One of the most isolating and irritating aspects of having irrational thoughts caused by anxiety is feeling like I have to keep it all to myself. It's rare that I can express an irrational fear out loud without someone over-explaining to me how much that particular thought doesn't make sense or even worse when someone gets up on their high horse and berates me for "not being confident enough". Having anxiety isn't about low self confidence(although at times it can be). Having someone smirk and smugly proclaim how "sure of themselves they're at all times" is not only unnecessary and pompous but it's just making the whole thing about them. When someone confides a personal anxiety in you, your first reaction shouldn't be to laugh and start ranting about how much more "well adjusted" YOU are. It's important to validate THEIR fears by acknowledging that it still affects them no matter how irrational it is and that you are there for them in that moment. Most people aren't asking for their anxiety to be "fixed" when they express those thoughts out loud... I think that most people just need to be heard. Sometimes it's better just to say the thought out loud to release it's power from inside your mind.

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#Anxiety  #IntrusiveThoughts   #phobias   #invalidation #Isolation #SensoryProcessingDisorder #wanttodie