How to cope with anxiety and stress. How to get rid of fear and anxiety - psychology tips

Did you know that anxiety is the most common psychological problem? Women are sixty percent more likely to experience anxiety. Even if you are not familiar with this disorder, you probably know what stress is. Everyone gets anxious from time to time. It would be useful to learn how to cope with constant stress.

What is anxiety?

Simply put, anxiety is the body's response to a dangerous or unfamiliar situation. It may appear before significant events such as a job interview, an upcoming exam, or a move. Often this condition manifests itself differently in different people. In many cases there are no external symptoms. The most anxious people are often outwardly calm and able to control themselves. As a result, they don't realize how anxious they are. Everyday anxiety can manifest itself through a variety of symptoms: agitation, inability to relax, frustration, increased heart rate, sweating, rapid breathing, insomnia, and problems concentrating. In addition, anxiety is often accompanied by feelings of panic and fear, which are difficult to cope with. An anxiety disorder can have a profound impact on your life, causing you to struggle to even leave the house. If you recognize yourself in such a description, you should become familiar with ways to resolve such a situation.

Confess your feelings to yourself

It may seem strange, but acknowledging your anxiety is a more effective way to improve the situation than trying to ignore what is happening. People with anxiety try to cope with their feelings, which only makes them feel worse. Allow yourself to experience your fear and it will go away. It will fill you with strength. If you always hide your feelings, you only make the problem worse. Anxiety is not your fault and is not something to be ashamed of.

Get enough sleep

It is difficult to determine the connection between sleep problems and anxiety definitively. Anxiety can interfere with sleep, but insomnia can also cause anxiety. Researchers have found that lack of sleep awakens parts of the brain that cause anxiety. A good night's sleep improves overall health and helps combat stress. Create a calming routine in the evenings to set yourself up for sleep. Try to get seven to nine hours of sleep every day.

Nourish your body

A healthy diet won't cure anxiety, but it can make you feel better and lift your mood. A diet rich in whole grains, vegetables and fruits is an excellent solution. Complex carbohydrates are digested more slowly, which means they help maintain stable blood sugar levels. When you eat matters too. Don't skip meals, as falling blood sugar levels can worsen anxiety. You will benefit from foods rich in magnesium, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids and B vitamins.

Start moving

Some research suggests that regular physical activity may be as effective as medication in reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression. Aerobic exercise reduces tension in the body and increases the level of protective substances. Physical activity can greatly help people with psychological problems. In addition, sport helps the brain fight stress, reduces fatigue, helps concentrate and improves sleep. After just five minutes of exercise, you will notice a positive effect. If you start to worry, try giving yourself a workout.

Give up alcohol

Often people with anxiety turn to alcohol for help. It can indeed help you forget about anxiety, but then it leads to problems such as alcoholism if the cause of the anxiety is not eliminated. This method of self-medication does not work. This is an attempt to correct everything with temporary measures, which worsens the situation in the future. People often do not seek help from a psychologist because they are embarrassed. Instead, they use alcohol and drugs. A few hours after drinking alcohol, the feeling of depression only increases. If you drink daily, you should see a doctor.

Get out into nature

People who live in the city are twenty-one percent more likely to experience anxiety and thirty-nine percent more likely to have mood disorders. It turns out that areas of the brain that regulate emotions are especially active in urban residents. Spending time in nature reduces stress, relieves anger and fear, lifts your mood, and relieves pain. You don't even need to go to the park - just look at nature through the window. If you feel anxious, take a walk around your area.

Practice mindfulness

When you're anxious, it's easy to give in to your ruminations. Try to be mindful of the present. Research has shown that this helps shift the focus of attention from internal experiences to the world around us.
Anxiety can interfere with a person's ability to learn or perform various tasks. Meditation is very simple: find a quiet place, close your eyes and focus on your breathing.

Write everything down in a diary

You can simply express your emotions on paper. This helps solve the problem by giving your thoughts some structure and organizing them. As a result, you'll sleep better, feel better, and lead a more fulfilling life. You don't even have to spend a lot of time journaling to see the positive effects. Start with fifteen minutes a day, don't worry about grammar or punctuation. Just watch your emotions. The diary can then be thrown away or burned, or it can be kept.

