Stories Link Copied 07.11.24

31 Things Everyone With Anxiety Can Relate To

Unclench your jaw and dive in. ByAnna Borges

Having anxiety can feel like playing life on hard mode, where you’re constantly interpreting mundane events through panic-colored glasses. You are the queen of catastrophizing, a pro in overthinking, and your imagination for nightmarish “what if” scenarios truly knows no bounds. Basically, you could host a Ted Talk on what anxiety feels like—with zero prep work.

If this is all sounding pretty familiar to you so far, then you’ll probably relate to this list of common anxiety experiences. OK, maybe everything on this list won’t resonate with everyone since we all experience anxiety differently. Not only are there different conditions like generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, and panic disorder, but we’re all unique humans whose anxiety manifests differently. IDK about you, but my anxiety changes flavor all the time, both over the years and even day to day. 

Still, chances are you’ve stumbled upon at least a few of these classic Anxious People Problems. So take a drink—er, I mean, deep cleansing breath, sip of water, or some other positive coping strategy—for every struggle that makes you say, Ugh, same.   

Just a bunch of experiences that perfectly sum up what anxiety feels like:

1. Assuming someone is either 1) dead or 2) mad at you whenever they don’t respond to your text.
2. Constantly catching yourself clenching your jaw or tensing your shoulders randomly throughout the day.
3. Convincing yourself you’re about to be fired whenever your boss sends an innocuous, “Hey, time to chat?”
4. Knowing caffeine makes your anxiety worse…but throwing gasoline on the fire by slurping down coffee anyway.
5. …Probably because you’re exhausted after staying up all night replaying every embarrassing thing you ever said and did.
6. Oscillating between your Fear of Missing Out and your Fear of Going Out whenever you get an invite.
7. Making a decision and immediately doubting it…then doubting your doubt, no matter how much you thought things through.
8. Getting an alert from your Apple Watch to log this heart-pumping workout, but you’re just…panicking.
9. Sheer disbelief at anyone who buys non-refundable tickets to anything (what if something happens?!).
10. Scrutinizing the punctuation choice in every text you send (was that period too harsh?!) or receive (WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THAT PERIOD?).
11. Wondering weekly if that new random symptom is the one that’s going to take you out (and convincing yourself yep, yep it is after an hour of Googling).
12. Overthinking your response to a simple “How are you?” because what if you say the wrong thing? And how are you anyway???
13. Politely smiling and nodding when people without anxiety swear meditation and deep breathing will cure you.
14. And fighting the urge to fight anyone who tells you to “just relax.”
15. Procrastinating and stressing about a problem that could easily be solved by a single phone call.
16. Convincing yourself you’re about to be the protagonist in everyone’s gossip the moment you leave the room.
17. Struggling to focus on tasks because your mind is too busy creating fictional disasters.
18. And just straight up earning the gold medal in Highly Imaginative and Improbable What Ifs (that you then convince yourself will for sure happen).
19. Always needing to know the plan so you can mentally prepare for everything—like how you’ll get there, who you’ll talk to, etc. etc. Uncertainty is chaos!
20. Dealing with post-drinking hanxiety on top of your usual hangover, because you’re sure you did or said something humiliating, even if everyone assures you that you didn’t!!!
21. Choosing your outfits before an anxiety-inducing event based on what will best cover up all the sweat.
22. The anxiety poops. Enough said.
23. The conviction that you 100% left the stove on/keys behind/water running, even if you double (and triple) checked before you left.
24. Preparing a mental script no matter the situation—and stumbling over your words anyway.
25. Serving as the unofficial meteorologist in your friend group because you’ve checked the forecast 20 times just in case.
26. Escaping for plenty of bathroom and water breaks to ground yourself. (You just need a sec, OK?)
27. Knowing full well that your anxiety is irrational but still not being able to ignore it completely.
28. Catastrophizing around even the smallest scenarios, because of course that silly mistake you made is going to Ruin Your Life.
29. Spending more time replaying the past or fretting about the future than enjoying the present.
30. Constantly debating with yourself: Is this my anxiety or my intuition talking?
31. And, finally, feeling highly suspicious about the rare times you’re not anxious. And then getting anxious about that instead. Because of course.

The post 31 Things Everyone With Anxiety Can Relate To appeared first on Wondermind.

Pro Tips Link Copied 01.12.24

10 Ways to Help Someone Having a Panic Attack

Don’t freak out that they’re freaking out. BySam Brodsky

Last month, I had my first panic attack in front of two of my closest friends and my dad. My heart rate skyrocketed, my chest went all stress ball, and I swore I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. My body just didn’t feel like my own, and if you told me I was slowly dying, I would’ve believed you. The worst of it didn’t last too long, but I was drained, disoriented, and really fucking disturbed for the rest of the night (and, to be honest, I’m still anxious about it). 

If you’ve never had one, a panic attack basically feels like a “surge of intense fear or intense discomfort” that peaks in minutes, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). These can come out of nowhere or be triggered by something you’re scared of, per the DSM-5-TR. When it happened to me, I knew my health anxiety was the culprit. For other people, things like social anxiety might kick off an attack before they speak in public, or a fear of bugs might set one off when their apartment’s pet cockroach comes out to play, explains clinical psychologist Terri Bacow, PhD, author of Goodbye, Anxiety: A Guided Journal for Overcoming Worry. This is all to say that panic attacks can be sparked by anything, and you might not even know the reason. 

Panic attacks can make you sweaty, shaky, and dizzy and ramp up your heart rate. They can also cause shortness of breath, chest pain, tingling, numbing, and a choking kind of feeling. And all of that can come with an overwhelming fear of losing control or dying, per the DSM-5-TR. 

Yeah, it’s a pretty disturbing experience, but if you’re trying to be there for someone having a panic attack, it might not always be obvious that it’s happening. Sometimes people hyperventilate or look super unwell, but a lot of it is internal chaos, notes Dr. Bacow. During my attack, I was too scared to say anything at its peak. My friends said they noticed I was quieter than usual—that something was wrong—though they had no clue what was going down until I told them. 

Whether you know someone who’s prone to panic attacks or want to be prepared just in case, we spoke to mental health pros and people who’ve been there about how to handle these situations in the moment. So the next time you notice your partner or even a stranger sitting near you on a plane potentially experiencing a panic attack, you’ll know exactly what to do.  

How to help someone having a panic attack.

1. Try to confirm they’re really having a panic attack. 

Like we said, it’s not always clear if your bestie or that lady in Target’s frozen aisle is, in fact, panicking. They might look a little off or they could appear to be having a medical issue—and either of those things might be true.

