Definition: Anxiety attacks are a combination of physical and mental symptoms that are intense and overwhelming. The anxiety is more than just regular nervousness. The anxiety is often a feeling of immense, impending doom that makes many people feel they're about to die, or that everything around them is breaking down.
"A song can make me feel so uncomfortable like I am coming out of my skin. A place that use to feel safe can become a place that causes me anxiety. I will be perfectly fine one minute and feel like I can't breathe the next. I will be standing in a line and out of nowhere I will be so terrified I feel the need to escape. An irrational fear of something that isn't there and can't hurt me. My body goes into fight or flight even if there is nothing to run from. Just talking about my anxiety gives me anxiety; I will literally start shaking." - A senior
"It makes me feel like I'm trapped underwater, but everyone seems so close and so far away at the same time. It's a hard concept to understand even for me to understand while it's happening." - A sophomore
"My anxiety is based mostly on irrational fears. Being away from home, I always worry about something happening to me or my family and nobody being there to help me/me being there to help my family. I have always been a worrier, but coming to college away from my home made it much worse. Now that I am a junior, I am more comfortable with being away from home. Anxiety is so much more than being homesick." -A junior
"During my most extreme anxiety attacks, I start to feel as though the world is closing in on me. My eyesight starts to spot and then will just completely go black. I remain conscious, but I lose control of my body, and my arms and legs convulse. The attack goes on for about 10 minutes, but to me, it feels like a minute. My body was so overwhelmed by the anxiety that it shut down. It terrifies me, I feel alone and unable to help myself. I start to tear myself apart mentally. All my insecurities come to the forefront of my mind and I have to tell myself that I am loved, that I am not worthless, and that I am beautiful. I feel terrified that I am not good enough, that my family, friends, and sorority sisters will judge me because I can’t handle my anxiety to the point where I physically shut down. Once my eyesight comes back, I am able to physically move on, but the psychological effects remain for days afterward. - A sophomore
"I don't think of myself as an anxious person. However, in the past several months, I've started to realize that I have panic attacks every once in a while. It really is something you have to pay attention to because it's easy to get overwhelmed, especially when you think of yourself as ok. You have to remember that sometimes you're not okay and that you need to give yourself a chance to prepare and to recover." -A junior
"When I get an anxiety attack it's kind of like I can't breathe. I don't ever really know why and it's super strange. I mean I know I'm having an anxiety attack and that I'll be fine but it's like I panic and I just have to chill out for a second before I can focus on anything again." -A sophomore