Laugh out loud

It turns out that laughter can be real healing. Laughter helps relieve tension, increases the amount of oxygen in the body, lowers blood pressure and stimulates the production of endorphins. Just watch a funny video or spend time with children who laugh more often than adults.

Breathe deeper

Your breathing greatly affects your condition. The rate of breathing allows the body to understand that something is wrong. If you are worried, you breathe faster and your body prepares for an alarming situation. Control your breathing and use your diaphragm when inhaling. This will help you think more clearly and worry less. Deep breathing fills the body with endorphins, slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. Try placing your hand on your stomach, just above your navel. After this, try to inhale slowly so that your stomach slowly expands. If you do everything correctly, neither your shoulders nor your chest will move when you inhale. Take a few deep breaths and you can feel yourself calming down. This is a simple technique that helps many people.

Ask for help

Consider these tips as simple instructions on how to take care of yourself. You may forget about yourself when you have a huge responsibility. This should not be allowed if you do not want to succumb to anxious thoughts. If your anxiety is affecting your daily life or causing you to suffer, the anxiety may be too severe for all the tips above to overcome it. In this case, you will need professional intervention. If you simply cannot bear the anxiety, contact a crisis psychologist.

According to the US National Institute of Mental Health, there are several types of anxiety disorders. One of the most common is generalized anxiety disorder. It is characterized by constant excessive anxiety, tension and fear, which do not depend on external factors and can be accompanied by physical manifestations such as a “nervous stomach”, shortness of breath and rapid heartbeat.

Anxiety disorder is different from stress. - This is a typical reaction of the body to external pressure or threat. This is fine. Anxiety, on the other hand, is an abnormal response when ordinary things like social interactions, paying bills, or going to work trigger fear.

During an anxiety attack, parts of the brain responsible for the fight-or-flight response are activated, and you cannot stop it at will. This condition prevents you from making decisions even on the simplest issues and creates many problems.

But how to determine whether there is an anxiety disorder, or whether a person is susceptible to other mental illnesses, for example?

Anxiety does not come alone and is difficult to detect.

Anxiety is often mistaken for something else. For example, a person comes to a place where he doesn’t know anyone, he has little experience communicating with people, and even more so in a noisy company. He begins to feel embarrassed, and anxiety takes over him so much that he can no longer utter a word, let alone get to know someone and start a conversation himself.

After leaving the party, which turned into real torture for him, he may think that he behaved withdrawn due to depression. But if he cared about all these people and he would happily talk to them, laugh and dance, but he simply couldn’t because of , then he doesn’t have any depression.

After all, he had a desire to have fun and communicate, but social anxiety did not allow him to do this. It was because of her that he sat through the entire party in the corner of the room, hiding behind a glass.

Of course, one can be a consequence of the other. For example, if a person becomes depressed and because of this breaks off all social ties. When depressive states leave him, he will, as it were, “forget how” to communicate with people. A long absence of social interactions can cause anxiety when they resume.

Yes, you don't want the attacks to recur, but you shouldn't hate yourself for it. You can only hope that the people around you will be sympathetic to your distress and provide you with the space to recover.

The problem is (not always) other people

Sometimes we think that other people can solve our anxiety problem. For example, that, accompanied by a good friend, you can safely go to a noisy festival: friendly support will help you avoid an anxiety attack.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Moreover, your friend may not support you when an anxiety attack begins, but leave you to your own devices or send you to a quiet and calm place and continue to communicate and have fun with everyone.

In such a situation, you may feel that you were betrayed and abandoned, that you were not helped. In fact, your friend is not to blame for your panic attacks (especially if he doesn’t know about them), and if you accuse him of betrayal, it will simply ruin yours.

Blaming someone is always easier than taking responsibility for your actions. And when you have an anxiety attack, it’s very difficult, so you simply shift responsibility for your feelings onto other people.

Yes, sometimes people can get to you. For example, you or a friend, communication with whom causes more frustration than pleasure. You can and should get rid of such sources of constant stress, but it is better to do this at the moment when anxiety leaves you.