So, one of the surest ways to figure out if someone is having a panic attack is to ask them. For example, if Target lady looks like she’s hyperventilating, ask, “Do you think you’re having a panic attack?” or just, “Are you OK?” would work, Dr. Bacow says.

It’s very possible that they can’t get the words out to confirm/deny or they might even say they’re having a heart attack, Dr. Bacow notes. So, yeah, this isn’t fail-proof. When it’s unclear what’s going on, you can ask them if they’d like you to call 911, or just do it to be safe. When in doubt, getting medical help is the safest option, says psychiatrist Shreya Maniar Nagula, MD.

2. Choose your words wisely.

Saying the wrong thing might make someone having a panic attack more anxious or annoyed. If you say, “Everything is fine,” or, “You’re OK,” it can feel dismissive of their physical and mental experience, explains Dr. Bacow. And telling them to “calm down” isn’t helpful because they might not know how to actually calm down, says Dr. Maniar Nagula. “We would love to, but saying the words does nothing,” notes Julia, 32, who says she feels like she’s suffocating when she’s having a panic attack.

Instead, you should speak kindly (duh) and focus on validating words that encourage them to work through what they’re feeling, says Dr. Bacow. “A sample script [might be], ‘This will pass in a few minutes. Staying calm will make it go away faster, and I can help you ride this out,’” she suggests. You can also say things like, “I’m here with you,” or, “You’ll get through this,” suggests Dr. Maniar Nagula. And, if you know them, remind them of the other panic attacks they survived as proof they’ll get through this one, Dr. Maniar Nagula says.   

3. Remain calm.

Staying chill in front of someone who isn’t helps a lot, says Dr. Bacow. That’s because how other people react rubs off on how we react (see: co-regulation). Like when, as little kids, our parents were scared of something so we got scared too, she explains. Basically, not freaking out helps reassure the person having a panic attack that things maybe aren’t as terrifying as they seem (even if the panic attack is), she says. Emily T.* says her S.O. talks to her in a gentle and kind tone that feels soothing. If he was panicking or annoyed, it would probably make her  even more anxious, she says.

4. Try to distract them. 

The thing about panic attacks is that people can start freaking out over the physical stuff, like their heart pounding, chest hurting, and the choking sensation, often making those symptoms worse, says Dr. Bacow. So thinking about something not related to what a panic attack feels like gives their nervous system a chance to cool off, she says.

Maybe ask if they’re up for counting backward from 100 by two, suggests Dr. Bacow. Or you can ask what they see around them, what they hear, or what they can touch to ground them, suggests Dr. Maniar Nagula. Whatever the exercise, the goal is to get them focused on what’s happening around them instead of the chaos in their brain. 

While distractions are great, you should also reassure them that you understand what they’re going through and that you’re taking it seriously. Again, we don’t want anyone to feel like we’re dismissing their very real experience, ya know?

5. Walk them through deep breathing.

Sometimes, deep breathing can ease people’s chest tightness, fast heart rate, and shortness of breath when they’re having a panic attack, which, in turn, helps them feel less anxious, says Dr. Maniar Nagula. So take long inhales and exhales with them or count to five each time they breathe in and out, she suggests. Doing it together lets them follow your lead when they’re not sure how to do it themselves. 

For example, when Julia is mid-panic attack, she and her husband do box breathing together: inhaling for four seconds, holding for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, and holding for four seconds. That little exercise slows her breathing and her racing thoughts, she explains.

That said, if the person having a panic attack can’t seem to breathe deeply and slowly with you and starts taking more shallow breaths, it could make them more panicked, says Dr. Bacow. When that happens, move on to another kind of distraction, like what’s going on around them, she suggests.

6. Ask if you can touch them.

Though physical touch is great for some, others might feel more worked up by it, Dr. Maniar Nagula says. So, ask them if it’s OK to touch their shoulder or arm to calm them, she suggests. 

When you’re in freakout mode, having another person hold your hand or rub your back can calm your stress response. It makes you feel like someone is there for you, says Dr. Maniar Nagula. For Julia, her husband will hold her tight, like being wrapped in a weighted blanket, she says. 

How to help someone after a panic attack.

7. Ask them what they need.

Panic attacks are scary, so it’s common for people to have residual feelings of anxiety when it’s over, says Dr. Maniar Nagula. To guide them through the aftermath, the best thing you can do is ask them what they need—not everyone will want the same thing. When it looks like someone’s symptoms are calming down, try something like, “Do you want water?” or “Do you want a hug?” or “Should we go get some food?” suggests Dr. Bacow. A simple, “What do you need right now?” may be helpful too.

8. Chat about what led up to the panic attack.

Sometimes people want to talk about what happened and sometimes they don’t. But if the person you’re with is up for it, getting into what happened before the attack can enable them to find long-term solutions—I know it did for me. 

To be fair, they might not know what led up to this panic attack, but rehashing what’s been on their mind lately can clue them in. Say their panic attack came after a week of crappy sleep and intense work deadlines—which Dr. Bacow says happens—maybe they’ll realize that they need to take some time off, practice better pre-bed habits, or even find a new job. Sometimes the next step is finding a mental health professional to get to the bottom of it, Dr. Bacow adds. No one needs  to make decisions like that with you, but you can still encourage them to consider their options.

9. Ask (and listen to) how the panic attack made them feel. 

Discussing what the panic attack was like can support people as they regulate their emotions and process what happened, says Dr. Bacow. So, again, if they’re open to it, you could start with something like, “Seems like that was really scary for you.” Then, let them take it from there. 

Assist them as they work through that debilitating experience by reflecting back whatever they say, Dr. Bacow suggests. If they’re like, “OMG I felt like I was dying,” you could respond with, “That sounds really terrifying!” In my experience, having my friends and my dad there to listen as I cried made me feel supported and heard.

10. Find out what helped them come down from the attack. 

When you’re aware of what’s most useful in a moment of panic, you learn how to self-soothe. And verbalizing that with another person can solidify it in your brain.  

If you’re helping someone, encourage them to write down what worked so they can better manage a future attack on their own, suggests Dr. Maniar Nagula. Bonus points if they screenshot that list and set it as their phone background, she says. It’s great to be there for them, but they shouldn’t rely on you, she explains. 

That said, this is still good intel for you as a support person. Julia says now that her husband knows what’s most effective, he feels more confident helping her get back to baseline.

*Name has been changed.

The post 10 Ways to Help Someone Having a Panic Attack appeared first on Wondermind.

