How to cope with anxiety | Olivia Remes | TEDxUHasselt

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Anxiety is one of most prevalent mental health disorders, with 1 out of 14 people around the world being likely affected. Leading up to conditions such as depression, increased risk for suicide, disability and requirement of high health services, very few people who often need treatment actually receive it. In her talk "How to cope with anxiety," Olivia Remes of the University of Cambridge will share her vision on anxiety and will unravel ways to treat and manage this health disorder. Arguing that treatments such as psychotherapy and medication exist and often result in poor outcome and high rates of relapses, she will emphasize the importance of harnessing strength in ourselves as we modify our problem-coping mechanisms. Olivia will stress that by allowing ourselves to believe that what happens in life is comprehensive, meaningful, and manageable, one can significantly improve their risk of developing anxiety disorders.

Imagine that you're getting ready
to go to a party.

You feel excited, but also nervous,

and you've got this feeling
in your stomach

almost like another heartbeat.

There's something holding you back,
holding you back from getting too happy.

"No, you mustn't get too happy.

Better to be cautious, otherwise,
something bad might happen."

You start wondering,
"Who should I talk to when I get there?

What if no one wants to talk to me?
What if they'll think I'm weird?"

When you arrive at the party,

someone comes up to you
and starts talking with you,

and as this is happening,

your mind starts racing,
your heart begins pounding,

you start sweating,

and it feels almost like
you're dissociating from yourself,

like it's an out-of-body experience,
and you're just watching yourself talk.

"Keep it together," you say
to yourself, but you can't.

And it's just getting worse:

after a few minutes of conversation,

the person
you've been speaking to leaves,

and you feel utterly defeated.

This has been happening to you
in social situations for a long time.

Or imagine every time you go out,
and you're in crowded places,

you feel this panic starting to arise.

When you're surrounded by lots of people,

like on a bus, you start
to feel hot, nauseous, uneasy,

and to prevent this from happening,

you start avoiding a lot of places
which makes you feel lonely and isolated.

You or the person
in both of these scenarios

have anxiety disorders,

and what I can tell you
is that anxiety is very common,

much more than people think.

Right now, one in 14 people
around the world

have an anxiety disorder,

and each year, it costs
over 42 billion dollars

to treat this mental health problem.

To show you the impact
that anxiety has on someone's life,

I will just mention

that anxiety can lead to depression,
school dropout, suicide.

It makes it harder to focus,
and to hold down a job,

and it can lead
to relationship breakdown.

But a lot of people don't know this,

that's why, a lot of times,
people sweep anxiety under the rug

as just nerves that you need
to get over, as a weakness,

but anxiety is so much more than that.

A reason why so many people
don't think it's important

is that they don't know what it is.

Is it your personality? Is it an illness?
Is it a normal sensation? What is?

That's why it's important
to differentiate

what is normal anxiety
from what is an anxiety disorder.

Normal anxiety is
an emotion that we all get

when we're in stressful situations.

For example, let's say,
you're out in the woods,

and you come face-to-face with a bear.

This will probably make you feel
a little bit anxious,

and you'll probably want
to start running like crazy.

This anxious feeling that you get is good
because it protects you, it saves you,

and it makes you
on a hightail it out of there,

although maybe it's not such a good idea
to start running when you see a bear.

I really don't think
you can outrun a bear.

Anxiety helps us meet
our deadlines at work

and deal with emergencies in life,

but when this anxiety emotion
is taken to the extreme

and arises in situations
which don't pose a real threat,

then that's when you might have
an anxiety disorder.

For example, people
with generalized anxiety disorder

worry excessively and constantly
about everything going on in their lives,

and they find it very difficult
to control this worry.

They also have symptoms
like restlessness, fear,

they find it hard to fall asleep at night,
and they can't concentrate on tasks.

In spite of whatever kind of anxiety
you might be suffering from,

there is something
that you can do to lower it.

It works, and it's simpler
than you may think.

All too often, we're given
medication for mental disorders,

but it doesn't always work
in the long run.

Symptoms often come back,
and you're back to where you started.

So here's something else to consider:

the way you cope or handle things
has a direct impact

on how much anxiety you're experiencing,

and if you tweak the way you're coping,
then you can lower your anxiety.

In our study
at the University of Cambridge,

we showed that women living in poor areas

have a higher risk for anxiety
than women living in richer areas.

These results didn't surprise us,
but when we looked closer,

we found that women living in poor areas,

if they had a particular set
of coping resources,

they didn't have anxiety,

while women living in poor areas
without these coping resources

had anxiety.