Think as often as possible about how you can help yourself. The more you invest in your well-being and sense of calm, the easier it will be to cope with an anxiety attack the next time it happens.

How do you deal with anxiety and worry?

People tend to worry about what is happening or might happen in their lives. There is nothing strange in a person’s desire to protect himself and his family from the blows of fate. But often fears become intrusive, interfere with living a full life, and destroy relationships and health. Then the question of how to get rid of anxiety arises especially acutely and requires an immediate solution.

What is the danger?

Experiencing anxiety for no reason or having real reasons for fear, a person feels enormous psychological pressure. In each case, the fears seem quite real to him. For people with an unstable psyche (subtle mental organization), the feeling of a constant looming threat can become absolutely unbearable, leading to a nervous breakdown or committing rash acts.

Often, without a proper understanding of how to deal with anxiety and worry, people become dependent on bad habits. They try to relieve stress with alcohol, cigarettes or even drugs. Such actions are not a method of dealing with anxiety. This is another cause for concern. After all, now you have to fight not only fear, but also a new disease.

Who is at risk?

How to get rid of constant feelings of anxiety? This question most often torments those who are deprived of stability in everyday life, lack self-confidence, and are experiencing serious changes. For example:

• Teenagers, against the background of a hormonal surge, very often feel anxious, having no idea how to overcome their fears and what actually causes them;
• single people in adulthood are looking for a way to get rid of anxiety and worry, dreaming of starting a family and realizing themselves as parents;
• Due to age-related changes, older people become victims of their own terrible fantasies and heightened feelings of anxiety;
• those who have suffered serious financial difficulties often do not see a way to get rid of obsessive thoughts about financial collapse, especially for those who have suffered large losses.

In any of the above situations, a state of stress occurs, which can become chronic over time, and this is a direct path to prolonged depression, that is, to a severe mental disorder. For this reason, any anxiety must be overcome, and persistent panic attacks require serious treatment.

How to fight?

To understand how to get rid of anxiety, it is important to determine its nature. To this end, it is useful to ask yourself the question: “What really scares me, what do I worry about most?” It is worth answering it as honestly as possible. Perhaps this will be the key to getting rid of anxious thoughts.

Often people are simply afraid to be honest with themselves and prefer to pretend that the problem does not exist, avoiding the need to act to eliminate it. Such tactics only aggravate an already difficult situation, increase mental tension and deplete strength.

The most common reasons for anxiety:

• suspicions of serious health problems;
• family destruction, impending divorce;
• threat of dismissal from a favorite job;
• debts, unpaid loans;
• upcoming difficult conversation;
• any significant changes.

All these fears have a basis in reality, and this, paradoxically, is the good news. They can be dealt with if you take responsibility and take action. This approach will remove the problem.

• We must admit that the problem exists and will have to be solved.
• It is important to understand what will happen if events unfold according to the worst-case scenario, and immediately decide what actions to take in this case. This way there will be certainty in the situation. This feeling can significantly reduce anxiety, because a person’s greatest fear is the unknown.
• Now it's time to act on your own. Stop waiting for initiative from other people if your anxiety is related to them. Let the unpleasant conversation take place in the near future, let the sick relationship begin to improve on your initiative. If it’s a health issue, see a doctor immediately!
• It is extremely important not to “extend the pleasure”, but to decisively and quickly bring the situation to a resolution. To act rationally, it is wise to have a written plan where each item is well thought out and clearly outlined.

One has only to take the first step towards overcoming the problem, and a noticeable feeling of relief will come, the strength to move on will appear, and self-esteem will increase. There is a high probability that everything will be resolved much easier than expected, and you will even feel a little bewilderment, asking yourself: “Why didn’t I do this earlier?”

Groundless fear

How to get rid of anxiety if you can’t determine what caused it? Insomnia, a lump in the throat, heaviness in the chest - all this, alas, is not uncommon even for people who live a busy life and have stability in all respects.

Such obsessive fears are very painful because they are incomprehensible. In reality, this condition also has real reasons, including:

• intense work rhythm, insufficient number of days off;
• hypertrophied sense of responsibility;
• poor quality sleep;
• sedentary lifestyle;
• unhealthy diet;
• sexual dissatisfaction;
• hormonal imbalance;
• negative social circle;
• suspicious character.

