Anxiety is what we feel when we are worried, tense or afraid – particularly about things that are about to happen, or which we think could happen in the future. Anxiety is a natural human response when we feel that we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.
It's particularly common to experience some anxiety while coping with stressful events or changes, especially if they could have a big impact on your life.
Anxiety can become a mental health problem if it impacts your ability to live your life as fully as you want to. If your symptoms fit a particular set of medical criteria then you might be diagnosed with a particular anxiety disorder. It's also possible to experience problems with anxiety without having a specific diagnosis.
Most new parents will feel some anxiety during the first few weeks. If this anxiety becomes constant and affecting your daily life, you may need some help. If you experience anxiety while you are pregnant or after giving birth, this may be called:
- prenatal or antenatal anxiety – while you are pregnant
- postnatal anxiety – during roughly the first year after giving birth
- perinatal anxiety – any time from becoming pregnant to around a year after giving birth.
Understanding your anxiety, and learning how to cope with it can take some time. Building an understanding of your symptoms and triggers can be helpful to share how you are feeling with others. It can be helpful to write things down to build your own understanding of your symptoms and triggers of being anxious. You could take ten minutes and think about a time where you recently experienced symptoms of anxiety.
- What symptoms did you experience?
- What was happening around the time you experienced them?
- Can you identify the trigger?
- How much did this affect you on the anxiety ladder?
You could share this with family, friends or professionals to help others understand the way you are feeling and get the best support. Anxiety has an effect on both your mind and your body and you may experience many of these symptoms, or just one or two, not everyone experiences all of them.
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A national charity for those affected by anxiety, stress and anxiety based depression. Anxiety UK was established to promote the relief and rehabilitation of persons living with agoraphobia and associated anxiety disorders, phobias and conditions, in particular, but not exclusively, by raising awareness in such topics.
Offer a range of innovative and high quality services delivered by professionals; supported by staff and volunteers with personal experience of anxiety, stress, and anxiety based depression.