Mental health has always been a taboo topic in India, but celebrities opening up about their personal struggles changed things. Whether it was Deepika Padukone publically speaking about her depression or Alia Bhatt’s sister, Shaheen, writing an entire book about it–it sparked a conversation about mental illnesses with the masses. Now that the topic has become more normalised, people are likely to share their struggles with loved ones and seek help.
The internet has always felt like a safe space for people to talk about mental illnesses. The latest viral trend to take Twitter by storm is a hashtag called #WhatAnxietyFeelsLike, which aims to raise awareness about clinical anxiety. According to the World Economic Forum, anxiety is the world biggest mental health problem, and an estimated 275 million people suffer from anxiety disorders. That’s 4% of the world’s total population!
Also Read: 7 Things You Didn’t Realise Your Anxiety Was Making You Do
#WhatAnxietyFeelsLike
So, with #WhatAnxietyFeelsLike, people are listing out symptoms of their anxiety disorder. It’s quite eye-opening to note how anxiety can look different for different people. Here’s what people are sharing:
Nausea is a common one
Nauseous
Overwhelmed
Shaky
Even shakier
Lead in my chest
Hunted
Insomnia
Unable to breathe
Urge to hide— Bad Pacifist 🇺🇸🌊☮️❤️🏳️🌈 (@BadPacifist) January 29, 2020
It’s hard to focus
#AnxietyFeelsLike my mind going nonstop and not letting me concentrate, makes listening very hard. Making logical decisions becomes impossible around other people. I get conscious about my body movements and it gets hard to even control my facial expressions.
— Luke DeMint (@askyduke) January 30, 2020
It’s okay to cry
– difficulty to breathe, like I breathe too fast that I feel the air isn't enough
– sweaty palms
– stressing about being left out or alone and life in general
– i start to cry unconsciously, non-stop :/
– shakiness, lots of
– i feel like I'm about to throw up— dea; lés traduceurs (@_lawther) January 30, 2020
Overthinking is the devil
#AnxietyFeelsLike Being paralyzed by the simplest tasks and that makes you sick and want to give up and not try. Then you overthink the situation and get even more defeated.
— xLooneyx~DHAnaheim (@xLooneyx_) January 30, 2020
That sinking feeling
#AnxietyFeelsLike a dark and Heavy burden which comes over you like a nebular in the night. You get blind for everything and you start to collapse under it’s pressure. You try to prevent every mistake, but you’re causing the mistakes, you tried to prevent. Feels like drowning…
— 𝐙𝓞𝐭𝑒 (@der_Zote) January 30, 2020
Loneliness is a silent killer
• dizziness
•shaky
• too overwhelmed
• always overthinking
• what ifs
• feeling like dying
• crying
•worrying about everything
•big dealing everything
• seems happy with friends but deep inside feels lonely
• weird things happen in stomach— Renemise⁷ (@ashpcyhe) January 30, 2020
It’s okay to stay in bed
#AnxietyFeelsLike not wanting to get up
-just suddenly being really antisocial
-nothing can make me happy— Loga (@kate_bopape) January 30, 2020
The hopelessness is very real
#AnxietyFeelsLike the fear, regret, guilt, sadness, worry, lack of interest, hopelessness, loneliness, overthinking, and throbbing pain behind my eyes that I’m experiencing at this moment, and it’s broad daylight, so the darkness brings nightmares, runaway thoughts, more sadness.
— MARLA 🦮🐕🐈 (@MarlaWeezie) January 31, 2020
So many people say it feels like a heart attack!
Anxiety feels like suffering a heart attack. Worrying about to die leaving back my little 6 year old princess in a Jehovah's Witness surroundment. F*** anxiety!!!
— Mary Miller (@MaryMller19) January 30, 2020
Looming dream
A sinking sensation
The feeling of doom over your head
Unmitigated terror— AskAnEldritch (@AskEldritch) January 30, 2020
If you also suffer from anxiety, we hope this will give you the strength to seek help. If you’re already seeking treatment for anxiety, please share your own experience of #WhatAnxietyFeelsLike–it might just help someone reach out to their loved ones.
If you are suffering from a mental illness or experiencing suicidal thoughts, we urge you to seek help from an expert. Call these all-India helplines:
Connecting India
18002094353 (12 pm to 8 pm daily)
Vandrevala Foundation
1860-266-2345, 1800-233-3330 (24×7)
Featured Image: Twitter