When trying to find a way to overcome anxiety, you should look at yourself and your lifestyle from the inside, without taking into account external well-being. There are often cases when fears arise in the subconscious as a result of the body’s reaction to prolonged discomfort. This way you receive a warning about the danger and a signal about the need for change.

To deal with the problem, you will have to spend time, perhaps even take a vacation. It is important to spend at least a few days alone with yourself, analyzing and reflecting, walking alone and getting a good night's sleep. Think about how you can improve your quality of life?

• Workout. It has been proven that during training, “happiness hormones” are produced in the human brain. Maybe there is simply not enough movement in your life? Then the problem is easy to solve. Hiking or jogging, cycling or swimming, dancing or yoga classes - the choice is huge!
• Change your diet. Do you like sweets, baked goods, or are you into fast food? These are all “fast” carbohydrates that do not bring any benefit to the body. Moreover, they cause a feeling of fatigue, apathy, contribute to excess weight gain, and develop addiction. Healthy nutrition means high tone, proper metabolism, and a blooming appearance.
• Get rid of bad habits. There is nothing to talk about here. Alcohol depresses the nervous system, destroys brain cells, and poisons the entire body. This is the reason for constant stress!

Think about what is good for you and what is harmful. Make adjustments to your lifestyle. Changing habits is possible only if you develop a new, replacement habit every day. Like-minded people will help; in sports, such a person can be a coach. A great way to keep your finger on the pulse is to keep a diary. With the help of daily reflections and notes, you can learn a lot of new things about yourself, come to unexpected conclusions and decisions, and achieve significant positive changes. Perhaps you will be able to find your own recipe for how to get rid of constant anxiety and start living a calm life. The main thing is to understand: you are not fighting in vain!

This property of human nature needs to be discussed separately. Laziness, like a snowball, becomes overgrown with negative, destructive emotions, which are very difficult to cope with:

• apathy,
• despondency,
• low self-esteem,
• self-doubt,
• guilt,
• fear,
• anxiety.

Without action, a person loses control over his own life, becomes very vulnerable morally and physically weak. It is impossible to relieve the feeling of anxiety, no matter what causes it, if you do not make any effort. Often it is laziness that causes constant stress, a feeling of powerlessness and fear of an unknown threat.

How to remove this destructive factor from your life? There can be no new ideas here! Realize that laziness is just a bad habit, a brake, a barrier between you and life. No one will remove it except you. The fight against laziness is movement. Once you start taking action, you will feel inspired, energized, and see the first results. There will be no time to worry.

Pathological fear

How to deal with anxiety if, even after analyzing your life, it is impossible to find out what is wrong in it? Physical health is in perfect order, there are no addictions, mutual understanding and financial well-being reign in the family, but obsessive anxiety does not make it possible to enjoy this.

In such cases, we are usually talking about problems of a psychological nature, which should be treated by a specialist. It is better not to postpone a visit to the doctor, since a depressive state can develop into panic attacks. It's difficult to get rid of them. They appear like this:

• inexplicable, animal fear,
• pressure surges,
• profuse sweating,
• dizziness,
• nausea,
• labored breathing.

The peculiarity of panic attacks is that they usually happen suddenly, in crowded places and in ordinary surroundings that do not threaten life and health. This condition can be corrected, but it is easier to cope with it under the supervision of a treating specialist.

Excessive fears caused by increased anxiety and worry can seriously spoil and poison existence. Such emotional experiences are difficult to control. It is enough for just one restless, obsessive thought and a particle of doubt to creep into the consciousness, as various kinds of negative thoughts, fears, concerns and negative scenarios for the development of the situation settle there for a long time and continuously scroll through the head. Increased anxiety paralyzes not only positive thoughts, but also good endeavors and productive activities. All this leads to disruption of normal human life: sleep deteriorates, general well-being worsens, and performance decreases.

The essence of anxiety and worry, signs and causes of the disorder

Anxiety is an unstable psycho-emotional state of a person, accompanied by a feeling of restlessness and nervousness. A person is tormented by uncertainty, anxiety, feels helpless, and is overcome by gloomy thoughts, expectations and despondency. When experiencing anxiety, a person worries without a clear reason and cannot cope with it or concentrate on anything.

