Anxiety Symptoms and Triggers

How to spot patterns, reduce flare-ups and know when to get support 

Feeling stressed before a deadline, a difficult conversation or a big life change is part of being human. In small doses, that stress response can even help you focus. However, when worry becomes constant, when your body reacts as if danger is always around the corner, or when you start shaping your life around avoiding discomfort, it can feel confusing and exhausting.

This guide is for adults in the UK who want practical clarity on what anxious feelings can look like, why symptoms sometimes seem to appear out of nowhere, and what tends to trigger them. It also addresses the ‘what now’ questions: how to spot your patterns, which triggers you can reduce, and when it makes sense to speak to a GP or use NHS talking therapies. Along the way, you will find relatable examples, because this topic is often easier to understand when it sounds like real life.

A quick note before we begin: many physical symptoms that happen during anxious periods can also have medical causes. Therefore, if you experience chest pain, fainting, severe shortness of breath, new neurological symptoms, or anything that concerns you physically, it is sensible to seek medical advice promptly. Equally, if you feel unsafe or at risk of harming yourself, urgent help is available.

Common Anxiety Symptoms in Adults

Anxious feelings are not only ‘in your head’. They can show up in the body, in thoughts and in daily habits. For many people, symptoms fluctuate. You might feel fine in the morning and overwhelmed by late afternoon, or you might have weeks where you cope well and then find that one small change tips you over.

In adults, common signs often fall into three overlapping categories. First, are physical stress-response signs, where your nervous system prepares you to deal with a threat – even when the ‘threat’ is a meeting invite, a bank balance or an unread message. Then there are emotional and cognitive signs, such as persistent worry, irritability or racing thoughts. Finally, there are behavioural signs like avoidance, procrastination or constant checking.

Often, people only notice one layer. For example, someone might focus on stomach cramps and miss the underlying worry cycle. Meanwhile, another person may label themselves as ‘overthinking’ but not notice they are living on caffeine and four hours of sleep. The most helpful starting point is to look across all three layers.

Common adult symptoms can include:

• Feeling on edge, keyed up or unable to relax.
• Worry that is hard to switch off, even when you know it is unhelpful.
• Difficulty concentrating, or a mind that goes blank under pressure.
• Irritability, impatience or feeling ‘snappy’ with people you care about.
• Sleep disruption, including trouble falling asleep or waking early.
• Muscle tension, headaches, jaw clenching, and aches that move around.
• Digestive changes such as nausea, loose stools, reflux or appetite swings.
• Avoiding tasks, people or places because they ‘feel too much’.
• Seeking reassurance repeatedly, often through checking, googling or asking others.

If you recognise some of these, it does not automatically mean you have an anxiety disorder. However, if the symptoms are frequent, distressing or limiting your life, support can help.

Physical Anxiety Symptoms 

Your body is designed to react fast. When it senses a threat, it releases stress hormones that increase alertness and mobilise energy. That is useful if you need to step out of the path of a car. However, it can feel alarming when the trigger is a thought, an email or a memory.

Physical symptoms that commonly appear during anxious periods include:

• A pounding or fluttering heartbeat.
• Tight chest or a ‘can’t get a full breath’ sensation.
• Shaking, trembling or feeling weak in the legs.
• Sweating, hot flushes or sudden chills.
• Dizziness, light-headedness or feeling unreal or spaced out.
• Nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhoea or ‘butterflies’.
• Dry mouth or a lump in the throat.
• Tingling, pins and needles or numbness in hands and face.
• Headaches, neck and shoulder tension, and jaw pain.
• Frequent urination, or a sensitive bladder when stressed.
• Fatigue, even when you have not done much physically.

These symptoms can feel unpredictable because the body learns patterns. For example, if you once felt dizzy during a panic surge in a supermarket, your brain may start to associate supermarkets with danger. You might then feel dizzy before you even reach the aisle. This is one reason symptoms can seem to ‘come first’, with thoughts following later.

Even so, it helps to keep medical common sense in view. If symptoms are new, severe or different from your usual pattern, speaking to a clinician can be reassuring in a healthy way. NHS information on recognising and managing worry, fear and panic can be a useful starting point: Get help for anxiety, fear or panic.

Emotional Signs of Anxiety

Emotional signs are often quieter than physical ones, yet they can drive the cycle. Many people describe a constant background ‘hum’ of worry, even when life looks fine on paper. Others feel emotionally flat, because their brain is working so hard to scan for problems that there is little energy left for anything else.

