Anxiety

Anxiety: a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease about something with an uncertain outcome, per the Oxford dictionary. But why do we have it? You might be worried or anxious about going to an exam or having an interview for a school or job. Anxiety is, in fact, completely normal and everyone has probably experienced anxiety at some point or other. Anxiety is the main symptom of lots of different conditions like phobias, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) or social anxiety disorder (social phobia). Some celebrities with Social Anxiety Disorder are: Selena Gomez, Kendall Jenner, Ellie Goulding, Johnny Depp and so many more - it is the third most common mental health condition, affecting 5% to 10% of the world. But why is Social Anxiety Disorder so common? It’s because it stems from common life experiences, like taking a test. Trauma and other stressful events can also develop social anxiety problems like bullying, rejection or humiliation. There is a treatment to help mend Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT helps you learn different ways of thinking, behaving and reacting to situations to help you feel more confident and less scared in certain scenarios.

Another condition of anxiety is phobias. There are many different phobias, but the most common are Atychiphobia (fear of failure) and Arachnophobia (fear of spiders). Phobias are actually very common and, like Social Anxiety Disorder, many celebrities - along with many of us - have some sort of phobia. A couple famous examples are Justin Beiber’s phobia of the dentist, and Rita Ora’s phobia of toilets.

In conclusion, Anxiety can be caused by anything and is completely normal - it's okay not to be okay.