This emotion can be associated with various negative, destructive feelings, such as jealousy and envy. In fact, anxiety is one of the types of fear - the fear of waiting for something. Anxiety is an uncertain and unaccountable fear. Anxiety has no obvious reason for its appearance; a person is not clearly able to express what exactly is bothering him.

Anxiety is acceptable when it comes and goes, and does not seriously affect a person’s lifestyle. For example, anxiety can help you gather and mobilize your strength and effectively cope with some responsibilities or successfully resolve a situation. And sometimes there is pronounced, pathological anxiety, it causes unreasonable fear, becomes destructive, blocks productive activity, thereby disrupting the harmony in life.

Anxiety appears as a result of a person’s imagination about the future. He feels painful anxiety from waiting for some important event or when there is uncertainty, and it is not clear exactly what to expect and how everything will turn out. This is a prediction of failure and a bad outcome.

Pathological anxiety is an unreasonable feeling of constant anxiety. For example, a mother may constantly worry about her perfectly healthy child.

Pathological anxiety and restlessness often have the following symptoms:

• tense muscles;
• itching of the skin;
• increased sweating;
• shortness of breath;
• shiver;
• increased heart rate;
• dry mouth;
• dizziness;
• nausea;
• stool disorder;
• chest pain;
• increased irritability;
• disturbances in normal sleep;
• inability to concentrate.

Anxiety intensifies in the late afternoon and is accompanied by increased physical activity, thus a person tries to suppress growing aggressive emotions.

Anxiety gradually progresses and has its own stages:

1. At the first stage, tension and discomfort appear inside.
2. At the second stage, tension grows, and constant irritability and a negative attitude towards almost everything are added.
3. At the third stage, anxiety itself appears, in which a person feels an incomprehensible threat and senses danger.
4. At the fourth stage, anxiety intensifies and is accompanied by fear.
5. At the fifth stage, the patient feels an approaching inevitable catastrophe and experiences horror from what, for the most part, does not pose a real threat.
6. At the last – sixth – stage, the patient experiences anxiety, fearfulness, neuromotor agitation, and a panicked search for help. At this stage, maximum human disorganization is observed.

Pathological anxiety and worry can throw you off track in life, deprive you of peace, normal sleep, joy of life and undermine your health. Since anxiety develops into a way of thinking and living, it is difficult to overcome it, but with a strong desire, you can learn to suppress this destructive feeling, not allowing it to come out and progress. You can control your anxiety by following specific practical recommendations and methods that will help you get rid of the mastery of anxiety and learn to manage your emotions throughout your life.

How to cope with anxiety and worry

Conclusion

If no advice helps, and increased anxiety and restlessness become and develop into something more, then you should definitely consult with a specialist. Because if you do not undergo psychotherapeutic treatment on time, real panic attacks or panic attacks may appear, the symptoms of which will be much more difficult to cope with.

Today we will talk about what anxiety is and how to cope with it. If you often feel psychological discomfort, uncertainty about the future and your strengths, mood swings, and anxiety, then you are probably faced with anxiety. But without correcting the condition, it can turn into anxiety. "What is the difference?" - you ask. Read on.

Anxiety is a stable personality quality, while anxiety is a temporary state (emotion). If traumatic situations are repeated frequently, negative factors influence constantly, then uncertainty and anxiety become permanent, which significantly worsens the quality of life. Anxiety can be corrected and measured. But as always, first things first.

Description of the phenomenon

The specifics of anxiety depend on age. Its occurrence is based on dissatisfaction with the actual needs of the individual, which also differ from the age and worldview of the person.

For example, for an early age, the leading need is communication with the mother. For preschoolers – the need for independence. For primary school children - the need to be significant. For teenagers - engage in socially significant activities and, according to other experts, interpersonal communication with peers. For young men in the future – professional and personal self-realization.

Thus, the object of anxiety may differ depending on age. So, for example, if at an early age a child has a hard time with separation from his mother, then in elementary school anxiety can be triggered by academic failure, and in adolescence it can be caused by rejection by the class. However, the needs for food, safety, and sleep remain relevant for everyone.

