The most common mental illness in the world is THIS.

Morning Anxiety

My anxiety tends to be worse in the morning, especially when I’m going through rough patches. I started looking in to this a bit and came across a great post by Anxious No More – another blog about dealing with “extreme anxiety, panic attacks and daily stress.”

According to this blog, which did plenty of research, your morning anxiety can likely be attributed to three things: cortisol, blood sugar, and mood – of course. For me, part of the reason I have so much anxiety in the morning is because I’m anxious about being anxious and don’t feel like starting my day.

I’m going to focus more on cortisol and blood sugar.

Cortisol is called the “stress hormone” and until today, I honestly hadn’t heard of it – I don’t think.

According to Psychology Today, “Scientists have known for years that elevated cortisol levels: interfere with learning and memory, lower immune function and bone density, increase weight gain, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease… The list goes on and on.

Chronic stress and elevated cortisol levels also increase risk for depression, mental illness, and lower life expectancy.”

Furthermore, “Cortisol is released in response to fear or stress by the adrenal glands as part of the fight-or-flight mechanism. “ Anyone that deals with anxiety and panic disorder knows that it can be a nasty cycle. More fear creates more fear. It’s unpleasant to say the least. Apparently cortisol hits its peak in the morning.

Ways to lower cortisol include 20-30 minutes of exercise most days of weak; meditation and mindfulness; socializing (“ Make an effort to spend real face-to-face time with loved ones whenever you can, but phone calls and even Facebook can reduce cortisol if they foster a feeling of genuine connectivity.”); laughing; and music. I strongly encourage you to readPsychology Today’s write-up of cortisol.

Now let’s talk blood sugar. According to Deanne Repich’s Understanding Early Morning Anxiety (thanks again, Anxious No More),:

It’s important to maintain a constant blood sugar level because the brain uses sugar, also known as glucose, as its fuel. If blood sugar levels are too low or drop too fast, then the brain starts running out of fuel. 

This causes the brain to trigger the “fight or flight” response.  The “fight or flight” response sends a rush of adrenaline, cortisol, and other neurotransmitters through your body to prepare you to fight or flee the perceived threat (low fuel). 

This process can trigger physical reactions (“symptoms”) such as trembling, rapid heartbeat, sweating, panic attacks, fatigue, insomnia, mental confusion, nervousness, dizziness, and more.   

To balance your blood sugar levels and minimize symptoms, keep a snack that contains “good” complex carbohydrates and protein by your bed. 

I’m going to start trying to eat first thing in the morning. Sometimes I go without breakfast because my anxiety is so bad. Obviously, this is a mistake. Time to eat that morning snack – even if I don’t want to!

This post was originally posted at Journey to Calm.

Thankful

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we want to thank you for standing with the 150,000 Montanans who live with anxiety disorders - most of which don't seek the help they need because they fear mental illness stigma. Together, we will change that. If you haven't had a chance to watch our introductory video, please do. Please also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. We are a movement dedicated to educating the public, fighting stigma, and making sure those who suffer from anxiety disorders get the resources they need. Thank you for being part of this movement! Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving! - The Awareness Network Team

Five tips to start an anxiety recovery program

Believe it or not, some people don't have the strength to start on a anxiety or depression recovery program.

This is usually because they are so in the depths of despair and the mental illness involved has got them so tightly in the clutches that they can't see any light at the end of the tunnel.

In one of my previous YouTube video's, I spoke about how important it is to get yourself to a doctor and as much as a lot of us hate medication, it can be a saving grace by easing those dreadful symptoms and giving you a little hoist out of that deep dark rut...just enough for you to be able to continue helping yourself.

In addition to that, here are 5 more top tips that can help you and encourage you to start recovery.

1. ACCEPTANCE - Accepting your mental illness is very important, and for me personally, it played a key role for me. Once I accepted that I had an Anxiety Disorder, all the anger and bitterness just washed away and all the fatigue from constantly fighting against it just vanished. You cannot seek help for your problems until you accept and admit that you have a problem.

2. DON'T BE ASHAMED -  People with mental disorders often feel embarrassed and ashamed because society has played such a stigma on mental illnesses. It is very important to realize that even though you feel alone, you are by no means alone. There is no shame in having a mental illness, just as there is no shame in having a physical illness

3. GET INSPIRED - Reading other people testimonials in books, magazines or on-line can be of enormous benefit, and there is nothing better than reading someone else's story of how they were in the depths of despair and how they got better. 