Pro Tips Link Copied 06.21.23

How to Deal If Panic Attacks Are Ruining Your Life

Nope, this is not death. Really! It’s not! ByLauren Del Turco

There’s no point in sugar-coating it: Panic attacks are just plain awful. If you’ve ever had one, you know how terrifying it is when your body goes haywire—especially when you’re in traffic, on a date, in your boss’ office, or literally just chilling at home. Even the idea of another panic attack lurking in the back of your mind can be freaky. Unfortunately, if you’re wondering how to stop a panic attack in its tracks, the truth is that it’s really freakin’ hard (and often impossible) to simply will yourself out of one, explains psychiatrist Juan Romero-Gaddi, MD, founder of Equal Mental Health. That said, there are some expert-backed ways to manage panic attack symptoms once they strike, so that you can get back to calm as quickly as possible. 

First of all, what are panic attacks?  

Let’s back up a sec for a little panic attack 101: Though panic attack symptoms can vary from person to person, they typically involve a range of uncomfortable symptoms like your heart pounding out of your chest, nausea, sweating, chest pain, shakiness, numbness, shortness of breath, and chills, says Dr. Romero-Gaddi. Usually, the physical misery is accompanied by intense feelings of doom and fear of death. Again, awful. 

So, uh, WTF is going on when your hands start tingling and you can’t breathe Ted Lasso-style while you’re in the middle of the supermarket just trying to decide which oat milk to buy? Oftentimes, panic attacks are triggered by some sort of anxious thought that tricks your body into freaking out the way it would if you were face-to-face with your middle-school bully or that creepy girl from The Ring. That sends your sympathetic nervous system into “fight, flight, or freeze” mode, says clinical psychologist Ryan Howes, PhD. The result is a burst of adrenaline that makes your heart and lungs prepare for battle (or to just get TF out of there).

Panic attacks can last anywhere from a few minutes to a half hour, though they feel like for-ev-er when you’re in the middle of one, the experts say. And then there’s the post-panic attack hangover. Yeah, that’s a thing. As if the whole feeling-like-you’re-going-to-die issue wasn’t enough, a lot of people feel jittery or completely exhausted for hours after the intensity subsides, says Dr. Howes.

Another bummer: Panic attacks can happen to…anyone. That said, they happen most often to people who have an anxiety disorder or panic disorder, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). 

If you do have panic disorder, you might experience panic attacks with no clear trigger (like as soon as you wake up) and spend a significant amount of time stressing about what could trigger your next one or when it will happen, per the DSM-5-TR. If you don’t have panic disorder, it’s more likely that you’ll have a panic attack in a particularly stressful or anxiety-inducing scenario, like bumper-to-bumper traffic.

It’s important to remember (even though it might feel impossible in the moment) that panic attacks aren’t inherently dangerous, says Dr. Romero-Gaddi. (Read: No, you aren’t actually going to die.) Obviously, though, if you have panic attacks, the desperation to make them stop is real.

Again, it’s low-key impossible to stop a panic attack like you’d stifle a sneeze or hold in your angry tears at work. But there are a few things you can do to turn the volume down on your symptoms and help your body calm down. Here’s how to do that.

1. Get your environment right.

A perhaps-obvious-but-important first move when shit starts going down: Get yourself out of any stressful or potentially harmful situation—like driving, says Dr. Howes. Doing 80 on the highway while hyperventilating is not it, honey. Pull over, find a buddy, or get thee to a comfortable place, like, right now.

If you can also remove yourself from anything overstimulating or triggering, do it, says Dr. Romero-Gaddi. That means leaving anywhere that’s loud or crowded (or both) to find some quiet. You can also try using earplugs, noise-canceling headphones, or an eye mask, if you have them (and if you’re in a safe situation to use these).

2. Have a list of comforts at the ready.

If panic attacks are a recurring thing for you, doing a little prep work can help you cope better (or at least faster) the next time one of these barges into your day. Bust out your journal or phone, and jot down a few objects or activities that comfort you. A bath, hot chocolate, a good friend who likes talking on the phone, a blanket on your couch, a walk in the park or around your block, or just a calming playlist are all good options, says Dr. Howes. Keeping this list handy can help you take action when it’s hard to think straight.

3. Put that adrenaline to work.

OK, we’re not saying you should go out and run a 5k, but moving around might make you feel more calm. “The sudden jolt of adrenaline is a burst of energy to the body, and when you sit still that energy has no real outlet,” says Dr. Howes. “Some people feel it helps to go for a quick walk, run up the stairs, or do jumping jacks to expel some of that extra energy.” 

Not quite up for that? Go for a more subtle physical outlet like a fidget spinner, some other sensory toy, or even coloring, suggests Dr. Romero-Gaddi. 

4. Do a quick grounding exercise.

When you feel like someone’s standing on your chest and your mind is ping-ponging all over the place, everything going on around you practically dissolves. But tuning into your surroundings can actually help interrupt the swirl of a panic attack. “Taking a moment to pay attention to your five senses has a way of pulling you back into the safety of the present,” explains Dr. Howes. Take a look around and name five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can smell, two things you can physically touch, and one thing you can taste. If you can say all those things out loud, that’s a bonus!

5. Embrace the cold. 

There are a few ways to do this one, but both Dr. Romero-Gaddi and Dr. Howes have found that literally chilling yourself out is a good way to, ya know, chill when you’re in the throes of a panic attack. “Some people say they feel calmer when they take a cold, wet washcloth and place it on the back of their neck,” Dr. Howes says. “There are various theories as to why this works, from nerve stimulation to just experiencing a different physical sensation, but regardless, it can help.” Holding ice cubes or an ice pack can also do the trick.

If you’re up for it, Dr. Romero-Gaddi also recommends the ice diver’s technique, which involves plunging your face into a bowl filled with ice cubes and water. After doing a handful of face plunges for a few seconds at a time each, something called the “diving reflex” works to reduce the response of your nervous system (aka the thing going bananas during a panic attack), effectively helping you feel less flighty, he says.

6. Take your meds.

Obviously, this one takes some pre-planning, but if you have recurring panic attacks, a prescription for a fast-acting medication, like a benzodiazepine, that you can grab and take as needed can really save the day, says Dr. Romero-Gaddi. Those can help relieve panic attack symptoms pretty quickly, he adds.

7. Talk to a pro.

Here’s the thing, guys: While everything on this list can certainly help, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to stopping panic attacks (or preventing them from popping up in the first place), says Dr. Howes. So, if they keep crashing your party, consider it a less-than polite invitation to find a licensed mental health pro.

Not only can teaming up with a therapist or psychiatrist enable you to load up your toolkit for dealing with panic attacks when they arise, but it can also help you tone down your overall stress and anxiety. Ultimately, that can make for fewer panic attacks down the line, suggests Dr. Romero-Gaddi. The long-game is where the real magic happens.

