You can change your life right now at Learn the steps to gain confidence to make permanent, positive changes today. Anxiety can affect the mental health of people and appears to be a large and growing problem in the Western world.
Very often this early warning system enables us to take appropriate action before a huge issue gets worse.
Now let me ask you something. Shall we ask if feeling anxious a normal state for human beings?
Undoubtedly it’s an early warning system that tells us we need to observe our environment differently and pay special attention at least until we have more information and know how to handle a situation.
The answer here goes a definite yes.
Anxiety serves to keep us safe from possible perceived threats that we need to process. Few of us know how to process our anxiety – amongst the cognitive skills that is sadly lacking from our educational curriculum. You only have to Google in the word anxiety to realise that most people feel Undoubtedly it’s something that they need to get over.
What actually was less apparent on the web is anxiety skills training.
And so it’s almost as if Surely it’s by chance that we find out how to deal with our own anxiety.
What really was worrying in today’s world is however that the word anxiety now denotes a mental disorder. Then, at one end anxiety arises when loads of us are aware that there is a perceived threat that needs processing and at the other end is the person whose anxiety mechanism is out of control which leaves them in a state of heightened anxiety usually. For example, this end of the anxiety continuum has a hugely negative impact on a persons’ life. Anxiety can be well known on a continuum. At the other end is the person who is tally controlled by the unpleasant feelings and physical symptoms associated with extreme anxiety.
There’s another continuum.
That is the continuum of people’s ability to process anxiety and deal with it effectively.
At one end is the person who always is being able to stay calm, react appropriately and resolve the anxiety inducing situation. Anyway, throw in for good measure our personalities and our personal environmental experiences and perhaps we have a valid case for teaching anxiety appropriate skills as part of our educational system. Added to those two situations is the fact that anxiety is taught to us by out society, and certainly as children we can develop very negative reactions to anxiety producing situations if that is the behavior we see around us. Of course, this might just go a long way to reducing the incidence of anxiety from becoming a mental health problem.
Ann Miller is a certified mental health coach and wellness writer with a strong background in psychology and emotional resilience. With over a decade of experience in helping individuals manage stress, anxiety, and burnout, Ann specializes in making complex mental health topics accessible and empowering.
She holds a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology and has worked with both individual clients and organizations to promote emotional well-being and work-life balance. Through her writing, Ann aims to break the stigma surrounding mental health and offer practical, compassionate guidance for everyday challenges.
When she's not writing or consulting, Ann enjoys early morning yoga, quiet reading time, and exploring nature trails with her dog. Her personal philosophy: "Mental health is not a luxury — it’s a foundation for everything we do."