In response to anxiety, defense and compensation mechanisms are always activated. Anxiety left to chance provokes the development of states of panic and despair. It destroys personality.

By tradition, I want to outline a few key facts that will better convey to you the essence of the phenomenon:

1. Anxiety is a reaction to fear (real or potential), a situation that is dangerous for the individual (in his understanding).
2. Anxiety is a sign of personal distress and internal discord.
3. Anxiety is accompanied by increased concentration and excessive motor activity.
4. Anxiety can be situational (emotion) and personal (quality).
5. People with mental and somatic disorders, behavioral or developmental disorders are more susceptible to anxiety; have experienced a psychologically traumatic situation.
6. If it is normal to feel anxious sometimes, then you need to fight anxiety.
7. If the object is clearly known (darkness, loneliness), then this is fear. Anxiety does not have clear boundaries, although it is closely related to the first definition.
8. Manifestations of anxiety are ambiguous, reactions are individual.
9. There is a concept of useful anxiety. This is the level necessary for personal development. We are talking, for example, about an attack on the values ​​of an individual, without which he will not be a person in his own mind. That is, to put it exaggeratedly, it will stop living and begin to exist. Normal and useful anxiety arises in response to a real threat, is not a form of suppressing internal conflict, does not cause a defensive reaction, and can be eliminated by arbitrarily changing the situation or one’s attitude towards it.

It is worth noting that anxiety can only be a motivator in adolescence and older. Before this, it can only have a destructive, disorganizing effect. At the same time, before adolescence, anxiety is more of a situational nature (for example, fear of getting a bad mark on a test), and starting from puberty it is more personal. That is, anxiety does not become a personality trait until adolescence. If we talk about what is easier to correct, then, of course, situational anxiety.

At the level of neural processes in the brain, anxiety is the simultaneous activation of the ergotropic and trophotropic systems, that is, the simultaneous operation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The body simultaneously receives opposite reactions, for example, an increase in heart rate (sympathetic) and a slowdown (parasympathetic). At the same time, the sympathetic system is still somewhat dominant. What causes the phenomena:

• hyperreactivity;
• anxiety;
• salivation and so on.

Features of the behavior of a highly anxious person

The person himself is not always aware of the problem, and it is difficult to notice anxiety from the outside. Especially if it disguises itself, compensation occurs or a defense mechanism turns on. However, we can name several characteristic differences of an anxious person:

1. Excessively emotional reactions to failures.
2. Decreased performance in stressful situations or under tight deadlines.
3. Fear of failure prevailing over the desire for success.
4. A situation of success serves as an incentive and motivation for activity, a situation of failure “kills”.
5. The perception of the entire surrounding world or many objects as dangerous, although subjectively this is not so.

Low-anxious individuals have the opposite characteristics. For example, situations of failure serve as a greater motivator for them than success. However, low anxiety is the other side of the coin; it is also dangerous for the individual.

More obvious reactions of the body are somatic signs. With a high level of anxiety the following are noted:

• skin abnormalities (itching, rash);
• changes in the functioning of the cardiovascular system (hypertension, tachycardia);
• respiratory dysfunction (shortness of breath, asphyxia);
• dyspeptic disorders (diarrhea, heartburn, flatulence, constipation, dry mouth);
• genital-urinary reactions (cycle disorders in women, impotence in men, frequent urination, pain);
• vasomotor phenomena (sweating);
• problems of the musculoskeletal system (pain, loss of coordination, stiffness).

An anxious person is prone to professional and emotional burnout, a more pronounced awareness of traumatic factors and dangers (for example, the profession of a surgeon); not satisfied with oneself, life, profession; feels hopeless, “cornered”, “caged”; depressed

Causes of anxiety

Anxiety often begins in childhood. Possible factors provoking this phenomenon include:

• inconsistency of the positions of parents, parents and teachers, management at work, one’s own attitudes and actions (the result in each case is intrapersonal conflict);
• inflated expectations (setting the bar too high for oneself or excessively demanding parents, for example, the popular “study excellently”);
• situations of dependence and humiliation (“If you tell me who broke the window, then I will forgive you for missing school and won’t tell my parents anything”);
• deprivation, failure to meet current needs;
• awareness of the discrepancy between opportunities and abilities;
• social, financial or professional instability, instability.