The post How to Deal If Panic Attacks Are Ruining Your Life appeared first on Wondermind.

Q&A Link Copied 06.15.23

Best-Selling Author V.E. Schwab Is No Stranger to Rejection

“Accepting that rejection is the cost of participation is essential.” ByMarilyn La Jeunesse

Despite having over a dozen best-selling books to her name, V.E. Schwab says they still get rejected at least once a month. “Rejection and waiting and the instability and the insecurity is all part of the process. It’s so easy in creative fields for worth and work to become inextricable,” Schwab tells Wondermind.

As a self-described anxious creative, Schwab decided early on in their career to be transparent about their own mental health so others going through the same publishing hurdles would feel less alone. “If you feel like it’s only you, it feels like an indictment of your own ability instead of the fact that things are hard.”

Whether it’s writing her own complicated emotions into the characters in her novels or using her platform to advocate for other authors living with mental illness, Schwab has built her career on authenticity and honesty. Below, Schwab opens up about their mental health journey, learning to cope with rejection, and the terrifying thoughts keeping them up at night.

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WM: What’s something you do to take care of your mental health every day? 

VES: Rain or shine, cold or warm, I take my dog for a walk on the beach every morning. Something about starting my day with the vastness of nature and feeling really small … it’s one of the most grounding things I can think of. It’s the very first thing I do before I’ve even had a pot of tea or any breakfast and it’s just really my favorite way to start the day. 

WM: Why is destigmatizing mental illness important to you?

VES: I made it a point to talk about my creative health, and mental health went hand-in-hand with it. It would’ve been disingenuous to talk about one thing and not the other. Mental health is also a really big component in my writing. It’s a theme. People think it’s easy for me [to talk about mental health]. It’s not; it’s terrifying. But enough people come up to me and say, “Thank you for talking about this thing,” or “I felt less alone,” and really, that’s the whole point of it. If I can make one other person—especially another creative person—feel less alone in their struggle from my point in my career, I think that can be heartening. It makes it worth it—as uncomfortable as it is for me. If I have a platform and I don’t use it, what’s the point? 

WM: How do you deal with failure or negative feedback from readers?

VES: The one thing that gets easier, the more books you have, is that you engage with people for whom your work is essential. Reading is entirely subjective, and sometimes we find the right content at the wrong time or it’s simply the wrong content. It is not our job to write a story for everyone. That is a one-directional route to mediocrity. There’s no such thing. So what you try and do is write for an audience of one. For yourself. And then it becomes an incredible boon when somebody does connect with it, when somebody has this passionate association. And when it doesn’t land for someone in that way, it’s a lot easier to shrug off. 

Every other aspect of writing has gotten harder for me. The more books I have out, my own mental happiness treadmill kicks in and I’m constantly resetting the markers. I struggle a lot with down talk. I struggle a lot with getting into negative head spirals. This week’s head spiral is the metric system of social media and like, Why are my view counts on my stories down this week? and, What is it saying about me? and, Is it that my people don’t like me anymore or should I be putting more energy into creating content, but then I have a finite amount of energy that needs to go towards my books, but then what does it matter if nobody is reading my books because I’m not generating enough? I was lying awake yesterday morning at 6 a.m. thinking about this, and [that] doesn’t lead to any form of fulfillment. It’s so hard, and I don’t ever wanna pretend like you become immune to it. 

Accepting that rejection is the cost of participation is essential. Understand that the only way to avoid rejection is to not participate. And that is your choice, but that’s also the only way to guarantee you don’t get what you want. I mean, I can say that, and yet, in the last 48 hours, I have spent a solid four to five hours obsessing over things outside my control. … At the end of the day, the only thing in my control are the words on the page. That’s what I need to come back to whenever I feel myself spiraling: What do I have control over?

WM: Can you tell me about when you first realized you had OCD and panic disorder?

VES: I’ve honestly figured out a lot of my mental health through the act of creating and assigning things to characters that I’m not always ready to handle with myself. I remember writing August Flynn who’s in This Savage Song and has this cyclical thinking where he spirals in his own mind. It was a lot easier for me to explore that part of myself through him. It was really hard to write a character like Henry Strauss in The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, who is so directly me.

I had a lot of stuff in my childhood which contributed to my ability to handle mental health now. Like I had—and still have—a very severe God complex because I grew up with an ill parent. When you have a sick parent, it’s easy to become obsessed with this idea of, If I just am vigilant enough, if I just pay enough attention, I can keep this person safe or keep this person alive. Unfortunately, that did translate into a lot of my OCD tendencies because it’s verified. The worst thing that can happen for mental health is when you have a fear or a phobia and it’s rewarded. Because I was hypervigilant, I did prevent several really close calls with a parent and then that incentivizes mental illness, because your brain is saying, What if, what if, what if? And then you’re proving your brain right. It’s something I still struggle with. 

I would say my anxiety and panic disorder really reached a fever pitch when I started publishing. … I would go on tour and I would have panic attacks, and I would white knuckle it through the event and the moment the event was over I would just implode. I would have a night-long panic attack. Because I spent so much time pretending to everyone around me that I was OK, it would elevate my panic. One of the best things I ever did was speaking about it publicly and letting my team know and letting readers know this is a thing I’m struggling with and like, “Here’s what I need, and here’s what we’re gonna do.” It’s one of the reasons I don’t do signings anymore. I sign everything beforehand because I know I essentially have about a four-hour ticking clock from the moment an event starts, and if I go past a certain amount of time, my anxiety has just been keying up and it’s gonna crack. 

WM: Would you be open to sharing your journey with medication?

VES: Going on medication is one of the best things that ever happened to me. It does not solve everything, [it] simply elevates my baseline. It’s not that I never have panic attacks, not that I never feel things building, but it takes a considerable amount more to set me off. Before, one bad hour could trigger a panic attack. I’ve been on SSRIs now for almost a decade. And it honestly saved my life in a lot of ways. I don’t like talking about it as a catch-all because it’s not. There’s a huge amount of things I do in my daily life which also help. For me, exercise and physical movement is a luxury I have but is also deeply important to maintaining mental health and burning off anxious energy and recentering myself. I was really loath to go on medication for a really long time because I thought, What if it interrupts my creativity? What if it changes my brain? And it did change my brain, but that change was to help balance a level of chemical nervousness, a level of chemical inability to process anxiety. I am operating at such a high vibration all the time and all it does is make it a little easier to handle.

WM: Your new book deals with PTSD and chronic pain, how does this reflect your own experience with these struggles?

