Would it help to calm your mind to know that many anxious thoughts are common and shared by many people? Seeing the situation this way is helpful because it shows that you are not alone. In fact, almost 40 million peoples deal with anxiety disorders in USA, making it the country with the most cases , according to the World Health Organization ( WHO ).
There is another factor that demonstrates the importance of understanding these types of thoughts. It is the case of discovering strategies used by other people, such as professionals, to overcome these feelings and have greater control over your mind. After all, they can harm your mental and physical health.
For this reason, we have prepared this article to explain what anxious thoughts are, which are the most common ones and when to seek help to deal with them. Keep reading and find out more.
What are anxious thoughts?
This concept consists of the manifestation of anxiety through thoughts, such as having negative feelings about something that has not yet happened. For example, do you know when you book a trip and start thinking of thousands of ways it could go wrong, even though everything seems to be under control?
Here is a case of anxious thinking. This unfounded feeling that things will not go well makes it difficult to enjoy the present moment and can harm your physical and mental health. However, if you do not deal with this type of reflection, it will be easier to control anxiety and calm your mind.
In other words, it is as if the individual has more positive perceptions about life. After all, he feels that he has control of the situation, in case something goes wrong. Furthermore, the possibility of negative events occurring seems very remote.
What are the most common anxious thoughts?
As we explained at the beginning of our conversation, identifying the most common anxious thoughts is important to know that other people go through the same thing and learn how to overcome such thoughts. It also helps you find out if you deal with this problem. Check it out below.
Guilt
Imagine meeting someone and, even though the interaction goes well, you end up feeling like you should have said less, been nicer, or otherwise criticized yourself. Anxious thoughts like these involve feeling guilty about not having performed as well as you would have liked .
Those who tend to feel this way are perfectionists, who have difficulty tolerating their own flaws. So, the feeling that they could have done things differently or better disturbs the individual’s mind and can literally keep them awake at night .
Often, this judgment comes from small actions, which may go unnoticed or be neglected by other people. However, those who have anxious thoughts do not see it that way, and any small mistake or possibility of it can become something catastrophic .
Fear of making mistakes
Similar to guilt, having thoughts related to the fear of making mistakes creates several scenarios in your mind in which something is out of control. For example, when you imagine speaking in public, you may think about forgetting your entire prepared speech, someone asking a difficult question, etc.
The levels of thought vary and can even involve absurd situations, such as lightning striking you during a presentation. This feeling is similar to the perfectionism of those who feel guilty about their actions.
That is, the possibility of making a mistake, no matter what, becomes so palpable that the mind starts to process it several times in an attempt to avoid any setback. The problem is that this tends to affect your emotional and physical well-being. Furthermore, it contributes to people giving up on plans, precisely because they are afraid that something will not go well.
It turns out that mistakes are natural and, sometimes, inevitable . So, seeing them as the biggest failure of your life takes away the lightness, can hinder your interpersonal relationships and bring other unpleasant consequences.
Selective filter
By thinking this way, the anxious person’s mind filters out only the possibilities of negative events. For example, if you are about to go out with someone for the first time, the possibility of falling, being disappointed, saying the wrong thing, etc., crosses your mind.
However, when you have a romantic encounter, you can also have a few fun hours and meet someone nice. In other words, it’s as if the chance is 50% for an optimistic scenario and 50% for a pessimistic one .
So, what’s the point of focusing only on the negatives? Adopting this attitude is not healthy, because the more often this type of view occurs, the more you tend to become a negative person.
Difficulty understanding the reality of others
Anxious people tend to focus their thoughts on themselves, trying to control situations. As a result, they have difficulty understanding the reality of others, which affects social and even professional relationships. After all, it is as if the individual is constantly on the defensive.
For example, imagine that you suffer in a specific situation after imagining the worst-case scenarios about it. Then, it is natural to experience fatigue and stress .
However, someone else may experience the same symptoms or even other negative ones. Still, anxious people see problems in such a larger scale that they have difficulty understanding other people’s problems .
When to seek professional help?
As seen, there are anxious thoughts such as guilt, excessive self-criticism, fear of making mistakes, excessive filtering, difficulty understanding the reality of others, etc. If you identify with and deal with any of these frequently, it is possible that you have an anxiety disorder.
In this context, it is recommended to seek professional help to confirm the diagnosis and begin the best treatment to alleviate this condition. This is the case of therapy sessions with a psychologist, which are useful for helping the patient change focus, imagine positive scenarios and seek out hobbies that distract their mind.
In other situations, when the level of anxiety is more intense, the patient may be referred to a psychiatrist. This professional is able to prescribe medication if necessary.
So, have you been able to identify the most common anxious thoughts and when to seek professional help to deal with them? It is important to take this precaution because anxiety can harm your quality of life, social relationships and physical health. Therefore, it needs to be treated.