. Everything was becoming clear to me. Everyone has their own way of handling anxiety. Medications world for some vs others like me, it made it worse. However I found my solution for anxiety. I found what worked for

The anxiety started when we checked into the hotel. I was in Syracuse with three of my best friends, ready to have a weekend full of exhilaration and laughter.

Even though my anxiety has completely altered my life, it has taught me a great deal. At first I would envy others, they would never understand the struggle I face everyday. I was angry and felt that others took advantage of their normal life, and I was broken. Many nights I stayed awake cry asking God why he wanted to punish me. However, as the years past I started to truly understand the beauty of my “curse”. I have a view of the world that most people don't have, and it makes me stronger. Most people never face a real struggle in their life

On our way up the stairs to our unit, a girl named Jada came up behind me. “So why are you here?” I was thrown off by the personal question she asked so casually. Only an hour prior I had arrived at the facility and was introduced to the other eleven teenagers.

What will it take for them to realize what truly goes on inside our brains. Sticking out like a sore thumb or a lost shoe in the center of the highway. Anxiety is like not being able to breathe even being outside. I wish I could somehow explain the science behind how they make me feel. I got my first dose of anti-depressants when I was twelve years old. An artificial happiness that “worked”. The drugs never worked. But doesn’t mean a goddamn thing about being depressed! Sometimes the medications didn’t work because I was already happy, but people have to dig deeper to find out what the problem is. When someone takes their own life, how are we supposed to react? Are we supposed to think it’s just sad? Taking your own life is an ugly side of

¨ Good Good... my mom and I went to the museum and went shark watching.¨

Anyone experiencing panic attacks knows all too well what it is like to experience these. The people I’ve worked with have described many of those symptoms. It is happening to all segments of our society. One lady told me she tried to hide it because she didn’t want to have people think she was crazy, she felt like she was crazy or at least going crazy. It can be debilitating. High functioning individuals can have panic attacks. One person I worked with had been experiencing panic attacks for over twenty years and yet was financially doing well. He had learned to manage and cope; he had developed some amazing survival skills. The best way he had been able to manage these episodes was to be an entrepreneur, which allowed him to call his own hours and

For as long as I remember, I was a quiet child. I did my assigned tasks, followed direction well, was respectful, and a great listener. Somewhere along the line I became an even better listener, for the price of my voice. As if time was in a limbo, I was just drifting along, going with the flow, and before I knew it, I wasn't able to talk.

There was a time that I use to have crippling anxiety attacks and it’s something I deal with on a daily basis, but it’s something that through the years I have become better at mastering and taming. My anxiety is something that use to cripple me and make me choke during speeches. Sometimes just being in front of people would cause an episode. I use to be afraid of meeting new people and I let it constantly control my actions and stop me from taking chances and opportunities. This is something that I regret to this day. Now I try to get more involved with people and make new friends. I have made so many new friends by not letting my anxiety control me.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population; that statistic includes myself. Sophomore year of high school, I was diagnosed with GAD which stands for generalized anxiety disorder, and I was also diagnosed with social anxiety, major depression and chronic daily headache. When my therapist told me I was diagnosed with all of those disorders, I was not shocked. I knew for a very long time that something was not okay with me, now it was just a matter of how I was going to deal with what I was just diagnosed with and if I was going to let it define my life. Anxiety is something I dealt with in my past, something I am dealing with in the present, and I am going to conquer it for my future here at Saint Ben’s.

that was years ago. when the best part of my day was still waking up to see your face. the year when the snow covered the ground at easter and we spent all night sat in out blankets in the cold, watching shitty rom coms and tv series. i used to have no worries or fears because i k new that wherever i was, you’d be there with me so i would never face my fears alone. there were times where i was so scared. maybe due to my social anxiety or maybe do to the depressing thoughts that made me numb. but you were always by my side.

It wasn’t until I had a major setback at the beginning of my senior year that I was diagnosed by a doctor with my condition. I began to visit a therapist and still continue with therapy. My senior year I decided that I was no longer going to let anxiety control my life. I pushed through these feelings everyday instead of running from them. The feelings began to come less frequently. My life was progressively getting better, I was becoming myself again. I could go to the movies again and hangout with friends. My grades started to rise and I started to become an overall happier person. Now, the minute I start to feel anxious or sad, I take a deep breath and tell myself I am not going to let it control me. Overcoming anxiety and depression has been one of the toughest challenges that I have ever had to face. To this day, some people don’t understand the hardships that these conditions come with. I’ve met other people who have had these experiences as well. I try to help them get through it and use myself as an example that you can overcome it. I want to help as many people as I can because I wish I had someone to hold my hand through it when I was

I’ve always felt as if I was different growing up. I was, and still am a quiet kid. I didn’t know I had anxiety until my freshman year of highschool. My anxiety isn’t crazy bad or anything, it’s mostly an inconvenience. I had a panic attack last year and it changed me. I woke up and I couldn’t breath. The best way to describe the attack would be trying to yawn and someone punching you just as you get halfway through it. I thought I was dying so I went to the hospital. The doctors said that I

I got bullied as a child which I think contributed to my anxiety today. I always knew I had anxiety, but I thought it was rather minor, and that I was just shy. What I didn’t know was that it would get so bad to the point where I would have an anxiety attack, but after this exposure to a more severe attack it seemed to have gotten more and more relentless. The day I had an anxiety attack was a day that I would reconstruct the way I think about myself and my anxiety, and how it affects me. From then on, my anxiety has held me back the sense that it hindered my social life, and even when I had friends I felt like I could never bring myself be myself around them.