Anxiety?

[cest.la.vie]

I think I might have a problem with anxiety, I think social anxiety.
I had to fill out this DLA form, and half of it was related to being too anxious to do things.
I feel like I should/want to talk to my psychiatrist about this, but I feel to worried about it to bring it up!
I was just wondering if there's a DSM criteria for anxiety-related problems, or something like that? And what kind of things you can do to be less anxious? Like, is it something you have to work through in therapy, or with meds, or just try to manage with it?

Sorry if that doesn't make much sense, I'm just thinking out loud xxxx

[sherlock holmes]

Here's the wiki page on Anxiety Disorders.

There is a diagnostic questionnaire used for anxiety which can highlight a problem, but most drs take what you say on face value (in my experience) and dont need to go through the diagnostic criteria.

Definately mention it to your psych. I did, (well actually I kind of did over the phone as I was too anxious to leave the house) and my dr prescribed me a beta blocker which alleviates the physical symptoms of anxiety (like shakiness, racing heart etc).

But, with anxiety, the only sure fire way to beat is to not give in to it. You need to put yourself in situations you find difficult over and over until you feel you can cope. You can do it slowly, with a friend or whoever.

I had anxiety about doing voluntary work, so for the first one my mum came so I felt safe, and I had a chance to meet the others working. Then, the next week, my mum left ten minutes early, the week after even earlier and now I'm going totally by myself.

You can have therapy for anxiety, any of them will help (CBT, DBT etc) as they challenge your thinking/behaviour.

I guess what I'm trying to say is meds and therapy will only do so much, in the end it comes down to you to do the rest and to keep going. Avoiding situations only makes it worse.

[mis13]

Hey im new to this site, but ive just read your thread. I agree about the fact that docs can only do so much, it can take a long time to find a root problem ( if there is one) and sometimes only you can work out why you feel like you do. I had social anxiety disorder, and went to counseling for a year and was on beta blockers for it too. It helped for the time being, whilst it was really bad, but i had to figure out how to cope and be strong on my own. Being anxious around people can pose a problem in itself when it comes to talking about it, but know who you can really trust, and keep reminding yourself of good things, and that your strong. Might not have helped but i thought i would share my views on it from experience.
xxxx