Living With Anxiety

Abbie’s mom took her to see a counselor, who recommended Abbie visit a psychiatrist, a medical doctor whose specialty is mental health. Abbie now takes medication every morning to help treat her anxiety and has come up with many ways to cope. One strategy she uses is called a body scan, where she sits with her feet planted on the ground and concentrates on each part of her body by tensing it and then releasing it, starting with her feet and moving to her head. Doing this exercise redirects Abbie’s focus away from her thoughts and into her body and its physical sensations.

Abbie also gets relief from playing music. She’s taught herself how to play electric bass, ukulele, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and drums. She likes to play the drums to let out anger and acoustic guitar when she needs to wind down. She also started her school’s chapter of Active Minds, a national organization that teaches students about mental health through peer-to-peer education. “I wish Active Minds was around when I was first diagnosed to help me understand what I was facing and how to deal with it,” Abbie says. “It means a lot to be able to provide that education and sense of belonging and reassurance for other people.”

When Michael Feenster was a little kid, he always felt jittery and bothered for no apparent reason. “At first, I kept my unsettled feelings to myself,” he says. “I thought maybe I was just paranoid.”

Then, when he was 14, his grandmother became terminally ill, and that set off a constant feeling of depression and anxiety. Michael started having panic attacks, and he knew he needed help. As the youngest kid in a tight-knit family, he had a lot of people to turn to, but he went to his mom first. “I told her that I didn’t know what was wrong with me,” he says. Speaking up made everything better. “Once I said my thoughts out loud, they weren’t as bad,” he says. His mom made an appointment with a therapist, and while he was nervous about going, the alternative—staying “stuck”—was worse. 

“I told my therapist I thought I had paranoia,” Michael says. “But he explained that it was actually called anxiety—that feeling of it being hard to settle down.” His therapist worked with a nurse practitioner to find medicine to help Michael, which he now takes every morning and night. 

In addition to therapy and medication, Michael has learned deep breathing techniques he can use during anxious moments. He tunes in to his breath and shifts his focus back to the present, instead of letting his brain fast-forward to what-ifs and fears about the future. 

Michael also stays busy with many activities that help him manage his anxiety—he runs track, loves playing video games, and is especially passionate about photography. “I love the experience of exploring and seeing things through my camera,” he says. “When I focus on my pictures, it takes up so much of my attention that there’s no room for anxiety.” 

The more Michael talks to his therapists, friends, and family about his experiences, the less power the anxiety has over him. “I want people to know that a mental health issue is just like any other health issue,” he says. “There’s nothing wrong with it. The only problem is if you ignore it and don’t treat it.”