When she said perfectionism is a form of avoiding anxiety..... I had never heard that before and that spoke to me
For me, one of the biggest things that has stunted my mental health growth was actually being an information junky on mental health. That has been my avoidance tactic. I will learn new thing after new thing about how to handle anxiety but instead of using them I will move on to the next video on YouTube teaching me something yet again new to handle anxiety. Once I actually realize this it actually helped me to figure out how to slow down and realize that I actually already have the tools that I need to handle this. Great video
This content is what YouTube was made for. ❤❤
This is amazing. During these last few months of school, I would constantly find myself dissociating during class. My anxiety manifested as nausea, as an emetophobe, I would start panicking. Due to constant panic attacks at school, I ended up switching to online classes; I spent almost half of my last year of high school in my room, since my friends had to go to school and wake up early, I would rarely go out and when I did go out on the weekends, I sometimes got panic attacks. Then summer came and my friends all left town and went on vacation so I spent at least 3 weeks alone in my room with nothing more than my phone and laptop; my anxiety had never been worse, I started stressing over everything, even sleep so when I tried to go to bed, as I was falling asleep, I would suddenly wake up with nausea and an overwhelming amount of fear. Two weeks later, I was stressing over a family vacation because all these thoughts invaded my head "What if I throw up? What if I faint? I mean, that has never happened before but it could.. I've felt so anxious that I feel nauseous and like i'm going to faint so it definitely could" One week later, we leave for the vacation and none of the things I was worried about happened, in fact, I had an amazing time and I met wonderful people. During the trip, I barely used my phone. I come back home and my anxiety is back. I just turned 18 in July and sometimes it feels like my life is already over before it even started because I can't go out without worrying about nothing, I missed over half of my last year of high school which used to be the place that I loved the most, I can't work, I can't make many friends because I'm scared.. Anxiety has ruined me. Now, I know this comment is really long but I just want to say how wonderful this channel is, I usually never comment on youtube videos but knowing that there's someone out there who understands what I'm going through and hearing it word by word exactly the way I've been experiencing it, makes me feel at ease and like there's still hope, like I don't have to live like this forever, like there's a solution to it and like i can actually get better and I do, I do want to get better and I hope everyone who has to deal with anxiety can get better. Peace.
Vigorous exercise is a GREAT way to stop fearing the anxiety. I joined athletic group sessions in the gym, and essentially it is the same andrenaline that you get from exercise as from anxiety, and when you do it again and again and it feels good and positive, next time you experience anxiety, your body is very familiar with that, and you feel like it's the same positive thing happening to your body. You might even feel brave rather than anxious. However, it is not helping the thinking part of the brain, nor does it help calm the fight-or-flght response. So you still need to solve the root problem. It's just that you wouldn't have anxiety of anxiety anymore
I agree. Avoidance is the cause of so many of my problems. But I keep doing it. I get into trouble with people all the time bc of this. But the thing is, I can stop avoiding but I don't because I can't, I'm unwilling, I'm lazy, I feel dread whenever I think of it, I sit in front of the computer pleading with myself to do the work, I bang my head against the table top, pomodoro, breaking the task into small pcs, and ..... everything else. I'm torn between self-loathing and self-compassion.
this made me realize that I avoid anxiety by trying to finish tasks as soon as possible, because I don't want to feel anxious about wether I can do them or not
Anxiety and depression is rampant in our society largely because of how inequitable it has become. So many people are just overwhelmed with trying to afford housing, healthcare, and the rest. So much "mental illness" is rooted in this.
Thank you! You may be an "influencer", but you are one of the rare POSITIVE influencers.
this adds a good explanation to why young people have so much anxiety. the younger generations are able to do so much more of this avoidance than older generations. and yes the world is safer than it was, but all danger shows up on our phones 24/7. you basically just clarified all my theories … and it’s going to get worse and worse as we do less physical tasks related to our survival
Thank you for breaking things into simple to understand, actionable steps. So grateful ❤
I’m hugely struggling with anxiety atm and have to wait almost a year to see a therapist… These videos have been so helpful, if anything a reminder that I won’t always feel this way. Thank you 🙏
I’ve dealt with on and off panic and anxiety disorder ever since going through a bad earthquake in college. It triggered awful panic attacks and now 28 years later it’ll creep up on me every now and then after periods of really doing well! Your videos have been totally a game-changer for me. I prayed tonight that the Lord would help me get the victory then I found you. Thank you for taking the time, energy and care to go into such detail. I was in the middle of another really bad day and just watching this video and understanding the WHY behind the anxiety has brought calm (along with a few of the great techniques I have now learned). THANK YOU SO SO MUCH 😭😭
Psilocybin saved my life. I was addicted to heroin for 15 years and after Psilocybin treatment I will be 3 years clean in September. I have zero cravings. This is something that truly needs to be more broadly used in addiction treatment.
I've been so anxious, I can't even scroll on my phone. I'm thankful i taught the kids to deal with things through facing/talking about them instead of shoving a screen in their faces. I feel for so many of the kids today who have screens shoved in their faces.
15:36 from this point on, I’m not sure why but tears started to come out of me non stop! I think these parts spoke deeply to me more than anything I’ve heard anywhere else. I’ve realized that I’ve been suffering with anxiety since I was a child, but that simple solution to sit, feel these feelings and then take action to deal with them, felt like a hug from someone I dont even know. Thank you Emma for these videos. I’ve been watching them and learning a LOT!
Just found your channel. I’m a therapist too and looking for new tools and different language. I just wanna say you have such a GREAT way you explain our human operating processes in such a usable way. I just love all your work on here. I’ll be sending videos to my clients for sure, as reinforcements and clear instructions they can keep and use. So goooood!
Thank you very much for your videos. I have learned a lot from them. I am going through the ”How to process emotions”-series. My new motto is ”Kan man lära hjärnan att må dåligt kan man lära den att må bra också” - ”If you can teach the brain to feel bad, you can teach it to feel well too”. Greetings from Sweden🙂
Hi I love listening to you. I have anxiety and depression so thank you for all you do. Today I didn't want to go vote by myself because of anxiety but I went anyways. I'm proud of myself for not listening to my anxiety and voting anyways.
@TherapyinaNutshell