VES: PTSD has really related a lot to my own upbringing and being in a hypervigilant environment and how it’s really hard to kind of disengage from these tendencies. Because I write fantasy, I found a way to put this into my characters. There are two brothers in this Shades of Magic series and now in Threads of Power who are tied together in a way where one brother is literally keeping the other one alive. But, because of that, there is also this pain shared between them where when one suffers, the other one suffers. And it creates a very complex dynamic. Oftentimes, mental health and the psychological struggles and the aftermath of trauma gets explained in really reductive or minimalist ways in stories. And the fact is it is a complex web of experience and action and reaction.

I get frustrated when stories show trauma but then, as the stories continue, there’s no aftermath. … So that is a thing I am really deeply interested in investigating because I think it helps my characters feel more human. The fact is, when we move through complex circumstances in life, yes, it’s incredible that we come through them, but the expectation that we come through them unscathed is so unrealistic it feels like it’s not actually doing a service. It’s lionizing characters in a way we can’t lionize humans and simplifying characters in a way we can’t simplify humans.

My interest in everything I do is simply to make my characters feel as real as possible. Part of that reality is when they go through really difficult things, those things sink their teeth into them and they kind of drag behind them like a shadow. It’s one of the ways to not only carry a story forward from book to book, but to make sure my characters grow in realistic ways. ‘Cause it’s not about showing strength as the entire shaking off of trauma. Strength is the ability to live through it and to deal and to cope and to face these traumas in time.

WM: How did your journey discovering your own sexuality impact your mental health?

VES: I don’t wanna claim that journey is complete. That is a journey I am still on. I do not feel realized in any way. One of the scariest parts for me of being a public figure is this expectation that when I make any form of declaration about myself, it’s permanent. And it’s really a huge amount of pressure for somebody who is very much still figuring it out. … I don’t like labels for that reason. It’s one of the reasons I’ll use queer or gay, but I don’t really use lesbian very often because I’m still trying to figure out my relationship to everything. 

What I know is I don’t believe in a binary. I don’t ever believe in the simplicity of here or there. I think it’s all such an extraordinary spectrum. I’m just trying to be honest about the fact that that journey is an ongoing thing. Sometimes there’s an immense amount of pressure to step out of the closet and know exactly who you are and who you’ve always been. That’s one version. And another version is the person who’s still going room to room trying to find where they fit or trying to think if they wanna be in the house at all.

WM: As a best-selling author, how do you cope with the pressure of constantly living up to the expectations of your previous novels?

VES: I’ll be very honest with you, I’m 22 books in [and] my greatest fear professionally is somebody saying “Her last book was better.” What I try to do is not make it qualitative in that way. I always say I never want my books to be apples to apples. I want it to be an apple, an orange, a pineapple, a pear. I want each of my books to be mine. 

I don’t like the phrase better or worse because I think that leads to creative paralysis. Do you judge it based on the number of book sales? Do you judge it based on the number of people who have tattoos based on that series? Do you judge it on the people for whom a book saved their life? Do you judge it upon which book made someone a reader? How do you decide which book has the most merit? I try really hard to set a different creative challenge for myself every time to try and prevent that level of comparison. Does the fear live inside me every day? Of course. But I try to make sure the thing I wanna achieve in each book is deeply personal to me in a way that readers probably won’t know. 

The more work you have to choose from, the more people will disagree, so you have to just accept that and let the book be the best version of itself and be the most intentional version of itself and let go of the arbitrary metrics of popularity.

WM: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?

VES: Not to be in such a hurry. Because I started [my career] as a teenager, I was so impatient to be taken seriously. You—as a creator, as a writer—have to take yourself seriously before anyone else will. But I was in such a hurry and patience is a thing I have always really struggled with. 

One of the first tattoos I ever got, I got when I was 19. And I was really impatient ’cause I was a swimmer and there was this very limited window I had before I needed to get back in the pool, and a tattoo needs like three weeks to heal. I was so impatient that I went and I got this tattoo and it has a typo. The thing is, it’s a very easy-to-fix typo. It’s a Latin U that should be an A. It’s in a gothic script. Very easy to fix. I will not let myself fix it. I will not let myself get this typo corrected because I still, at 35, need the reminder to slow down, take a breath, and not be so impatient. 

I’m completely impatient as a human being. And I really wish I could have told myself, “Take a breath; it’s OK. Not everything has to happen right now.”

The post Best-Selling Author V.E. Schwab Is No Stranger to Rejection appeared first on Wondermind.

Stories Link Copied 05.25.23

12 People Break Down Exactly What a Panic Attack Feels Like

“I’m usually worried I’m dying.” ByMarilyn La Jeunesse

Back in college, I remember hunching over my dorm room toilet sobbing and hyperventilating. Dry heaves came in sudden and unexpected spurts. My chest was so tight I could barely breathe, and I genuinely thought I was going to die. This was my first panic attack (sometimes called an “anxiety attack”), and they’ve become a sort of recurring villain in my life ever since. 

If you’ve never had one or you’re just not sure, you might be wondering what a panic attack feels like. The first thing you should know is that they can come on whether you’re already feeling anxious or totally chill. And when they strike, you might feel intense symptoms like heart palpitations, sweating, shaking, nausea, or chills, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR). 

They can also trigger a choking sensation, tingling, an intense fear of dying, and stomach issues (before my first solo flight post-pandemic, I threw up and had such bad stomach issues—read: anxiety poops—that I nearly missed my plane). Yep, not ideal. 

Unfortunately, panic attacks can happen to anyone. Most of the time, according to the DSM-5-TR, people who don’t have an anxiety disorder experience them in a stressful scenarios, like getting on a crowded plane or before speaking in public. That said, you may be more prone to panic attacks if you have an anxiety disorder. 

While lots of people experience the occasional panic attack, frequent panic attacks that seriously disrupt your life can be a sign of panic disorder. People with panic disorder consistently have frequent panic attacks with no clear trigger (like right when they wake up in the morning) and spend weeks worrying about when the next one will come on and even avoiding the things they think might trigger it.

It’s a bummer, but we don’t really know what causes panic attacks. That said, big life changes, a family history, lots of caffeine or smoking, past trauma, and other factors might increase your chances of having one, according to the Mayo Clinic. 

As frustrating as that is, you don’t just have to suck it up. Things like talk therapy, medication, or a combo of the two can help lessen your chances of having another panic attack or maybe just make them more manageable. 

Whether you’ve just experienced your first panic attack or aren’t totally sure, we asked 12 people who’ve been there what it felt like so you can feel less alone—and maybe even feel inspired to get some help from a pro.

