The following signs or symptoms are indications of anxiety.

• Increasing worrying about common problems.
• Unwilling/scared to go out and socialise.
• Difficulties getting to sleep.
• Unable to complete tasks.
• Avoiding everyday things, eg public transport, going to shopping centres.
• Increased use of alcohol/drugs.
• Increased irritability and sensitivity to criticism.
• Panic, difficulties breathing etc.

Feeling stressed about things is normal. It’s when the feelings overwhelm you and don’t go away that you need to look after yourself.

What can you do?

You can talk with a friend or family member. If you are a Flinders Uni Student you can make an appointment to see a student counsellor (ring 08 8201 2118 Mon to Fri: 9am -5pm) or email us at health.counsel@flinders.edu.au. You can talk with your doctor.

Most of us worry and are afraid at some times in our lives. It is a natural protection against putting ourselves in unnecessarily dangerous or difficult situations without taking care. But sometimes or at some level our worry or our fear may not be reasonable and may be limiting our opportunities. Sometimes we can worry about worrying!

It can be useful then to get out of our heads as a first step. Let me explain what I mean. Most worriers, especially university students, have endless conversations and debates with themselves about their worries and whether the worries are rational or not. This can be very stressful.

Try these experiments

• Take two minutes when you are doing something simple and automatic like having a shower or making your breakfast (things you do every day without really thinking) and slow your movements down to less than half pace. Pretend you are moving slowly and smoothly against another form of gravity. Concentrate on each slow, smooth physical movement and try not to speed up or to move your body in a jerky kind of way. Be just like an athletic slowing down after the race. As you move your body slowly and smoothly, your brain will register that your circumstances don’t seem to be difficult or threatening and your brain will then reduce the levels of adrenalin and other hyping chemicals in your body. You are training your body and your mind to slow down, to reduce arousal and remembering how to relax. Slow down for two minutes twice a day.

• Choose a physical activity that can be done by most five year olds – digging a hole, watering plants, walking along the beach drawing a line behind you with a stick, riding a bike, walking on top of a low wall, standing on the edge of the water at the beach so the tide gradually sucks your feet down into the sand, playing ball with your dog. Feel the movement of your body during that activity, or maybe be interested in the colours, shapes, the light and shade attached to that activity or the sounds or the scents.

You are simplifying your sensory information input and letting yourself be in the present moment. Find a present moment every second day.

• Put aside a period of time for worrying – eg 30 minutes at 5.15 every evening. Make sure you worry with a pen and paper or a word document. List the things that are of concern then brainstorm solutions or record that a particular worry is possibly someone else’s problem. Move through the agenda items (worries) and close the meeting after exactly 30 minutes. Any agenda items (worries) that have not been addressed have to be carried over to the next meeting. A worry that comes into your mind outside of the official worrying period has to be put on the agenda for the next worry period. This is simply a way to control worries and to make your approach to worries more business like and more constructive. It’s more like planning than worrying.

• If you are too worried to go to the shops, go to a party, write an assignment or some other activity. Break the activity down into small steps eg Going to the shops:
• You might find it easiest to go to the shops with someone else first.
• The next time ask the other person to go to another part of the shop for a short period of time.
• The next time spend a bit more time on your own.
• Maybe the next time you go on your own but don’t go into the shop.
• Next time you might go into the shop and buy one or two things etc

This is called progressive desensitisation and is useful in many feared situations. Over time people gradually habituate to the situation and reduce their fear. They will never become comfortable in a situation if they avoid that situation.

• Test out the probability of things you fear. Eg “What is the likelihood that if you give a wrong answer in a tute and blush, everyone will hate you?” “What is the probability that if you talk to an attractive person before a lecture, they will immediately decide that you are a total sleeze?” The facts don’t generally back up what you fear. How many times have you felt very anxious before an event and then found that it worked out OK? How often have you discovered that your worrying and your fears are a waste of time? When was the last time you wasted time this way?