4. TREATMENT - I feel strongly about this one because everyone seems to want to add their two cents when it comes to how a mental disorder sufferer should go about recovery. It is no one's business but yours! If you want to go the conventional way, then do it. If you want to do it the natural way, then go for it. Whatever treatment or medicine you decide to opt for, let it come from you. Don't let other people bully you. 

(Please always visit a doctor before taking medication or embarking on a treatment plan)

5. SUPPORT - Having a support structure is another key factor for mental disorder recovery. You cannot do this alone and having encouragement from a relative or friend can really make or break the recovery process for you. The sad thing is that not everyone has a support structure, and if you are one of these people, then please reach out to one of the many NPO's that have resources to help and support people with mental disorders.

This post was written by Mel Bonthuys who runs the My Anxiety Blog. 

An Ode to Anxiety

When I was in grade school, I learned a valuable skill that I am sure you all learned as well—a skill so invaluable that it still haunts me to this day. I learned how to play the recorder. More importantly, I learned how to play Ode to Joy on the recorder. As those whiny, piercing notes reverberate through my mind, I propose a new ode of a much more important nature: an ode to anxiety.

Anxiety is almost unmentionable these days, yet it affects so many of us, myself included. When I first got involved in the mental health world by taking the NAMI Family-to-Family course, I am sad to admit that I thought of anxiety as one of the lesser mental illnesses. Now that I have learned more about it, and have learned what it feels like to deal with crippling anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder, I can state with no uncertainty that anxiety can be a very serious affliction. Unfettered, debilitating anxiety wreaks havoc on the lives of millions of Americans in the United States. Anxiety can range from mild forms that slightly impinge upon forming new relationships, to all-consuming compulsions that overtake the mind and leave its victims carrying out tasks that they know to be illogical, but they feel compelled to carry them out all the same.

However, I can attest to the fact that recovering from anxiety is possible, even though the path to recovery is sometimes marred with crater-sized potholes and frightening precipices. My ode to anxiety is a song of hope, a song of redemption, and a song of myriad shrieking recorders. Because on the other side of the terror of anxiety comes perspective, and, as sense of humor returns, the levity of the situation is spotted.

Once anxiety is kept in check, it actually can be quite helpful. When balanced, I find that a certain amount of anxiety and obsessiveness is quite healthy. With that being said, I leave you with three thoughts:

1.       Continuous anxiety can lead to success. The checking, double-checking, and triple-checking of the anxious mind often leads those who struggles with anxiety to become ultra-prepared. We handle logistics for events and meetings, we pack for international trips, and we scan resumes and reports ad nauseam for any sign of errors. When healthy, we, the folks with anxiety, can achieve great things.

2.       Anxiety helps us survey the scene. Dealing with anxiety makes us much more cautious than others. When approaching new situations and new faces, we take our time on passing judgment. This helps us take a mindful, strategic approach—and can give us advantages when plotting our next move.

3.       Lastly, anxiety makes sense. Our ancestors, our long-ago people, had to be anxious at times to survive. In order to escape that threatening animal with big teeth, in order to navigate the group dynamics within their tribes, and in order to find a safe place to rest their heads each night, our ancestors needed anxiety. Without it, we just wouldn’t have survived, and the people of today, anxious brains and all, would not be here today.

So embrace your anxiety, and the good and the bad that comes from it. Join me in this ode. Pick up your dusty recorder and play a few notes. Play it until all of the dogs in your neighborhood join in the hideous banshee-notes of your chorus. Anxiety is here to stay, so we might as well let others know about it. It’s once we can find the humor in it that we can make some changes for how individuals with anxiety are treated. If you can play the recorder, which I know you can, you can play an ode to anxiety. 

This post was written by Jordan Brown.

Work and Anxiety

I wrote this blog as I wanted to highlight my ongoing struggle to find full time employment and how my anxiety can affect, and be affected by, this. Although I am not unemployed, I am on a zero hour contract, volunteering and getting occasional freelance editing work, I don’t have what I would call a career and I definitely don’t have certainty. I think the issue of ‘certainty’ is the crux when it comes to finding work and the anxiety tied up with it all. Certainty is something everyone probably strives for, as it offers a sense of comfort and stability, but in reality even those in full time employment don’t have certainty. For me, anxiety feeds on uncertainty, and any type of change, be it good or bad, has the power to unsettle me and throw me back into the anxiety pit. Looking for a job can be a stressful time for anyone and unemployment can lead to anxiety and depression, so it’s obvious, really, that for someone who already suffers from these conditions finding work isn’t going to be a barrel of laughs. 

Finding and applying for a job

Since getting my PhD in 2012 I’ve done more job applications than I care to remember whilst also working a few different part-time jobs. The jobs I have had have basically been a means to an end – I needed the money so I did the job. Although the jobs I’ve had have often left me feeling down at the fact that all my PhD had achieved was a job in service on minimum wage, I’m glad I did these jobs and stuck with them. They got me out of the house and talking to people on days when I might have avoided social contact. I knew, though, that I wanted more out of life and that I was capable of achieving more. So almost every day I would get home from work and start the endless trawl through the job websites and crack on with applications when a job came up that interested me. Out of all the jobs I’ve applied for in the last three years I have only had three interviews. So all the time and effort I was putting into writing cover letters and adapting my CV had begun to seem worthless. Dealing with rejection is never easy and as many people with depression will know rejection can just add to the worthlessness you already feel.

To tick or not to tick? 

The equal opportunities form. A quick afterthought for most people who whizz through it feeling a sudden pang of fear at the age bracket they’ve now entered. But for me this government induced PC page tagged on to the end of every job application brings up a dilemma. Should I tick the disability box or not? Is my anxiety disorder ‘worthy’ of the accolade? Or will people think I’m wallowing in self-pity and really, really, there’s no way I have a disability. After living with mental illness for over a decade I know that anxiety is a disability, a disability that resulted in me leaving a job as being stationed in a room unable to leave it caused me to feel trapped and have crippling panic attacks.  

So why is there still a part of me that wavers the cursor hesitantly over the ‘yes’ box unable to click and confirm it? Maybe I still feel embarrassed to admit I have mental health issues. Or maybe it’s because I worry that if I do say I have a disability that will be the only reason I get an interview (or – if pigs could fly - the job itself) because the place I’m applying to needs to up its disability quota. To this day I still think I only got an interview for one of the jobs I applied for because I ticked that box. But did I? Or is this just self-doubt creeping in again? My mind asks more questions and at greater speed than Paxman trying to beat the gong. I didn’t tick the disability box for most of the jobs I applied for as I wanted to earn the job on merit not because I have a mental illness. I needed the reassurance that I was good enough for the job and that they wanted me for me.  

Work ethic – taking on too much?

Just as I often feel the need to prove to myself that I can get an interview (or job) because I am good at what I do, I also often take on too much, both socially and work-wise, to prove that my anxiety won’t stop me from doing anything. The problem with this is that I often end up over-tired and burnt out, not good for someone who suffers with mental health problems. I think that many people who have mental health issues often push themselves too hard and can often find it really hard to say no to people. For example, my friends have told me they wouldn’t have done some of the things I’ve done such as going down to London on my own for a week to do research, giving papers at conferences, going to a hen do where I didn’t know anyone but the hen herself. But I’m so afraid of letting people down or feeling a failure that I go out of my way to take things on or say yes to things that other people would have no qualms about turning down. The thing is – if I did refuse a social invitation or an offer of work/training I would spend more time agonising over the fact I said no, and how people may have interpreted that, than if I just did it. 

In the last few weeks I’ve completed an internship on an exhibition, started cataloguing the exhibition material as a volunteer, carried out archival research, learnt how to proofread and copy edit and then proofread two dissertations, started a new part time job as a visitor assistant (help I’m trapped in a room which I can’t leave!), started this blog, and submitted job applications. I couldn’t say no to helping with final preparations for the exhibition even though it meant devoting more time to it than usual, I felt obliged to do the archival work as it was for an acquaintance who has helped me a lot in the past, I need to do the cataloguing so I can add that skill to my CV, and the list goes on. All my commitments, whether paid or not, have some reason which means I cannot give them up. This workload, which involves a lot of planning to fit it all together, has taken its toll physically as well as mentally. My mouth is full of ulcers, my neck aching and my jaw often clenched so tight even chocolate might find it hard to make its way in.

The busyness of it all

Speaking of chocolate - that did find its way in when I was up until all hours working then unable to get off to sleep. So my diet has slipped and that’s not the only thing to fall victim to my increased workload. Exercising has become almost non-existent as I haven’t had time for it recently, reasoning that work, and doing things which might lead to more work, are much more important than working out. But what is, actually, more important? Work or your health? I’ve read a few interesting articles recently about how ‘busy’ we all are nowadays. I can relate to this. I’ve even started adding leisure activities to my schedule – finding time to watch the TV programmes I’ve recorded has almost become a chore not a choice. On my list of things to do you might even find ‘read book’ because it has become a task I feel I need to write down otherwise I might never get to do it. If it’s on the list at least I can attempt it when the other things are ticked off. But more things have obviously been added since then, so the book gathers dust on my bedside table, all I’ve previously read fading each day I don’t get through the list. But maybe we should stop being busy and take the time to do what we actually want to do. We are allowed to relax and it’s ok not to be busy – it doesn’t make you less important in any way, it often makes you happier. 

