It's wonderful that Mind and Anxiety UK are there to help people with anxiety. The latter have dramatically helped me as it was through them that I received CBT, as well as utilise some of the tools that they provide. The former have helped me maintain my positivity following completion of CBT, again through tools but particularly with interaction from people who have shared similar experiences to me. I think both organisations are beginning to become more recognised to those who need it, although there is still work to be done of course. I'm sure there must still be many individuals who have anxiety or any other mental health problem who are either unsure where to turn or too scared to do so.
I'm confident that this is true because I was one of these people. I had all but given up hope a few years ago, but I was adamant through my pain that I needed to do something, and luckily, after much research and psyching myself up, took the step of contacting Anxiety UK. Eighteen months later, here we are.
To an extent, there has to be a level of acceptance that most people with an anxiety issue could start off in this way, uncertain about what to do or who to go to. I assume it is the same for other mental health issues.
But what about those people who don't even realise that what they have is anxiety? I can talk about this with relative confidence having known somebody who was in this situation. For no apparent reason, they once told me about these 'symptoms' they kept getting in stressful situations and how it was affecting their life, and how it had been doing so for a good couple of years. As the conversation unfolded, I was shocked to learn that they did not realise that they were actually having panic attacks and that it wasn't 'just something they had to put up with.'
But again, thinking on the spot, I remember in the dark days of high school when I used to have a panic attack probably about 5 nights a week on average, and the number of times I must have said to myself 'why does this have to happen to me?' Not infact realising that it didn't have to happen to me. Fortunately, I eventually realised, but there must be people out there going through years of misery without realising that they don't necessarily need to be, or at least, there are things they can be doing to manage whatever it is they are experiencing.
Is this something that can be rectified? How on earth do you target people if you don't know where they are? Is it a case of extreme exposure of the issue, perhaps via the form of more media coverage, whether it be TV, newspaper or the web? Obviously if you did this, whatever form the communication took it would have to spell out what anxiety is; just the word 'anxiety' wouldn't necessarily resonate with the experiences of an individual, unless, say, a list of 'symptoms' was included.
As the above paragraph suggests, unfortunately, I don't have any real answers about how all of this should be done.
You may also have a group of people, as touched on earlier, who perhaps do understand that they have anxiety but are too scared to do anything about it. This would require a different approach yet again.
Perhaps I'm being naive and idealistic to think that everyone should be able to have the help they need to tackle anxiety, or any mental health concern. Perhaps this is a call for the Government to help the likes of Mind and Anxiety UK put more resources into achieving this.
Surely everyone has the right to not let mental distress consume their lives?
Best wishes
Al
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