Recognizing the Signs of ... Anxiety

Everyone experiences anxiety every now and then. Sometimes we may feel nervous about a first date, moving to a new city, studying at college for the first time or returning to school as a mature student, preparing for that midterm scheduled for next week, or anticipating that presentation at the end of the semester worth 40% of your mark.

Anxiety serves an important function. It signals to our brain that something is important. It helps motivate us to prepare for an upcoming event, perhaps by telling us we'd better study for that midterm or practice that presentation. It helps get our brain focused, and it increases our energy through the release of adrenaline. A little bit of anxiety is a good thing, because it helps us to get ready. As a result, we'll probably do a better job than if we didn't feel nervous at all.

However, too much anxiety can be a bad thing. If our anxiety becomes too strong, it has the opposite effect by impeding our performance. This happens when a situation feels too overwhelming and we realize we're not focusing or problem-solving but instead feeling like we can't cope with the situation. Maybe we avoid it, or think about it so obsessively that we can't think about anything else. However, we're still not feeling any better. In this circumstance, anxiety causes distress. When we realize anxiety is interfering with our life or getting in the way of doing what we know we are capable of, we need to take a look at it.

Two of the most common issues for which students access counselling services in the Student Services Office are anxiety and depression. There are many different types of anxiety, ranging from normal feelings experienced with situational anxiety (such as in a test or public speaking situation) to the stronger anxiety reactions experienced when one has an anxiety disorder such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, agoraphobia, and so on, to name a few.

Anxiety becomes detrimental when a person's capacity to cope with stress breaks down. Anxiety can manifest itself in physical, emotional, cognitive, or behavioural symptoms. Different people will have different responses. Some common physical reactions can include sweating, shaking, heart racing, diarrhea, nausea, muscle tension, and fainting. Emotional symptoms can include crying frequently, becoming embarrassed, feeling irritable, or angering easily. Cognitively, a person may notice racing thoughts, difficulty concentrating, worry thoughts ("what if..."), a fear of losing control, or negative self-talk. Common behaviours can include difficulty sleeping, eating too much or too little, or, most commonly, avoiding the situation about which one feels anxious.

The good news is that as difficult as the feelings of anxiety can be, we can also do something about it. When anxiety becomes extreme, there are various helpful strategies to make it more manageable. Anxiety is often the result of messages we are saying to ourselves (usually negative self-talk), as well as behaviours which may be perpetuating the anxiety. Research suggests that for those who feel they have a problem with anxiety, the most effective treatment is a combination of medication and counselling. Counselling can help you gain a better understanding of how anxiety is affecting you, the situations in which you feel most anxious, recognize what it is you are saying to yourself, learn strategies for changing this negative self-talk, and identify new behaviours and/ or relaxation techniques which work for you.

The counsellors recognize that anxiety is a common problem for some students. As a result, each semester we design various supports for this issue. Sometimes groups are offered for students affected by test or public speaking anxiety. During each semester, check out advertisements for the Stress Free Zone, Chillax, and Success Over Stress to learn about different ways to relax. If poor study skills are causing you anxiety, maybe learning strategies through The Learning Commons would be of benefit for you.

If you are a student who would like to receive assistance for problems with anxiety, individual counselling is available on campus through counselling services, if interested please make an appointment to speak with a counsellor. Medical treatment for anxiety is also available from doctors at Campus Health Services (Doon Campus, Room 1A102), or you may want to talk about your concerns with your family doctor in the community.

If you're interested in reading more information on the topic of anxiety, our on-line links may be of benefit to you.