Types of anxiety

Each body reacts differently to constant anxiety. Based on this, several types of anxiety can be distinguished:

1. Conscious uncontrollable. Disorganizes a person's life.
2. Conscious, controlled and compensated. Serves as an incentive to perform activities. But often this only works in familiar situations.
3. Conscious cultivated anxiety. A person takes advantage of his position and seeks benefits, often talking about manipulation.
4. Unconscious hidden. Ignored or denied by the individual, it can be manifested by individual motor actions (for example, curling hair).
5. Unconscious compensatory-protective. A person tries to convince himself that everything is fine. "I'm fine! I do not need help!"
6. Avoiding situations of anxiety. If anxiety is all-encompassing, then often such withdrawal is immersion in a virtual network or addictions, subcultures, that is, withdrawal from reality.

School anxiety, ways to deal with childhood anxiety

School anxiety is common during basic education. It may occur against the background of:

• incorrectly designed or decorated educational environment (rooms, zones, objects);
• dysfunctional relationships with classmates, teachers or other participants in the educational process;
• heavy workload within the educational program, high requirements, frequent exams, rating-point system;
• arising from the previous factor of lack of energy and time;
• incorrect behavior of parents (destructive parenting style, high or low expectations and demands);
• school changes.

In adolescence (middle and high school age), failures in social interactions (peers, teachers, parents) come to the fore. Children of primary school age have problems in educational activities.

Correction of anxiety (both school and situational and personal) in children involves several directions:

1. Parent education. The goal of the work is to improve their psychological and pedagogical literacy. It is important to understand the role of the influence of parenting style on anxiety, which refers to the nature of demands and expectations. Secondly, parents need to understand the influence of their emotional state on the child’s emotions. The third component is the parents' faith in the child.
2. Education and, if necessary, correction of the teacher’s behavior (the same is true for parents during home schooling). It is necessary to avoid public punishments, not to focus on mistakes as something terrible (one learns from mistakes, they are useful and necessary). As in the first point, do not convey your anxiety, do not “pour” garbage and problems onto the child. Interact with parents. Conduct reflection on actions.
3. Working with the children themselves. Creating situations of success, working through mistakes and situations, discussing exciting topics.

Diagnosis of anxiety

1. For diagnosing adults, I would like to recommend the Spielberger questionnaire. The technique, in my opinion, allows us to understand the nature of anxiety as accurately as possible. You answer 40 judgments (“yes” or “no”, how true it is for you), and as a result you get a clearly measured level of personal and situational anxiety. At a high level, it is recommended to work on increasing confidence in one’s own success; at a low level, it is recommended to work on activity and motivation.
2. School anxiety can be assessed using the Phillips Questionnaire. This is an extensive diagnosis that identifies factors (causes) of anxiety, which is very important for further work. The child responds to the statements of the method (how true they are in relation to him), then the results are interpreted according to the “key”. The technique allows us to determine general anxiety, the experience of social stress at the moment, worries about an unmet need for success, fear of self-expression, fear of knowledge testing situations, fear of not meeting the expectations of others, low level of physical ability to withstand stress, problems in relationships with the teacher.

Anxiety correction

In the fight against anxiety, it is important to take into account its nature (disorganizer or motivator), causes and type. At the same time, the characteristics of the individual and the capabilities of his environment play an important role.

Dealing with anxiety on your own is difficult. Even when a specialist works with a client, a wall of resistance and psychological barriers often arise. Even if the client wants to get rid of anxiety, he still often resists. The desire to help is perceived as an attack on security and the comfort zone, which, despite the name, means “familiar zone.” In this case, familiar does not mean comfortable.

Anxiety is closely related to shyness and withdrawal. Usually the latter arise against the background of the first phenomenon. However, the opposite also happens.

