Anxiety and the Creative Person
If you are a creative person and you’ve been struggling with anxiety, worry, panic attacks, stress and overwhelm (or one of those), I’ve created this page with you in mind.
I’ll be adding links on this page to various articles, blogs, and sources of support designed to help you on your journey towards feeling calmer, and more connected.
So your creativity can become a healing resource that supports you inside and helps you feel more authentically ‘you’.
Anxiety, Worry, Panic Attacks, Stress and Overwhelm
You’ve probably got lots of questions about anxiety, worry, panic attacks, stress and overwhelm. You might be wondering:
- Why do these feelings come up?
- How can I deal with them?
- Can I avoid them and stop them happening again?
- Is there a link between anxiety, and being a creative person, and/or a highly sensitive person?
- How can I make sure that my creativity isn’t damaged and blocked by my anxiety?
I hope this page will provide some useful ideas and starting points that will serve as a springboard to help you find some interesting, transformative, creative answers within yourself.
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Panic Attacks
Panic attacks can feel terrifying. But there are things you can do to help yourself.
Difficult Thoughts
When you are struggling with difficult thoughts that keep on coming back, it can be hard to know how to get out of that loop.
Read: Creative solutions for managing difficult thoughts.
Night-time Anxiety
Waking at night – and then being unable to get back to sleep because of anxiety – is really horrible.
It can impact your functioning during the day, and it can feel almost unbearable when you’re lying in bed (or pacing the floor downstairs) in the middle of the night.
Read How to Stop Lying Awake Worrying: 28 Ideas to Try.
Therapy or Counselling for Anxiety
Self-help can only take you so far with easing your anxiety, worry, panic attacks, stress and overwhelm.
If you add in weekly sessions of psychotherapy or counselling, then your self-help strategies are likely to become much more effective.
Why? For simplicity, I won’t go into the neuroscience here too much, so I’ll just say this: very different things happen in the brain and body when we are interacting with another person.
And if that person is a trained psychotherapist, he or she will have particular ways of listening, connecting with and understanding you, that utilise certain aspects of your brain and nervous system to help you manage your anxiety and stress in new ways.
But if you’ve never had therapy or counselling before (or even if you have), it might feel quite daunting (and, yes, anxiety-inducing!) to contact a therapist and then go and see them. Here are some tips:
4 things to help you feel calm enough to get to your first therapy session:
- Get a sense of who the therapist is. Maybe there’s a video of them on their website that you can watch? Perhaps you can read an article they’ve written on a therapist directory such as Counselling Directory, Psychology Today, LifeLabs or Wellbeing.Org. Some therapists have been guests on a podcast, such as The Trauma Therapist Podcast, that you can listen to.
- Talk to the therapist on the phone first. Most therapists are happy to offer a free 15-minute consultation before booking a first session, and they’ll answer questions or concerns you may have.
- Find out what their treatment would involve.
- Read my article, Your First Counselling Session: 12 Things You Need to Know.
Other articles that might be helpful for anxiety, worry, panic attacks, stress and overwhelm
Help Heal Anxiety and Depression with this Morning Routine
5- Minute Soothing Exercise for HSP’s (Highly Sensitive Persons)
Articles From around the Web
7 Strategies for Using Mindfulness to Reduce Anxiety (by Sharon Martin, LCSW)