Introduction
This series looks at a range of people who suffer with anxiety. Each photo is taken in a location that the individual feels their anxiety stems from or pays tribute to what they feel triggers their anxiety.
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I would like to thank all of my participants for coming foward and for disscussing their anxiety with me.
“Anxiety is complete control over me and can turn a a great day into a horrible one.”
- CHARLIE, 20
“It’s funny when having anxiety completely con- tradicts your personality. A constant con ict be- tween being a bubbly, loud, and out-going person, to having a part of you that can hold you back in certain social situations. I don’t understand my anxiety, I never have, and it’s possible I never will.
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It took me years to actually admit I have anxi- ety because I was too afraid to accept it feeling it would change my personality that I take such pride in having. Sometimes it’s the claustropho- bic situations that start an onset of panic. Some- times when I say I feel claustrophobic, it is not as simple as a small space or crowded area, it can be more complicated than that but I struggle to ex- plain what goes on in my head. Actually, it’s not that funny at all.”
- Ashley, 20
“My problems with crossing roads rst started because of growing up in France; Although road safety rules are the same, zebra crossings are not as enforced as in the UK. If there are no tra c lights in front of the crossing drivers don't tend to stop. As a small frail person, my fear originat- ed from the thought of a car hitting me and get- ting injured or killed. Whenever I am by a busy road I still get worried and panicked by crossing and that a car won't stop.”
- Stephanie, 20
“Anxiety is darkness. Its being lost in the shadows of your mind and overthinking absolutely everything possible. It’s not knowing where you’re going or how to escape the vicious cycle. Some- times it comes in waves, sometimes it’s more of a constant aggressive mindset and makes you act up towards the people you love. at is always the hardest part.”
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- Louise Wheeler, 21
“For me, anxiety is constantly worrying about something. What if I don’t get this task done in time? What if my friends don’t like it? Rather than focusing on xing the problem at hand, my mind rolls over and over what could happen IF some- thing bad were to happen. Sometimes I manage to tell myself that I need to DO something, and I can x the problem. Other times, my thoughts over- whelm me and it becomes a seemingly impossible battle to control my worrying.”
- Carolyn, 21
“Part of my anxiety is based on the fear of heights. It's come from falling from the top of a set of stairs when I was younger. I'm anxious about heights due to not being in control. Heights make me feel very uncomfortable and the anxiety kicks in which causes me to feel very panicky. For example I can't go on rollercoasters because the anxiety has turned heights into a phobia which then leads to the anxiety of once you are on it you can't escape and get o easily.”
- Alicia, 22
“It means the feeling of being trapped. Unable to get out of somewhere mentally as well as physically. Negative thoughts start to creep in and it becomes overwhelming where I feel like I cannot escape. is happens physically as well from being in tight, overcrowded spaces and suddenly all I can do is panic to try and get out.”
- Alex, 22
“For me, anxiety is something that isn’t necessarily triggered by a place or memory. Sometimes nothing obvi- ous triggers it at all, it’s just an over powering physical feeling, and you can’t think of anything that is making you feel anxious. e best way I can describe it, is like... if all of your skin was suddenly inside out. And you’re out in the world at your most vulnerable just waiting for something to happen.
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You get such a feeling of adrenaline and ght or ight and i feel like the only way for me to get rid of that some- times is to do something like dye my hair, get something pierced or get a tattoo just to have a massive change and a bit of release for the adrenaline. It’s knowing that your thoughts are irrational but that not being enough. You know there’s absolutely no reason for you to be feeling the way you do, but that’s not enough to stop it. I know, log- ically that if someone doesn’t answer the phone straight away they’re probably not dead in a ditch somewhere but my brain doesn’t believe me. But it’s a part of who I am, and I’m trying to it not let it take over, or stop me doing things I want to do.”
- Martha, 24
“Everybody who experiences anxiety has an entirely different experience. It’s di cult to describe what my anxiety is but it’s often sudden and it comes at me before I can try to stop it. Other times I can feel it building, but I never know how it will hit me, I just know it will. Since nally accepting that it’s something I need to learn to accept and live with, I have developed ways to try and bal- ance myself, it’s not always easy and doesn’t always work but sometimes I manage to win.
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I do not fully understand my anxiety and I will most likely never have it entirely gured out, it changes, circumstances change, I change. It’s a constant battle of the unknown, sometimes calm, relatively easy and manageable, other times unpredictable, overwhelming and consuming.”
- Bella, 25
“Ironically just siting to write about anxiety has been making me feel anxious! haha. I feel frozen and overwhelmed . My brain is just loud and beats me up over everything. For me, anxiety is the an- noying gnawing feeling in the back of my head and the pit of my stomach that tells me some- thing bad is going to happen. at everything I may want to say or do or place I want to go will re- sult in a succession of terrible, humiliating things that will end in me dying. It stops me from living a full and meaningful life as I am too scared to do anything. I hate it.”
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- Mandy, 27
“I suffered from bad anxiety for a period during and following a very di cult separation from my ex-partner. It subsequently led to depression which lasted over a year and I was medicated. It was a painful, very difficult time in my life that thankfully I was eventually able to come back from and recover”.
- Karen, 56
“It’s a constant battle between wanting to be sociable and also wanting to be alone.”
- Steve, 30