At mindbuddies, we as your buddy look out for various issues like anxiety, stress, self worth issues, bullying, lack of confidence, communication issues, self esteem, etc. We believe in giving an empathetic ear to someone with above issues. Empathy is therapeutic. We as buddies would help individuals with these issues in solving their own problems.The power to deal with the challenges lies within the individual, and we intend to make them realise that they have this power.
Anxiety is how one feels when they are constantly concerned, tense or afraid – especially about the things that are about to happen, or which they think could happen in the future. When a person perceives that they might be under threat, a natural human response would be anxiety. One can experience anxiety through thoughts, feelings and physical sensations.
To explain anxiety as a feeling, think about the feeling you get when you are rocking on the back legs of a chair and suddenly for a second you think you are about to fall; that feeling - cold block in the chest. That frozen feeling in the chest continuously for minutes/ hours/ days combined with a constant sense of imminent doom without a particular reason is what anxiety feels like.
What is stress?
Stress is the feeling of being constantly under pressure, and is considered as a normal part of life. Sometimes it can act as a motivator to take action, reason to feel more energy and achieve results. But when constantly dealing with it and it starts becoming overwhelming, stress can start to cause a problem.
Physical signs are considered as initial indicators of stress such as tiredness, headaches or an upset stomach. There are multiple ways stress can affect physically, such as getting enough sleep when stressed, or having a proper meal. Such signs add to the existing stress and make one more emotionally stressed.
When in stressful situations / anxious, our body releases hormones called cortisol and adrenaline. If a person is often stressed then they are probably producing high levels of these hormones, which can make them feel physically unwell and could affect health in the longer term.
Since stress isn't diagnosed medically, there is no specific treatment. Nonetheless, if you are finding it difficult to manage things in your life and feeling any of the signs for stress, you can try the below options that might help:
Self-esteem is how a person values and perceives themselves. It's based on a person’s opinions and beliefs about themselves, which can feel difficult to be changed sometimes. Everyone’s self esteem is affected differently by various factors. Stressful life experiences or difficult situations are often considered to factor low self esteem. Being bullied, abused, body image issues, constant negativity from family / friends, physical health problems, and many more factors result in hampering one’s self esteem.
Having low self-esteem is not considered as a mental health issue in itself, but is closely related. If self esteem is affected by a lot of things for a long time, then it can lead to mental health issues like anxiety or depression.
Daily life experiences of feeling hopeless or worthless, blaming self unfairly, self hate, stressing about being unable to do things, etc can take low self esteem and turn it into mental health issues.
Feeling angry is part of being human. Anger is a normal & health emotion which is triggered when ill treated, frustrated, deceived or attacked. This is not necessarily considered as an ‘bad’ emotion, anger can be vented in a constructive way. Many people experience episodes of anger which are manageable and don't have a big impact on their lives. Learning healthy ways to perceive, convey and handle anger is very crucial to mental & physical health.
How one acts when angry depends upon how well they identify and cope up with their feelings and how they convey it. People express their anger in different ways. Some of the unhelpful ways anger is expressed are outward & inward aggression, violence, passive aggression.