Making time for yourself

As we all know, and as countless websites, studies and articles tell us, a healthy diet combined with regular exercise and sufficient sleep all help combat depression and anxiety. So I’ve recently made a new schedule. A schedule that ensures I stop doing work at 10pm at the very latest (ironically posting this after 10pm) so I have an hour before I go to bed where I can read my book or watch television or do whatever I feel like doing. I have decided I need to make time for exercise and that if I do exercise I enjoy I’m more likely to stick to it. I’ll be tackling the chaos that is the swimming baths again and practicing my downward dog before striding out into the countryside. However, getting rid of the chocolate is a bit harder … it does contain endorphins, which are good for depression, so it’s kind of like medicine right? 

This post was written by Beccy and originally appeared on her blog Working with Anxiety.

This is what awareness DOESN'T look like.

People who live with anxiety disorders know how difficult it can be when their disorder is trivialized and not taken seriously by those around them. That's why we started the Awareness Network. We want to educate everyone.

Watch this TEDx Talk on Panic Attacks

Alison Sommer graduated from Carleton with a degree in Asian Studies, and now works as an academic technologist at Macalester College. She believes that awareness is the first step to improving problems within mental health care, and will be speaking about anxiety disorders and panic attacks based on her own constantly evolving understanding of her anxiety disorder, OCD. Alison's greatest loves are her family, hockey and Star Wars.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Would you like to blog for us?

Would you like to blog for the Awareness Network? Great. Contact us at Contact@AwarenessNetwork.org

Men Have Anxiety, Too!

Talking about anxiety disorders can be tough. It can be especially tough for men. Society tells men that they need to be "strong" and "resilient." What results is an intense fear of stigma for many men suffering from anxiety disorders.

But men do suffer from a wide range of anxiety disorders and it's time we started talking about it. One way for men to feel encouraged to talk about their anxiety disorders is for them to not feel alone.

At least 14 million American men suffer from anxiety disorders. Here are a few examples of some very famous men who suffer/suffered from anxiety disorders. 

John Mayer

Panic Disorder

Johnny Depp

Anxiety and Depression

Howie Mandel

OCD

Abraham Lincoln

Anxiety and depression

John Steinbeck (can you get more masculine?)

Anxiety and depression

Charles Schulz

Anxiety

No Stigma. No shame. 1 in 4!

Here's a great student video addressing mental illness in the United Kingdom. There is a very loud and very persistent campaign in the UK to address mental illness stigma. We could do the same in the US!

Happy Friday! Remember to breathe.

We love this video

Breaking the Stigma of Mental Illnesses

Quickly... what is CBT?

One of the leading and most popular treatments for anxiety disorders is called Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). So, what is Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)? In short, CBT is all about labeling and identifying unhealthy thought patterns and recognizing how they may be causing self-defeating behaviors and beliefs.

For example: a person has been to hundreds of work meetings – even thousands. Then one day they have a panic attack during a meeting. Now they think and worry constantly about having another panic attack during a work meeting. Soon, they start avoiding work meetings and even work. These are mistaken thought patterns that result in destructive behaviors and beliefs.

By working with a therapist, a person identifies negative and false beliefs and restructures them. It’s about labeling and recognizing negative thoughts and replacing them with constructive thoughts that result in healthier behaviors and beliefs.

According to NAMI, “Studies of CBT have shown it to be an effective treatment for a wide variety of mental illnesses, including depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, eating disorders and schizophrenia.”

Want to learn more? Check out this video.

Hello and welcome to the Anxiety Awareness Network Blog

Hello and welcome to the Anxiety Awareness Network! We’re an organizations dedicated to ending anxiety disorder stigma and the fear of stigma. Two-in-three suffers don’t seek treatment. That’s right - over 25 million Americans live with an anxiety disorder and don’t get help.

Too many people aren’t educated when it comes to the symptoms of and treatments for anxiety disorders. It’s our goal to change that. By educating the public about anxiety disorders, we hope to fight stigma and promote treatment.

We encourage you to explore our website, to get involved, and to help end stigma.

This blog will serve as a place to share ideas and news.