What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a word we use to describe feelings of worry, fear and panic. As well as these emotional feelings, people with anxiety might also experience physical (body) sensations such as a racing heart, breathing fast, sweaty hands, dry mouth and feeling shaky. Many people also have “what if” or negative thoughts when they are anxious.

Anxiety is a normal human response to feeling threatened or in danger, this can sometimes be a thought, image or memory. Anxiety can become a real problem if these feelings are very strong, happen even when there is no real danger or if it lasts for a long time. Lots of people experience worry and anxiety although for some people it can impact on everyday life and get in the way of school/college, socialising and even home life.

Some young people living with anxiety share their story in the video below 

Common types of anxiety include:

• Worries about what other people think of you or worries about being judged negatively and not feeling good enough
• Worries about bad things happening to you or the people you love and care about
• Uncontrollable constant worry about lots of things (like school, the future, health, world events)
• Worries about your safety and health (including worries about germs and contamination)
• Phobias (big fears) about specific things
• Worries that you are responsible for bad things happening
• Feeling the need to complete certain routines, rituals or behaviour to stop bad things from happening (commonly known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder)