Have you've been anxious most of your entire adult life?

Not just adult life....Since about fourth grade...And that was a looong time ago!

No

Just the last 2.5 years

I have suffered from anxiety for most of my life, I always worried about everything, had too much fear about many things and my nature was usually pessimistic. I would never understand why I was like this, I couldn’t identify with anyone else in the family that felt like this…I went through therapy for years to find the answers I so desperately needed but it wasn’t enough. I was diagnosed with lung cancer 4 years ago and started going deeper into anxiety and depression, my fears were many and probably not so unique when it came to cancer but there was so much more. A number of years ago I started having nightmares and they were very real, not filled with irrational fears but real events that happened to me in my early years as a very young child … what I discovered was that my older brother was very abusive towards me, he started hurting me even when I was a little toddler, it got worse over time and there were incidents where he was a threat to my life. I don’t want to relate all the things that happened but it was devastating to have all these memories come pouring back to me, of course I had no idea what to do or where to go. I made a foolish decision to try and talk to him about it but he denied everything and went on to tell family members that I had mental issues and even tried to get my children involved. I have pulled back from trying anymore and now I’m going to try therapy again so I can move forward. I believe that all the repressed memories were affecting my whole life and though I have some insight to this I will have to continue to try and get back some of my good traits with help, a long story for a long life.

@frouke good for you, getting to the root of your anxiety and doing something about it! Repressed memories can and do cause anxiety which spills out on other areas of one’s life too.

Yes I have been for as long as I can remember. Traumatic life experiences, remembered or repressed, can cause that. In my case, at least I attribute these to them.

frouke, so sad. You stay in therapy and don’t run from these awful things that happened.
My daughter is late 30’s and has had anxiety disorder since a child. Has been in therapy most of her life. She was an infant when her father, let’s say, lost his mind, but we left him. I asked my neuro if one parent being on dangerous drugs like meth when a child is conceived could cause a mental illness in the child, and he said more likely if the parent has a psychiatric condition. That’s the only link we can make to her anxiety disorder as the father suffered from depression and was abused as a child.
I am thankful that at least now there is an awareness of these conditions and are addressed with less stigma. God bless you so much.

I didn’t realize until 5 years ago that anxiety and depression were actually illnesses not just descriptions of how one felt in a moment. We didn’t talk about feelings growing up. I now know I have had anxiety for years. Therapy is helping.

There’s a correlation between chronic pain and anxiety. Pain rings all the bells:
- family
- work/job
- friends/community
- leisure activities
Suddenly, you’re not able to take part in everyday life. Anxiety is an appropriate response to life changes. Too little has been said—I hope we all can take a deep dive into anxiety- what it is, how to deal with it- etc., in the near time. Archie2

I became aware of anxiety in college. My early 30's were the worst time of my life as far as anxiety and frequency of panic attacks. I'm in my 60's now and anxiety is a part of most days.