Maybe you’ve tried putting off anxiety treatment for a while now.
Whenever you experienced an anxiety flare-up, you always felt you could deal with it on your own. But the worry and avoidance are getting worse and maintaining your mental health is becoming more of a struggle.
The anxiety attacks are more severe. It’s become more difficult to pass off your symptoms to your friends or colleagues, and your anxiety is starting to affect your work.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Plenty of people are unsure of whether or not to look for anxiety treatment.
Here are some ways to know it’s time to reach out for help.
Your Performance at Work Suffers Due to Your Anxiety Symptoms
One indicator it’s time for anxiety counseling is your symptoms are affecting your work performance.
For example, you feel so paralyzed at the thought of giving a presentation to a group of colleagues that you call in sick that day to avoid doing it. Or you feel so stressed out, you can’t concentrate on your tasks.
The quality of your work begins to slip when anxiety symptoms take hold, and your coworkers know something’s up.
Others Start to Ask if You’re Okay
Another sign that it’s time for anxiety treatment is the barrier it puts in your personal relationships. Have you ever had an anxiety attack or felt anxious while your friends or family were around?
Hopefully they’ve been understanding and supportive. But if your symptoms are getting worse (especially the more obvious physical signs) they’re likely asking if you’re okay, which is difficult to answer and leaves you feeling more anxious.
Probably the most observant people on the planet are kids. Even when you think they’re oblivious to what’s going on, the reality is, they know when something isn’t right and are likely to ask you about it.
When You Lose Time to Anxiety
Think about how much time you spend soothing your anxiety. Do you lose minutes or even hours trying to keep your anxiety at bay by using different calming techniques? Or maybe you haven’t found any strategies that work for you, and you spend a lot of time feeling out of control with constant worry, like you’re giving in to your anxiety symptoms.
When you spend so much time with your anxiety, you lose time you could spend doing other things, like hobbies and activities you used to love or just being with your partner or children.
It Feels Like the End of the World if Anxiety Strikes
When you have an anxiety attack, does it feel like life is caving in? Or maybe the worry has you feeling frozen in place, unable to move, let alone think.
This is when anxiety truly has a grip on you. You become hyper-focused on the anxiety and what’s triggering it. Anything else happening in your life gets pushed to the side.
The only way to get back to feeling “normal” is to satisfy the anxiety by feeding the worry or avoiding social situations. Otherwise, you stay in that locked position.
If this goes on too long untreated, you could also start to feel depressed because of your uncontrolled anxiety, and experiencing both anxiety and depression symptoms can be a real struggle.
Anxiety Has You Feeling Irritable and Grumpy
The stress of managing anxiety can take a toll on you. It requires a lot of brainpower and emotional energy, making your capacity to handle other kinds of stress in your life decrease dramatically.
You often feel irritable and might snap at someone if they ask you a question at the wrong time. Or when there’s a traffic jam or a line at the checkout, you feel rage. This can become a real problem if you lash out in anger. It can damage relationships you truly care about.
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If you’re relating to any of this and wondering how to decide if it’s the right time to seek anxiety treatment, the answer is now.
When left untreated, anxiety has the potential to do real damage in your life and relationships. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With anxiety counseling, you can learn how to truly manage anxiety symptoms rather than just try to cover them up. Plus, you can learn new coping skills for handling anxiety-provoking situations and how to focus on the joys that will empower you to live your life as you want to, not as anxiety dictates.
therapist columbus ohio
If you decide you’re in need of anxiety counseling from a high quality counseling practice in the Columbus, OH area, please reach out and contact Blue Boat Counseling today. Our skilled anxiety counselors offer online therapy to help when you’re ready to address the anxiety in your life so you can be you again.
