-
I Have Anxiety When I Walk
Approximately 40 million American adults’ ages 18 years and older or almost 20% of people in this age group, in a given year, have an anxiety disorder. Fear and anxiety are also among the most common mental conditions with people who have physical disabilities. If you fit into this category please don’t feel bad or disappointed. If you care for someone with physical limitations I am hoping to lend some needed insight into a very serious mental condition while sharing educational training and every day practical experience.
One of the ways to treat people with anxiety is by exposure therapy. Slowly a professional introduces the object or the place that causes the anxiety and then confronts the fear and talks through the anxiety. Hopefully, over time, this will lesson or completely eliminate the anxiety. Exposure therapy works best when the fear is irrational. Irrational fears are fears that are not based on reason. They are things or places such as spiders or elevators, for example, which make people scared. Society at large decides what is rational and irrational.
In most cases I think that society ought to set guidelines for what is reasonable. However, society is made up of a high percentage of able bodied people. So the majority of people have not experientially known what it is like to have a physical limitation.
I have talked with many people who feel misunderstood because they have anxiety (some have been diagnosed with anxiety disorders), simply because they have anxiety performing tasks. You see, I also have felt anxious walking when the floor becomes damp and slippery. The floor is not always safe. Another example is when I must concentrate to successfully carry something across the room. To an “able bodied” person these tasks, or the fact that rain makes floors slippery, could seem irrational. But in my life it is a very real fear because I could fall. So even though it may sound like an anxiety disorder, in actuality it is a part of my “normal” life. I have been told to believe that I won’t fall and to have more confidence which works a little bit. However, it does not keep me from falling. What works best for me is to walk in controlled environments. And when I walk in a controlled environment I like to take someone with me who can help if I need it. Please remember the best way to assess a true anxiety disorder is to connect with a professional who is willing to listen and process the better way to handle your particular situation.