1. It feels like a heart attack.

“I’ve always had anxiety but actual panic attacks for me started around the age of 19. Naturally, they’ve tended to occur when I’ve had big life changes or stressful life events happening. When it first started happening, I didn’t know what was going on. I thought I was having a heart attack or was dying. But, after years of therapy, I’ve learned how to really distinguish the symptoms of a panic attack, which for me are a racing heart and thoughts, feeling overheated, (TMI but) diarrhea, dizziness, like I’m going to pass out, and extreme feelings of anxiety—like a fear in my throat that just won’t go away. And it’s also hard to get it to go away without breath work, self talk, and support from family members.” —Olivia H., 27

2. You think you’re going to die.

“I had my first panic attack when I was 12. I was reading an article in Girls Life magazine while I was sitting in bed. It was one I typically would have skipped over, but on this night I leaned in. However, the more I read, the more I felt as though I couldn’t breathe. Finally, I started pacing at the foot of my bed. My mind was racing, I couldn’t slow down my breathing, and I felt as though I was going to die … within a week or two, I had my first appointment with a psychologist. I saw her for the next eight years for generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. I truly felt grateful to have a diagnosis.

The panic attack I had when I was 12 was the worst one I’ve ever experienced. Since then, I’ve had a few more, and they’re always accompanied by a tightness in my chest and an inability to take deep breaths. I tend to feel as though I want fresh air because the world always feels much bigger and far less claustrophobic when you’re spending time outside. And, true to that first night, I always want to move. While the actual panic attack is scary, the recovery from it is exhausting too. I tend to feel as though I’ve run a miles-long race, and I take many deep breaths for a full 24 hours afterward.” —Carly T., 34

3. The nausea is overwhelming.

“I’ve had [panic attacks] and an anxiety disorder from a very young age (before knowing what they even were). It’s taken MANY years, but I have learned to cope with them through prescribed antidepressants, exercise, and therapy. I don’t think there will ever be ‘a cure’ for me, but it’s something I’ve learned to coexist with. [My panic attacks] usually manifest through a sudden need to throw up, dry heaving, upset stomach, plus the hot and cold body temperature sensation, and urge to leave wherever I am and go home to cry. It’s a good time.” —Heather B., 31

4. They make it hard to breathe.

“The first time I had a panic attack was in college. … I’d been driving, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. My hands went numb, and I was able to pull off to the side of the highway, thankfully. But I didn’t know what was happening, and so I ended up in the back of an ambulance—my first (not last) panic attack-related ER trip. [They feel like a] shortness of breath that rises into a progressively more severe inability to breathe, resulting in numb limbs. It all comes down to the breath for me.” —Sara R.

5. They feel like a freight train.

“When I was in my early 30s, I was trying to get pregnant and doing fertility treatment. The pressure of trying to get pregnant after injections, transfers, and retrievals became too much. It was the push to perform and it felt like it was all on me. I felt like a failure. I recall anytime I had a new procedure or a waiting period I would get a rapid heart rate and feel nauseated and lightheaded all at once. Then, after my fourth pregnancy loss, I was shaking and crying on the floor. At one point, I felt nauseated and lightheaded and couldn’t feel my hands.

Panic attacks feel like a freight train [coming] out of nowhere. It often starts by feeling like I am overheating, then my heart rate quickens, then a little numbness in my hands or feet. Sometimes I get hot flashes and then get a headache or migraine because I don’t tend to eat or drink well if I am anxious. Once or twice I have also felt like I was either going to throw up or fall down because I couldn’t feel my legs, but those two extreme symptoms are less common for me.” —Lisa M., 43

6. It can feel like you’re underwater.

“My panic attacks seem to come from external triggers like overstimulation, nightmares, and feeling trapped. … My vision starts to blur and my hearing muffles (kinda like when you’re underwater). I feel dizzy. I sweat a lot. My mouth goes dry. It feels like I’m going to faint. I’m usually thinking while it’s happening, Something feels very wrong. And it’s scary because, before I realize it’s a panic attack, I’m usually worried I’m dying.

I most recently had a panic attack at my brother-in-law’s birthday party at a tiki bar. I was squeezed in between many people in a booth seat and I remember thinking that I had to pee, but I was afraid to ask so many people to get up so I could slide out, and then before I could do anything, I started blacking out. My partner could tell something was wrong and asked if I needed to go to the bathroom. We went together over to the bathrooms, but the stalls were occupied and I just felt like my body was shutting down.   And then I felt urine streaming down my leg. … I had to leave the party early, which made me feel upset and embarrassed.” —Taylor S., 28

7. You have no control.

“I’ve had panic attacks since I was in high school. My first panic attack was in the middle of the night—I woke up shaking, trembling, and my heart was racing. I started to feel lightheaded and I couldn’t see out of my eyes. … The last panic attack I had was back in 2021 and I thought I was having a heart attack. It was so bad I went to the cardiologist the next day. … The best way I can describe a panic attack is that it feels like I’m not in control of my body. I have to constantly reassure myself that I can feel my fingers, breathe the air, and simply exist.” —Casey C., 23

8. It completely drains your energy.

“During the height of the pandemic, I remember walking to get groceries, and it was the first time everyone started to wear masks. I saw police patrolling the streets and heard sirens. I got to the grocery store only to be turned away because I wasn’t wearing gloves. It was before we knew what was happening or had significant information on Covid. Walking back to my house to see if we had gloves at the apartment, I completely lost it in the street. My stress was high, my senses were overloaded, and it was a frightening time. 

In the beginning stages of a panic attack for me, I start to get impatient. My chest feels tight, and I get super sensitive to noises and my surroundings. For example, if I’m walking in public, the feeling of someone walking behind me is absolutely debilitating. These feelings continue to build until there is usually one thing that makes me snap. Whether it’s someone calling my name, someone bumping into me on the sidewalk, or a car horn going off, it’s usually something I hear or feel that sets me over the edge. From there, I feel numb from my head down to my feet, and I usually have to stop moving in whatever I’m doing. From there, I break down into tears. After a panic attack, my energy is depleted and I usually take a nap if I can to restore myself.” —Emma M, 23

9. It feels like an avalanche.

“Panic attacks cripple me in every aspect. It started with fear for the first few years—fear of the world and the ugliness it brought with it. It then developed to self-hate, suffocating me with things I couldn’t comprehend. The breathing issues ensued at that point where you feel like your lungs have been ripped out of your chest. That evolved into anger. My panic attacks would disable me once again because of a school test, a soccer game, family issues, etc. I was so angry with myself for not being able to control what I never could or will. Slowly all those snowflakes built up on the mountaintop; my ecosystem was cold, rough, dangerous, and fragile. Seeking help isn’t necessarily exposing weakness but rather demonstrating you are monumental to the people around you. I came to realize panic attacks are part of my life but now I CAN control them.” —Jose Daniel S.