Common emotional and mental signs include:

• Persistent worry that jumps from topic to topic.
• A sense of dread, as if something bad is about to happen.
• Irritability, frustration or feeling overstimulated.
• Feeling tearful, sensitive or easily startled.
• Restlessness, impatience or needing to keep busy to avoid thinking.
• Feeling guilty for not coping ‘better’.
• Catastrophic thinking, where the mind leaps to worst-case outcomes.
• A strong need for certainty, or discomfort with ‘not knowing’.

Importantly, anxious worry often behaves like a ‘problem-solving’ process, but it rarely leads to solutions. Instead, it keeps you in preparation mode. You may replay conversations, imagine what could go wrong, and plan for every possibility. However, because life is uncertain, you never reach a satisfying finish line. As a result, your nervous system stays switched on.

A gentle way to spot this is to ask: “Is this thought helping me act, or is it keeping me stuck?” If it helps you act, it may be useful planning. If it keeps you looping, it is more likely to be worry.

For more examples of how these feelings can show up, Mind’s information on anxiety symptoms is clear and UK-focused.

Behavioural Anxiety Symptoms to Watch

Behaviour changes are often the most visible signs, yet they are easy to miss when they happen gradually. People may say, “I’m just busy”, “I’m a perfectionist” or “I prefer to stay home anyway”. Meanwhile, anxiety may be quietly shrinking their world.

Behavioural signs that often accompany anxious periods include:

• Avoiding situations that feel uncomfortable, even when you want the outcome.
• Procrastinating because starting feels overwhelming.
• Over-preparing, over-researching or rewriting messages repeatedly.
• Checking behaviours, such as repeatedly reading emails, checking locks or monitoring body sensations.
• Reassurance seeking, e.g. asking loved ones to confirm you are OK, or repeatedly searching symptoms online.
• Social withdrawal, cancelling plans or staying ‘safe’ at home.
• Overworking, difficulty switching off or feeling guilty when resting.
• Using quick fixes like excessive scrolling, snacking, nicotine, alcohol or constant busyness to numb feelings.
• Needing to sit near exits, toilets or ‘safe’ people in public places.

These behaviours make sense. They often reduce discomfort in the short term. However, they can increase anxiety over time because the brain learns: “Avoidance worked, so the situation must have been dangerous.” As a result, the next time you face it, the fear can feel stronger.

A practical goal is not to stop all safety behaviours overnight. Instead, try choosing one small behaviour to change and repeat it consistently, so your brain has a chance to learn a different story.

Panic Attack vs Anxiety Symptoms

People often use ‘panic’ and ‘anxious’ interchangeably, but they describe different experiences. Many people live with ongoing worry and physical tension without ever having panic attacks. Meanwhile, others experience sudden panic surges even when they are not generally anxious.

A panic attack is usually:

• Sudden and intense.
• Peaking within minutes.
• Accompanied by strong physical sensations, such as heart racing, breathlessness, shaking and dizziness.
• Linked to a fear of dying, fainting, losing control or ‘going mad’, even though it is not dangerous in itself.

Ongoing anxiety symptoms tend to be:

• Slower to build.
• More persistent throughout the day.
• Connected to worry themes like health, money, relationships or work.
• More likely to involve tension, irritability, poor sleep and avoidance.

That said, the two can overlap. For example, sustained worry can prime the body for a panic surge, especially when you are sleep-deprived or overstimulated. Equally, after a panic attack, people often develop a ‘fear of fear’, which can lead to ongoing symptoms.

If you experience panic symptoms, it can help to understand what is happening in your body. During panic, breathing often becomes faster and shallower. This can lower carbon dioxide levels, which may lead to tingling, dizziness and chest tightness. Those sensations can then feel like danger, so the cycle escalates. Learning grounding techniques and paced breathing can help interrupt this spiral.

NHS guidance on panic and fear can be helpful to read when you are calm, so it is easier to recall in the moment: Every Mind Matters – anxiety information.

Anxiety Symptoms in Women

Women can experience the same patterns of worry and physical signs as anyone else. However, some patterns are more common or more likely to be misunderstood. For example, hormonal shifts can influence sleep, mood and sensitivity to stress. Social roles and expectations can add another layer of pressure too, such as caring responsibilities, emotional labour and the ‘keep it all together’ mindset.

