What is Anxiety? Why it's different to stress & the problem with self-diagnosing an anxiety disorder

What is anxiety? There’s a good chance you’ve heard people on social media, or in real life, talking about it. The word gets thrown around a lot but there can be a bit of confusion about what it actually is.

Stress and Anxiety are very similar but there are some differences that are handy to know.

Stress is usually temporary; it often goes away when the thing that’s stressing you out goes away.

For example when you’ve got an assignment due tomorrow that you’ve haven’t started yet.

Most of the time stress doesn’t impact your overall quality of life that much.

Anxiety is often more of a long term thing.

Feelings of anxiousness can stick around after the thing you were worried aboutpasses.

Sometimes these feelings exist without any particular reason at all.

Now a really important thing to know

Is that feeling stressed or feeling anxious are both completely normal parts of being human.

There are a bunch of different words or emotions that can be used to represent anxiety.

These feelings are actually protective and as humans have evolved they’ve helped keep people safe from danger and motivated them to be prepared!

Whether that’s cavemen staying away from that suss noise in the bushes

Or the stress you feel about an upcoming exam which is what makes you prepare and practice!

Anxiety can start to become a problem when we begin to see threats or danger where there might not be

Or when these feelings stick around for a long time and really start to interfere with our everyday life.

There are a few symptoms you can keep an eye out for but whatever you do don’t go trying to self-diagnose & label yourself as someone who has an ‘anxiety disorder’.

Only a professional can do this and even they’re not supposed to diagnose themselves!

Plus telling yourself that you have an anxiety disorder can just make you more worried

When all that you’re feeling may just be the kinds of things that most other people feel too.

When you are feeling a bit more stressed or anxious than usual

It can be good to chat to an adult you trust like a parent teacher guardian whatever.

You might find that you’re not alone

And like I said you may realise that the things you’re feeling are what a lot of other people are feeling too and that’s ok.

There are also some helpful numbers you can call and if you are really worried you can go to see a GP or health professional.

In the meantime keep an eye out for some more videos we’ve got coming out on this topic.

We’ve got some tips for what to do if you’re feeling stressed or anxious and how to deal with news you might find upsetting.

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For the past 50 years, Behind the News has been helping to break down current issues and events for young people all around the world. The program is a high-energy, fun way for people to learn about the stories we see in the news while providing background information that isn’t usually given by other news bulletins.