70 Interviews With People Struggling With Anxiety

We have interviewed 70 people who have struggled with anxiety. These stories are full of tips on how to overcome anxiety.

Most recent stories of people struggling with anxiety

How Therapy and Self-Care Helped Me Navigate Autism, Alcoholism, and Caregiver Stress

How Therapy and Self-Care Helped Me Navigate Autism, Alcoholism, and Caregiver Stress

January 18, 2024
Helped by: Medication, Mindfulness, Self-Care, Social support, Therapy
Overcoming Trauma and Depression With Therapy, Journaling and Self-Care

Overcoming Trauma and Depression With Therapy, Journaling and Self-Care

January 9, 2024
Helped by: Journaling, Medication, Self-Care, Self-improvement, Social support, Therapy
How an ADHD Diagnosis Helped Me Understand My Life and Turn It Around With Therapy

How an ADHD Diagnosis Helped Me Understand My Life and Turn It Around With Therapy

January 4, 2024
Helped by: Journaling, Medication, Self-improvement, Social support, Therapy

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Are you struggling with anxiety?

I’ve interviewed 70 people struggling with anxiety, and here are the top 5 most mentioned tips that helped these people overcome anxiety:

  1. Therapy (45 people helped)
  2. Self-improvement (31 people helped)
  3. Self-Care (25 people helped)
  4. Social support (25 people helped)
  5. Medication (21 people helped)

In our many years of publishing helpful mental health content, we always received questions from our readers about specific situations. While we have a lot of helpful tips to share on how to be happier, we simply can’t offer advice for every situation.

That’s why I’ve set out to interview folks with every type of mental health struggle. My job as an interviewer is to categorize these interviews and present them in a way that is most helpful to our readers.

Read all the case studies

Morgan McCarthy Featured Image

Case studies

How Cerebral Palsy Impacts My Mental Health And How I Find Happiness Nonethelss

“At my worst, I would hurt myself so I had an escape and a release. There are points where I feel so out of control in my body that even breathing is a task. I hold my breath. In truth, I have night terrors about what my funeral would be like, who would show up? Would I be missed? Would people come out of the woodwork when I was gone? If I left this body here would I hurt less? I battle every single day with loss. Your mind begins to play tricks on you.”

Struggled with:
Anxiety
Cerebral palsy
Childhood
Depression
Suicidal

Helped by:
Exercise
Religion

Therapy

Richard Becker Featured Image

Case studies

Navigating a Lifelong Identity Crisis and Finally Finding Happiness in Myself

“I did not have an internal sense of self. It didn’t matter how much I accomplished or how many people I helped. I only measured positive outcomes by how others perceived and recognized me or my actions. The sooner we let go of labels, expectations, or the pain of past experiences, the sooner we will feel joy in our hearts.”

Struggled with:
Anxiety
Cancer
Childhood
Depression
Identity crisis

Helped by:
Reinventing yourself
Religion
Self-improvement

Claire E. Parsons Featured Image

Case studies

How I Navigated Perfectionism and Postpartum Depression With Therapy and Mindfulness

“The first challenge was for me to acknowledge my own difficulty and accept that it was a struggle at all. I was so lost in perfectionism that, at first, I didn’t accept that I was struggling. Over time, I more openly sought out help and support from loved ones and friends.”

Struggled with:
Anxiety
Postpartum depression
Stress

Helped by:
Medication
Meditation
Mindfulness
Therapy

Lacey Cottingham Featured Image

Case studies

My Story of Navigating Noise-Induced PTSD and Recovering With EMDR Therapy

“I realized the feeling of never being seen, never having someone at school ask or mention how not okay I was, and the sheer invisibility I felt had to be addressed. I went back for more EMDR and was able to resolve that pretty quickly as well. Because that was a more complex and subtle trauma, it took a few months longer, but definitely less than a year.”

Struggled with:
Anxiety
Panic attacks
PTSD

Helped by:

Therapy

Case studies

Navigating Depressive Episodes With Social Support, Therapy, and Perseverance

“When I got home, I was burnt out and severely depressed. I couldn’t get out of bed for a long time. My fiance took me for walks, helped me bathe, and brought me bland foods. With the help of my psychiatrist and therapist, I was able to get on a course of therapy and medication that finally helped to bring me out of my major depressive episode. I wasn’t truly fully functional again until some time in 2011.”

Struggled with:
Anxiety
Childhood
Depression
PTSD

Helped by:
Medication

Therapy

MaryAddison Yates Featured Image

Case studies

How the 12-Step Program and Therapy Helped Me Deal With Addiction, Depression & ADHD

“I met my future husband when I was 26 but I never felt truly connected to him. I felt just as invisible to him as I did to everyone else. When we decided we wanted to have children, by some miracle, I was able to abstain from drinking just before and during my pregnancy. I coped by being very controlling, a shopaholic, and a workaholic. The twins were born when I was 31 and postpartum depression led me back to the only solution I thought I had: drinking”

Struggled with:
Addiction
ADHD
Anxiety
Depression
Panic attacks
Suicidal

Helped by:
Rehab
Reinventing yourself
Self-Care

Therapy
Treatment

Stephanie Gilbert Featured Image

Case studies

How I Recovered From Anorexia and OCD With a Specialized Therapist

“Finding a therapist that I felt believed in my recovery completely shifted things for me. Which is why I became a therapist too. I felt like I wasn’t alone, that there was someone who understood and didn’t judge me for what I was going through. And she believed in me at times more than I believed in myself.”

Struggled with:
Anxiety
Eating disorder
OCD

Helped by:

Therapy