10. It feels like you might be losing your grip on reality.

“I was a junior in high school, driving with my mom to look at colleges for the weekend, and suddenly the taillights in front of me turned blurry and pixelated. The tunnel vision kept creeping in as my hands started tingling and trembling. I grabbed at my throat, which felt like it was closing up, and the whole area from my chin to my chest felt numb. We were in bumper-to-bumper traffic, so I couldn’t pull over, but my mom told me to take the next exit and find a hotel to pull into for the night. The symptoms slowly dissipated over the next few hours, leaving me feeling paranoid and worried that if I wasn’t dying I might be losing my grip on reality.

That first panic attack led to more—many, many more—and I ended up spending the better part of my college years trying to figure out what was wrong with me and what combination of antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds would fix it. Fortunately, I was getting my degree in psychology, so I had plenty of reading material to help me put a word to my experience and figure out how to start managing these episodes. With knowledge, therapy, and time, the panic attacks became less frequent, now only occurring when shit really hits the fan in my life. And while I never would wish this experience upon anyone, I do wish that we talked about it more so that I wasn’t so terrified when it happened to me.” —Casey G.

11. You feel disoriented.

“I’ve had a few [panic attacks]. The most recent one happened when I attended a convention. It was the first time post-pandemic that I’d been around hundreds of people.  Even though I’d attended the convention before, I was surprised at how overwhelmed I was by the experience.

When [an attack] comes on, I’m usually not aware that it’s happening. I feel hot, incredibly anxious, dizzy and disoriented, and then my eyesight goes blurry. The blurry eyesight I think is the scariest, especially when I’m in public. When I have them, I’ve found calling a friend or family member to talk through it helps.” —Anonymous

12. Life moves in slow motion.

“My experience with panic attacks has been lifelong. The attacks are stress- or anxiety-induced and are triggered situationally sometimes, but not consistently.

When I have a panic attack, my throat closes up and I instantly clam up. My skin feels damp to the touch everywhere but my hands are especially soaked and shaking. Any form of noise starts to become muffled until it’s totally drowned out by a piercing monotone beep. Everything in front of me begins to move in slow motion, but my breath quickens to hyperspeed. Panic attacks to me are dichotomous and complex, but focusing on my breath is what usually brings me back to the present.” —Katie B.

The post 12 People Break Down Exactly What a Panic Attack Feels Like appeared first on Wondermind.

Pro Tips Link Copied 04.12.23

Can Anxiety Cause Chest Pain?

Or…am I dying right now? ByDani Kam

About five years ago, I woke up one morning with the sharpest pain in my chest. So sharp it felt like there was a little person living inside my sternum squeezing my heart anytime I tried to breathe. My mind had a field day: This doesn’t feel normal, what if there’s something wrong with my heart? Should I call my mom and have her give me an extremely detailed family history? Can anxiety cause chest pain? Is that what’s happening here or am I dying?

I won’t take you through the full spiral or subsequent doctor’s appointment (that would take a while), but it turns out that, yes, it was anxiety. 

How to know if this is anxiety-fueled chest pain or nah.

The incredibly frustrating answer is that it’s hard to tell whether chest pain is an actual medical emergency or a symptom of anxiety. Pulmonologist Barbara Mann, ​​MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, frequently sees patients whose chest pain is rooted in stress or anxiety. And while it might take a bunch of tests to confirm that it’s not something like a heart attack, pneumonia, or a blood clot, “you never want to be wrong in that scenario,” she adds.

All of this is to say that while there are a few signals that this uncomfy or even painful feeling in your chest is anxiety, it’s also completely rational (and even recommended)  to see a doctor to rule out any physical issues.

But if the question still plagues you after you’ve brought it up to your doc and they cleared you as healthy, these steps might help you figure out what’s going on…

1. Think about what you’re doing right now.

Are you in the middle of a tense conversation or stuck on a train underground for much longer than you’d appreciate? Stress or anxiety could be to blame for sudden chest pain in those scenarios—especially if you’ve felt this sensation before and had a doctor confirm you were good to go. If the pain woke you up out of a dead sleep or is different from anything you’ve felt before, it’s worth taking more seriously, says Dr. Mann.

2. Pay attention to the sensation. 

“One thing that would distinguish between [anxiety and] a concerning medical condition is the type of chest pain,” says Dr. Mann. A tight feeling in your chest is most often associated with anxiety, she adds. But if you feel a crushing pain or like there’s pressure on your chest, definitely get to a doc asap. Also worthy of medical attention:  pain that gets worse with exertion (like walking or jumping jacks), pain that radiates to your jaw or arms, pain that does not resolve with time, and pain that is associated with profuse sweating or nausea. Other red flags to look out for are a heart rate above 100 beats per minute while you’re at rest or an irregular heartbeat, adds Dr. Mann.

3. Try the distraction test.

Similar to shortness of breath caused by anxiety, if the chest pain subsides after you take a beat to focus on something else, that’s a great sign this is not a life-threatening event, says Dr. Mann. So hop on Pinterest, take a quick walk around the block, or try a grounding exercise for five to 10 minutes and see how you feel after. 

Why does anxiety cause chest pain?

The fight-or-flight response that kicks in when your brain detects a threat, whether it’s warranted or not, is responsible for this very unpleasant phenomenon. When that happens, your body releases adrenaline, which speeds up your heart rate and breathing to supply your brain, organs, and muscles with extra in-case-of-emergency oxygen—super helpful if you’re sprinting from something scary. But breathing quickly can also drop your carbon dioxide levels, constricting the blood vessels in your heart and causing chest tightness or pain, says Dr. Mann. You might also feel a little dizzy, lightheaded, and short of breath, she adds. Yay biology! 

Hyperventilating can trigger or add to your chest pain too. “[Breathing] too fast or taking too big of breaths for a long period of time could make your chest muscles distort, and that could feel uncomfortable,” adds Dr. Mann.

If you’re dealing with health anxiety, which is common in people managing conditions like OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder, you might be more prone to false alarm chest pain. And, FWIW, hyper-fixating on symptoms to the point where it interferes with how you show up in the world is a major indicator of somatic symptom disorder. Dr. Mann says that this is extremely common among patients who come to see her for chest pain. “It can be really tricky because even patients who have somatic complaints get sick sometimes,” she says.  So if this sounds like you, It might be worth reaching out to a mental health pro who specializes in treating anxiety for help.