Symptoms that women sometimes report more often include:

• A stronger link between symptoms and menstrual cycle phases, pregnancy, postpartum periods or perimenopause.
• Mood swings and tearfulness that feel out of proportion to events.
• More physical symptoms, such as nausea, bloating, headaches and palpitations, which can sometimes be mistaken for purely medical issues.
• Sleep disruption, which then amplifies worry and irritability.
• High levels of self-criticism, particularly around body image, parenting or performance.

If you notice symptom spikes around hormonal changes, it does not mean ‘it’s all hormones’. Instead, hormones can lower your threshold, so other triggers have a stronger impact. Tracking your cycle alongside sleep, caffeine, workload and stressors can help reveal patterns.

If you are in the perimenopause or menopause stage and notice new or worsening worry, panic-like surges or sleep disruption, it may be worth reading NHS information on symptoms and wellbeing and discussing it with a clinician: Menopause symptoms and Menopause and mental wellbeing.

Anxiety Symptoms in Men

Men also experience worry, panic and physical tension. However, they are sometimes less likely to label it as anxiety. Instead, it can show up as irritability, anger, restlessness or ‘switching off’. Social expectations around being strong or self-reliant can also make it harder to seek support early.

Common patterns men may notice include:

• Feeling constantly on edge, but describing it as frustration or being ‘wound up’.
• Physical symptoms such as chest tightness, headaches, stomach issues or a racing heart.
• Difficulty sleeping, especially waking early with a busy mind.
• Overworking, staying constantly busy or avoiding quiet time.
• Using alcohol, gaming, porn or scrolling to numb uncomfortable feelings.
• Pulling away from relationships or becoming more argumentative.

It can help to reframe support as a performance issue rather than a weakness. When your nervous system is constantly activated, you lose focus, patience and energy. Addressing it can improve work, relationships and overall health, even if you never use the word ‘anxiety’.

If you are supporting a man in your life, practical language often helps. Instead of “You seem anxious”, you might try: “I’ve noticed you’re not sleeping and you seem on edge. Do you want to talk about what’s been building up?”

Anxiety Symptoms at Night

Night-time worry can feel especially intense. When the day quietens, your brain finally has space to process. At the same time, tiredness lowers your resilience, so small thoughts can feel much bigger. If you have been ‘holding it together’ all day, your body may release tension at night, which can feel like a sudden surge.

Common night-time symptoms include:

• Racing thoughts as soon as you lie down.
• A sense of dread or ‘impending doom’.
• Palpitations or awareness of your heartbeat.
• Restlessness, needing to move or repeated trips to the toilet.
• Heat, sweating or feeling too alert to sleep.
• Waking at 3am and ruminating for hours.

Night-time triggers often include screens, caffeine, alcohol, late meals and inconsistent routines. However, they also include learned associations. If your bed has become the place where you worry, your brain starts to treat it like a problem-solving station. Therefore, your body switches on when you lie down.

A practical approach is to create a predictable wind-down routine and reduce stimulation in the evening. NHS sleep tips can be useful, especially when you want straightforward steps: How to fall asleep faster and sleep better. Mind also has a helpful sleep advice page if you prefer a mental health lens: Tips to improve your sleep.

If you wake and your mind is racing, one simple technique is the ‘two-minute brain dump’. Keep a notebook by the bed. Write the worry in one sentence, then write the next practical step, even if it is “talk to X tomorrow” or “set a reminder”. This signals to the brain that you have captured it, so it does not need to keep rehearsing it.

What Triggers Anxiety Most Often

Triggers are not always dramatic. Often, they are small stressors that stack up until your body tips into threat mode. Therefore, understanding triggers is less about finding ‘the one thing’ and more about noticing combinations.

Common trigger categories include:

• Uncertainty and lack of control, such as waiting for results, job insecurity or unclear plans.
• Conflict and relationship strain, including arguments, criticism or fear of rejection.
• Health concerns, symptoms, medical appointments or past illness experiences.
• Workload, deadlines and performance pressure.
• Financial pressure, debt worries and cost-of-living stress.
• Sleep loss, irregular routines and long stretches without downtime.
• Stimulants and lifestyle factors, including caffeine, nicotine and excess alcohol.
• Constant digital input, doomscrolling and being ‘always reachable’.
• Major life changes, even positive ones, such as moving, promotions, pregnancy or relationships.
• Trauma reminders, anniversaries or environments linked to past events.