Thus, to reduce the level of anxiety, you need to work on self-confidence, the formation of adequate self-esteem, and getting rid of shyness. If you, dear reader, are forced to struggle with anxiety yourself, here are some general tips for you:

1. Don't worry about what didn't happen.
2. Cultivate in yourself an orientation toward compromise, cooperation, and mutual assistance.
3. Take care of your psychophysical state. For example, make it a rule to do morning exercises, not stay late at work, learn to say “no” or, on the contrary, help.
4. Love yourself. Don't be afraid to create comfortable conditions for yourself.
5. Improve your communication skills, learn how to communicate and how to resolve conflicts.
6. Learn self-regulation. A trivial example is to count to yourself to 10.
7. Never isolate yourself.
8. Find an outlet. Every person and even animal should have their own place of safety and pleasure. You need to know that no matter what you have this place (hobby, people). And even if everything “collapses” around you, there you will find peace and support.
9. Understand what your anxiety consists of. Usually this is a complex of emotions, among which fear is a constant component. Variants such as “fear, shame and guilt” or “fear, guilt and anger” may appear.

Please remember the main principle of anxiety. The more you worry, the more the quality of your activities suffers. This leads to even more anxiety. Yes, it's a vicious circle. It literally needs to be torn apart.

As part of the psychological correction of anxiety, self-regulation plays an important role. The following methods are effective:

• switching (“it will be tomorrow, but today I won’t think about it and read this book”);
• distraction (detachment from a disturbing factor through willpower);
• decrease in significance (“This is just a report. Yes, it is public, but I am confident in my abilities, I can explain every phrase and figure. This is just a story about the work done. The same as there have already been many on paper”);
• thinking through plan B (you cannot deviate from the goal, as they say, “there are 33 letters in the alphabet, which means you have 33 plans”);
• making additional inquiries (you were given an unfamiliar address - find it on the map, look at street visualizations, find landmarks);
• physical warm-up (sport relieves stress and fatigue, relaxes the brain, increases its activity, promotes the development of new ideas and fresh views on the situation);
• temporary deferment of the goal with modernization of the plan for achieving it, that is, the inclusion of new stages (for example, taking advanced training courses);
• replaying previous situations of success and self-pride or simply positive pleasant moments.

Well, and finally one more thing. Look at anxiety as a pointless waste of time, energy and imagination. If you want to invent, write, draw, compose. Or come up with a new activity for yourself.

Try to write down on a sheet of anxiety that you experienced at least six months ago. You probably won't remember. Or write down your current worries and read them a month later. Most likely, none of them will come true, and then you will understand that your thoughts were in vain.

There is no point in worrying, you need to solve problems or change your attitude. If your tooth hurts, treat it, remove it; if it’s snowing, put on warm shoes.

Results

Anxiety determines individual behavior. The most dangerous consequence is the phenomenon of learned helplessness. That is, a person’s clear conviction of his own inadequacy (“I won’t succeed, and there’s no point in trying,” “I won’t be able to become an announcer, because I can’t even read well”). Personal and professional life suffers from this; a person cannot fully enter society and establish an independent life.

They strive to put their lives in someone else's hands and go with the flow. Often such people live with their parents or find someone for “symbiosis”. It’s even worse when they take the role of a victim and tolerate a tyrant next to them, for example, in the form of a spouse. Neuroses often also develop against a background of anxiety.

The main weapon in the fight against anxiety is self-awareness, that is, self-concept. This is a person's idea of ​​himself. Thus, to get rid of anxiety you need to work on yourself. Self-concept includes cognitive, evaluative and behavioral components. You need to work on everything that has an element of “itself”:

• self-esteem,
• self-confidence,
• self-control
• self-regulation,
• self-leadership,
• self-acceptance,
• self-criticism,
• self-worth.

Thus, we are talking about personal growth and finding the meaning of life, identifying oneself and one’s place in society.

An uncertain and undecided person is more susceptible to anxiety. And she, in turn, destroys the “self” even more. To get rid of anxiety you need to live, not exist. Be a unique person with clear beliefs, plans, guidelines. Thus, you need to work on your worldview, write down your life plans (for a month, a year, five years, ten). Don’t think about whether it will work out or not, what will happen. Just act, being confident in your strengths and capabilities (of course, plans and goals must be realistic). Difficulties will always arise; there is no perfect moment. But by appealing to your strengths, all barriers can be overcome.

Thank you for attention! Good luck. I believe in you!