How can you deal with chest pain from anxiety?

In the short term, distracting yourself with a social scroll, physical stroll, or some diaphragmatic breathing (inhaling through your nose to inflate your belly) can take your mind off catastrophizing worst-case scenarios about your health. But if these coping mechanisms morph into reassurance-seeking rituals, they’ll start to lose their effect, says Jonathan Abramowitz, PhD, anxiety researcher and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

To avoid that, Dr. Abramowitz suggests adding more stress-reducing activities and habits into your everyday life to reduce anxiety overall. That could look like making time to go outside, talking to the people that get you more frequently, journaling, or doing any other activity that makes you feel more chill. 

Prioritizing those anxiety-fighting habits is a great move for the long term, but it’s also important to get more comfortable with the idea that we can’t always know exactly what’s happening inside our bodies, says Dr. Abramowitz. When anxiety-related chest pain comes up, the goal is for you to be able to tell yourself that things are probably OK and that it’s fine to focus on something else until it goes away, he adds. 

If that sounds easier said than done, it might be a good idea to see a mental health pro who can help you learn to manage your anxiety or health anxiety in a way that makes sense for you.

The post Can Anxiety Cause Chest Pain? appeared first on Wondermind.

Pro Tips Link Copied 04.06.23

How to Tell if Shortness of Breath Is From Anxiety

Because that sh*t is hard to decipher. ByDani Kam

You’re getting ready for the week—shopping for groceries, picking up your meds, tidying up your apartment—when, suddenly, your chest tightens and you’re hungry for more air. Before you know it, the feeling has escalated and it seems as though you’re running out of oxygen and options. This incredibly uncomfortable, scary, and isolating sensation really sucks. But what makes it even more miserable is figuring out how to tell if this shortness of breath is from anxiety or an actual medical emergency. And, either way, there’s no doubt it’s causing you anxiety. 

How to know if shortness of breath is anxiety or something else.

Honestly, the shitty but true answer is that you can’t always tell if your shortness of breath is from anxiety or not. That’s part of the reason why pulmonologist Barbara Mann, ​​MD, an assistant professor of medicine at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, says she often sees patients who don’t realize their need-more-air symptoms are caused by anxiety. 

That said, there are some hints that can clue you in to whether you’re experiencing a medical emergency or anxiety. One is the type of shortness of breath you’re dealing with. “Very frequently, with the sensation of not getting enough air in or a sensation of air hunger, that’s almost always anxiety related,” says Dr. Mann. She adds that there are a few rare medical conditions that make people feel like they can’t take in enough air, but those conditions often come with their own set of symptoms totally separate from anxiety. So if you’re not experiencing any other symptoms (and you didn’t just walk up several flights of stairs), this might actually be a stress or anxiety symptom. 

Context clues are also really helpful in this situation. If you’re short of breath in stressful moments, like when you’re stuck in traffic or you’re about to ask for a raise, then it’s likely an anxiety response. 

Of course, this semi-suffocating feeling can also be a symptom of a bunch of health issues, according to the National Institutes of Health. So if it happens frequently and you haven’t been checked out by a doctor, it’s worth bringing up to them.

Finally, if you find that distracting yourself (see: scrolling the socials, doing a lap or two around the block) for five to 10 minutes makes you less tuned into your breathing, it’s highly unlikely that you’re experiencing an emergency situation, says Dr. Mann. 

That said, if you’re ever concerned, don’t hesitate to go get help. “I don’t want to minimize these symptoms because they could be serious,” adds Dr. Mann. And if you haven’t experienced them before or, at least, not to this extent, then seeking out a medical professional isn’t an overreaction.

Why does anxiety cause shortness of breath?

When your brain perceives a threat, as in being mugged in a dark alley or just presenting an idea to your boss, your body reacts with a physiological fight-or-flight response, preparing you to fight off the robber or flee the conference room. 

Part of that response is an adrenaline rush that increases how fast and deep you’re breathing in order to supply your brain, muscles, and organs with lots of oxygen to help you survive, says clinical psychologist Jonathan Abramowitz, PhD, an anxiety researcher and professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 

Sometimes this response can also cause constriction of the blood vessels in your brain, which can lead to lightheadedness, dizziness, and a feeling of impending doom, says Dr. Mann. 

And while a robbery seems like a more appropriate scenario for those symptoms to pop up than a meeting with your boss, your body doesn’t pick up on context clues. So, even when things are mostly fine, your nervous system will try to protect you.

Unfortunately, shortness of breath, whether it’s caused by anxiety or a medical issue, can trigger even more symptoms like the ones above, says Dr. Mann. “You feel like [these symptoms] represent something very dangerous,” she says. “That can make you more anxious and it becomes a self-fulfilling cycle of anxiety, more symptoms, into more anxiety.” Ugh.

So it’s easy to see how shortness of breath could spiral into a full-on panic attack if you can’t stop catastrophizing (aka fixating on any and every worst-case scenario), explains Dr. Abramowitz. Like: OMG I can’t breathe. Do I have Covid? Am I having a heart attack? Do I need to go to the hospital? Am I dying? Is this what dying feels like? 

This scenario is especially true if you deal with health anxiety, which can show up in conditions like OCD, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. It’s also worth noting that hyper-awareness of certain symptoms—to the point where it’s causing you tons of distress and interfering with your life—is pretty much the hallmark sign of  somatic symptom disorder, so if you’ve been stuck in this cycle for a while, it’s definitely worth reaching out to a mental health pro for help.

So what can you do about shortness of breath from anxiety?

If you suspect (or know on some level) that anxious feels are behind your breathing situation, distracting yourself by taking a walk, getting lost in your TikTok algo, or doing a quick grounding exercise is a good place to start. But you can also take a beat and try to remind yourself that this bodily sensation—while incredibly uncomfortable and annoying—is something you’ve felt in other stressful times before and it’s not necessarily a symptom of something going terribly wrong in your body, says Dr. Abramowitz.

Over the long term though, learning to get comfortable with the unknown is what makes the biggest difference, he adds. Without seeing a doctor, there’s really no way to know that this is not a medical issue, it’s true. But we all have to live with a reasonable amount of uncertainty about our health, says Dr. Abramowitz. “What we want people to do is to be able to say to themselves, ‘You know, chances are things are OK, and I can manage that, and I’m going to go back to what I was doing.”

If you don’t think you’d be able to do that without going full spiral, it might be helpful to see a mental health professional who specializes in anxiety or health anxiety who can help you work through these complicated feelings. 

The post How to Tell if Shortness of Breath Is From Anxiety appeared first on Wondermind.