Often, triggers work like a volume knob. When your baseline stress is high, smaller situations feel louder. Therefore, improving sleep and reducing stimulants can sometimes reduce trigger sensitivity even before you tackle the bigger issues.

It can also help to remember that a trigger is not the same as a cause. A trigger is what sets off symptoms today. The underlying causes can be broader, such as chronic stress, learned patterns or past experiences. You can work on triggers now while you explore deeper causes gradually.

Anxiety Triggers at Work

Work is a common trigger because it combines uncertainty, evaluation and time pressure. Additionally, many people spend more hours at work than anywhere else, so a stressful workplace can keep the nervous system on high alert.

Common work triggers include:

• Too much work and too little time, especially with unclear priorities.
• Lack of control, such as unpredictable schedules or constant last-minute changes.
• Low support, feeling isolated or not knowing who to ask for help.
• Conflict with colleagues, bullying or fear of criticism.
• Perfectionism, imposter feelings and high self-pressure.
• Customer-facing roles, complaints or emotionally demanding work.
• Hybrid working challenges, such as blurred boundaries and constant availability.

If your worry is strongly linked to work, it can help to use a ‘demand-control-support’ lens. The Health and Safety Executive describes these work stress risk factors in their Management Standards approach: HSE Management Standards for work-related stress.

On the practical side, look for one change in each area:

• Demands: Clarify what must be done today versus what can wait.
• Control: Choose one area where you can set boundaries, such as email times.
• Support: Identify one person you can check in with regularly.

If you are in a workplace where stress is affecting your health, UK guidance on rights and support can also be helpful. ACAS has clear information for both workers and employers: Supporting mental health at work and Supporting employees with work-related stress.

Social Anxiety Triggers and Symptoms

Social anxiety is more than just being shy. It often involves a strong fear of being judged, embarrassed or rejected. The trigger is not ‘people’ in general; it is the meaning your brain attaches to the situation, such as “I will look stupid” or “They will see I’m awkward”.

Common social triggers include:

• Meeting new people or entering a room where others already know each other.
• Speaking in meetings, presenting or being put on the spot.
• Eating, drinking or writing in front of others.
• Small talk, phone calls and networking situations.
• Being watched, e.g. when using public transport or walking into a shop.
• Dating, intimate conversations or situations where you feel exposed.

Symptoms can include:

• Blushing, sweating, trembling and a shaky voice.
• Mind going blank, struggling to find words or overthinking what to say.
• Avoiding eye contact, staying quiet or leaving early.
• Replaying conversations afterwards and criticising yourself.
• Using safety behaviours, such as rehearsing sentences, drinking alcohol to cope or checking your appearance repeatedly.

A useful experiment is to notice what you do to feel ‘safe’ socially, then reduce one safety behaviour gently. For example, if you always hold your phone to avoid eye contact, try putting it away for two minutes. At first, discomfort rises. However, with repetition, the brain learns that you can cope and nothing catastrophic happens.

Food and Caffeine Anxiety Triggers

Food does not ‘cause’ anxiety for everyone, yet blood sugar swings, dehydration, gut sensitivity and stimulants can all influence how wired you feel. This means the same stressful day can feel manageable when you have eaten well and slept, and much harder when you have skipped meals and relied on coffee.

Common food-related triggers include:

• Skipping meals, which can lead to shakiness, irritability and feeling on edge.
• High-sugar foods on an empty stomach, leading to a spike and then a crash.
• Dehydration, which can increase headaches, fatigue and dizziness.
• Gut symptoms, which can be both a trigger and a result of stress response.

Caffeine is a common trigger because it directly increases alertness and can mimic the body’s sensations of panic, such as a racing heart, sweating and jitteriness. If you are sensitive, even one strong coffee can feel like danger, despite nothing actually being wrong.

If you are considering reducing caffeine, a gradual approach is usually easier. Stopping suddenly can trigger headaches and fatigue. Instead, try reducing slowly, swapping one drink for decaf, and avoiding caffeine later in the day.

For a straightforward overview of caffeine amounts and sensible limits, the British Heart Foundation has an accessible guide: Am I drinking too much caffeine?.

