Should I join an Anxiety Support Group?
Problems are lonely things. It feels as if you are the only one who is sitting at home on a Friday night; the only one who can’t find a job, the only one can’t get all the housework done. Everyone else is out partying, working and sitting in homes with gleaming floors and polished furniture. Nobody else has that constant sick feeling of worry and fear that reaches into your stomach and turns your insides out. Nobody else lies awake at night tossing and turning because their mind doesn’t stop churning out doomsday scenarios.
Well, you may think that but it’s not so. Everybody has problems and a lot of them might be very similar to yours. It’s just that no-one likes admitting that they can’t cope. Life today is a lot more isolationist than it was in the past. Nowadays, we tend to live in our own little cocoons whereas in the past, Mum and Dad lived next door and Grandma lived across the road. Families were more intimate and communities were more interested in everyone’s well-being.
There are support groups for everything these days, even for those who can’t manage to get all their housework done. To a large extent, support groups have taken the place of the tea-time chats that we used to have with friends and family but just can’t find the time anymore. Some support groups meet to discuss their issues while others are anonymous, like those on the internet. The latter have the advantage of being available 24 hours a day so if you are in despair at 3.00 am, then it is likely that there is someone out there you can share your problems with.
Everyone feels lonely when they have a problem and this is so true for anxiety disorders and panic attacks. They are so debilitating because you often feel you are going mad. Why can’t you get yourself together? Everyone else can. But you see, not everyone else can and, in fact, there are millions in the same situation. Doesn’t just knowing that give you some comfort? They may have some ideas that you haven’t thought of. They may have experience of therapies that you don’t know if you should try.
You are not the only one sitting at home losing heart. You are not the only one only just getting by in the world by the skin of your teeth; hoping no-one notices your knees shaking. By sharing your problems and experiences, you begin to take control of your condition. It is the first step – asking for help. It is the biggest step – admitting that you have a problem. No-one in a support group will put you down or think less of you because they are, or were, in the same situation. Your peers will listen with open minds, no matter how awful you think you sound.
Should you join an anxiety support group? Oh, yes. Ask your doctor or health care provider or look up some groups on the internet. You can read what others are saying before you join so it’s easy to find one that suits you best.