Other studies showed

that people who had faced
extreme circumstances,

who had faced adversity, been
through wars and natural disasters,

if they had coping resources,

they remained healthy
and free of mental disorders,

while others, facing the same hardships
but without coping skills

went on a downward spiral
and developed mental disorders.

So what are
some of these coping resources,

and how can we use them
to lower our anxiety?

And before I dive into what they are,

I'd like to point out -
and I think this is so interesting -

you can develop these coping resources
or coping skills on your own

through the things that you do;

you can take charge
of your anxiety and lower it,

which I think is so empowering.

Today I'll be talking about
three coping resources,

and the first one is feeling like
you're in control of your life.

People who feel like they're
more in control of their life

have better mental health.

If you feel like
you're lacking in control in life,

then research shows

that you should engage in experiences
that give you greater control.

I'll show you what I mean:

do you sometimes find that you put off
starting something

because you just don't feel ready enough?

Do you find it hard to make decisions

like what to wear, what to eat
who to date, which job to take up?

Do you tend to waste a lot of time

deciding what you might do
while nothing gets done?

A way to overcome indecision
and this lack of control in life,

is to do it badly.

There's a quote by writer
and poet GK Chesterton

that says, "Anything worth doing
is worth doing badly the first time."

The reason why this works so well

is that it speeds up your decision-making
and catapults you straight into action,

otherwise, you can spend hours

deciding how you should go
about doing something

or what you should do.

This can be paralyzing and can make
you afraid to even begin.

All too often, we aim for perfection,
but never end up doing anything

because the standards
that we set for ourselves

are too high, they're intimidating,

which stresses us out
so we delay starting something,

or we might even abandon
the whole thing altogether.

Do it badly frees you up to take action.

I mean you know how it is:

so often, we want to do
something perfectly we can't start

until it's the perfect time,
until we've got all the skills,

but this can be daunting and stressful

so why not just jump into it
just do it however,

without worrying if it's good or bad?

This will make it that much easier
to start something

and as you're doing it badly to finish it,

and when you look back,

you'll realize, more often than not,
that actually it's not that bad.

A close friend of mine who has anxiety

started using this motto,
and this is what she said,

"When I started using this motto,
my life transformed.

I found I could complete tasks
in much shorter time periods than before.

Do it badly gave me wings to take risks,
to try something differently,

and to have way more fun
during the whole process.

It took the anxiety out of everything
and replaced it with excitement."

So do it badly, and you can improve
as you go along.

I'd like to ask you to think about this:

if you start using this motto today,
how would your life change?

The second coping strategy
is to forgive yourself,

and this is very powerful if you use it.

People with anxiety think a lot about

what they're doing wrong, their worries,
and how bad they're feeling.

Imagine if you had a friend
who constantly pointed out

everything you're doing wrong,

and everything
that was wrong with your life.

You would probably want

to get rid of this person
right away, wouldn't you?

Well, people with anxiety
do this to themselves all day long.

They're not kind to themselves.

So maybe it's time to start
being kinder with ourselves,

time to start supporting ourselves,

and a way to do this
is to forgive yourself

for any mistakes you think

you might have made
just a few moments ago

to mistakes made in the past.

If you had a panic attack
and are embarrassed about it,

forgive yourself;

if you wanted to talk to someone,

but couldn't muster up
the courage to do so,

don't worry about it, let it go;

forgive yourself
for anything and everything

and this will give you
greater compassion towards yourself.

You can't begin to heal until you do this.

And last but not least,

having a purpose and meaning in life

is a very important coping mechanism.

Whatever we do in life,
whatever work we produce,

however much money we make,

we cannot be fully happy until we know
that someone else needs us,

that someone else depends on
our accomplishments,

or on the love that we have to share.

It's not that we need

other people's good words
to keep going in life,

but if we don't do something
with someone else in mind,

then we're at much higher risk
for poor mental health.

The famous neurologist
Dr. Victor Frankel said,

"For people who think
there's nothing to live for

and nothing more to expect from life,

the question is getting
these people to realize

that life is still expecting
something from them."

Doing something with someone else in mind
can carry you through the toughest times.

You'll know the why for your existence

and will be able to bear
almost any how; almost any how.

So the question is

do you do at least one thing
with someone else in mind?

This could be volunteering,

or it could be sharing this knowledge
that you gained today with other people,

especially those who need it most,

and these are often the people
who don't have money for therapy,

and they're usually the ones

with the highest rates
of anxiety disorders.

Give it to them, share with others,

because it can really improve
your mental health.

So I would like to conclude with this:

another way you can do something
with someone else in mind

is finishing work that might benefit
future generations.

Even if these people will never realize
what you've done for them,

it doesn't matter,

because you will know,
and this will make you realize

the uniqueness
and importance of your life.

Thank you.

(Applause)