A simple self-check is: “Does caffeine make my mind faster, or does it make my body uncomfortable?” If it mainly affects your body in an uncomfortable way, reducing it may offer a quick win.

Alcohol and Anxiety: Next-Day Effects

Many people drink to relax socially or ‘take the edge off’. In the moment, alcohol can feel calming because it slows parts of the nervous system. However, as it leaves your system, your brain can rebound into a more alert, anxious state. As a result, you may feel shaky, restless, guilty or panicky the next day. People often call this ‘hangxiety’.

Next-day effects can include:

• A racing heart, sweating and feeling physically on edge.
• Poor sleep and early waking, which can make worry feel more intense.
• Low mood, irritability and regret about what you said or did.
• Increased rumination, especially if you check messages or replay the night.

Alcohol can also affect blood sugar and hydration, which can add to physical symptoms. If you already have worry patterns, it can also reduce your ability to regulate thoughts, making it more likely you will act in ways that feel uncomfortable or triggering later.

If you want a UK-specific explanation and practical tips, Drinkaware has useful pages on the alcohol-worry link: Alcohol and anxiety and Alcohol and hangxiety. The Royal College of Psychiatrists also covers how alcohol affects mental health in a balanced way: Alcohol, mental health and the brain.

A practical step is to observe your personal dose-response. Some people notice next-day anxiety after two drinks, while others only experience it after heavier drinking. Tracking this over a few weeks can help you choose a level that supports your wellbeing.

Hormones and Anxiety Triggers

Hormones influence sleep, temperature regulation, mood and sensitivity to stress. This means hormonal changes can make you more reactive to situations you would normally handle well. It does not mean symptoms are ‘all in the hormones’, but it can explain why timing matters.

Common hormone-related trigger periods can include:

• The week before a period, when some people feel more irritable and sensitive.
• Pregnancy and postpartum, where sleep disruption and major biological changes occur.
• Perimenopause and menopause, where fluctuating oestrogen can affect mood, sleep and physical sensations like palpitations and hot flushes.
• Thyroid problems, which can mimic or worsen anxious feelings.

A helpful way to think about this is that hormones can lower your threshold. As a result, your ‘usual’ triggers need less pressure to spark symptoms.

If you suspect hormonal changes play a role, it can help to track:

• Cycle phase or menopausal symptoms.
• Sleep quality.
• Caffeine and alcohol intake.
• Stressors and workload.
• Physical symptoms like hot flushes, night sweats and palpitations.

You can then take that pattern to a clinician, as it gives a clearer picture than saying “I feel awful sometimes”. NHS information on menopause and symptoms is a helpful starting point: Menopause symptoms.

Health Anxiety Triggers and Reassurance-Seeking

Health anxiety is when worry focuses on illness, symptoms and bodily sensations. Many people with health anxiety are not imagining symptoms – they are noticing real sensations. The difference is the meaning the brain attaches to those sensations, and the behaviours that follow.

Common triggers include:

• Feeling a new symptom, even a normal one, such as a skipped heartbeat or a headache.
• Reading or hearing about illness, especially on social media or the news.
• Medical appointments, tests or waiting for results.
• Previous experiences of illness, either personal or in someone close.
• Stress, which increases bodily sensations like heart rate and gut activity.

Reassurance-seeking can look like:

• Checking your body repeatedly, such as pulse, temperature, lumps or breathing.
• Googling symptoms, then reading worst-case stories.
• Asking friends and family to confirm you are fine.
• Seeking repeated appointments or tests without relief.

Reassurance helps briefly. However, it often strengthens the cycle, because the brain learns that safety comes from checking. As a result, the worry returns and the urge for reassurance grows.

A kinder strategy is ‘limited reassurance with a plan’. For example:

• Decide on one appropriate health check action, such as booking a GP appointment if a symptom meets certain criteria.
• Avoid repeated checking in between.
• Use coping skills for uncertainty, such as grounding, distraction and values-based action.

If you want a clear explanation of how worry and panic can work, NHS resources can be a steady reference point: Generalised anxiety disorder information and Talking therapies overview.

How to Identify Your Anxiety Triggers

Trigger identification is like detective work, not self-blame. The goal is not to remove all discomfort from life. Instead, you want to reduce avoidable triggers and build skills for the unavoidable ones.

A practical method is to look for patterns across five areas:

1. Situation
   Where were you? Who were you with? What was happening?
2. Body
   What did you notice physically first? Heart rate, breath, stomach, tension?
3. Thoughts
   What story did your mind tell? “I can’t cope”, “I’ll mess up”, “They’ll judge me”?
4. Behaviour
   What did you do next? Avoid, check, argue, freeze, overwork, scroll?
5. Outcome
   Did the strategy help long term, or only for five minutes?

When you write it out, you often see the same sequence repeating. Therefore, you can choose one small point in the sequence to change.

Here are practical ways to spot triggers faster:

• Look back at the last three times you felt overwhelmed and ask what they had in common.
• Notice time-of-day patterns, because sleep and hunger matter.
• Track ‘stacking’: e.g. poor sleep + caffeine + conflict often creates a perfect storm.
• Pay attention to what you avoid, because avoidance points to fear themes.
• Identify ‘thinking traps’ like mind-reading, catastrophising and all-or-nothing thinking.

Most importantly, choose compassion over criticism. If you treat triggers like personal failures, you increase shame, and shame fuels the cycle. Instead, treat triggers as signals.

Anxiety Trigger Tracking Template

A template makes tracking easier because you do not have to think when you feel stressed. You can copy and paste the format below into a notes app, journal or spreadsheet. Try using it for 7 to 14 days. Then, review it for patterns.

Date and time:
Where I was and what was happening:
People involved (if relevant):
Physical sensations (0-10 intensity):
Emotions (choose up to 3):
Main thoughts or images:
What I did next (behaviour):
What helped in the moment:
What made it worse:
Sleep last night (hours and quality):
Food and caffeine today:
Alcohol last 24 hours (if any):
Cycle or hormonal notes (if relevant):
After 30-60 minutes, how did it shift?
One small takeaway for next time:

If you prefer a shorter version, use this three-line check-in:

• Trigger:
• Body and thoughts:
• Action I will take that helps long term:

After a week, highlight:

• The top three situations that repeatedly set symptoms off.
• The top three lifestyle factors that increase intensity (often sleep, caffeine and overload).
• The top three responses that actually reduce symptoms over time (often movement, talking, paced breathing, and doing the next small task).

When to Seek Help 

Self-help can be enough when symptoms are mild, occasional, and you can still do the things that matter to you. However, you do not need to wait until you ‘hit rock bottom’ to get support. Early help often prevents patterns from becoming entrenched.

It can be time to seek help if:

• Symptoms are present most days for several weeks.
• Worry or fear is affecting work, relationships, parenting or daily functioning.
• You avoid more and more situations, and your world is shrinking.
• You rely on alcohol, drugs or constant checking to cope.
• You have panic attacks, or fear having them.
• Sleep is persistently poor and you feel exhausted.
• You feel low, hopeless or have thoughts of self-harm.

A good first step is often your GP, because they can check physical causes, discuss options and refer you to support. In England, many people can also self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies without seeing a GP: Find NHS talking therapies for anxiety and depression. If you want an overview of what talking therapies are and what to expect, this NHS page is helpful: Talking therapies.

If you need urgent mental health help, NHS 111 can direct you to the right place, and you can access the mental health option through 111: Where to get urgent help for mental health and NHS 111 online.

If you feel at immediate risk, or someone’s safety is in danger, call 999 or go to A&E.

If you need to talk to someone right now, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123: Talk to Samaritans on the phone. Mind also lists a range of helplines and listening services if you want options: Mental health helplines.

Finally, if you do seek support, it can help to take your trigger tracking notes with you. They give a clinician or therapist something concrete to work with. More importantly, they help you feel less lost, because you can see your patterns on paper.

Conclusion

Anxious feelings can be confusing because they show up in the body, emotions and behaviour, and they often change from day to day. However, the patterns are usually there once you start to notice them. When you understand your symptoms and your triggers, you can reduce avoidable flare-ups, strengthen your coping skills, and make kinder choices that support your nervous system.

Start small. Improve sleep where you can, lower stimulant load, eat regularly and reduce digital overstimulation. From there, use simple trigger tracking to identify the top situations and thoughts that set you off. Over time, gentle exposure, practical problem-solving and the right kind of support can help widen your world again.

Most importantly, you do not have to handle it alone. If symptoms are persistent or affecting your day-to-day life, speaking to a GP or using NHS talking therapies can be a strong, practical next step.