Anxiety is worry, fear, or the persistent feeling of dread often without a discernible cause and its cousin stress is similar but typically comes from the fear of a specific event or outcome. Stress is not only normal, it is necessary and can be a highly useful motivator. A little stress can push you to finish your term paper in time or prod you into practicing your lines daily in preparation for a play. Anxiety is how our predecessors survived and it’s how we recognize dangerous situations as well as identifying what is important to us. It’s human to be anxious about your grandmother undergoing surgery, or asking out a person you like, but even though it is healthy and natural, it can hinder you in living life fully. There are common treatments that can be enacted at home, such as meditation, grounding, journaling, affirmation, and personal coping mechanisms. However, if anxiety is a near-constant presence in your head or it is impacting your daily life — keeping you from sleeping, causing stomach aches, triggering breakdowns over objectively small issues — you may have an anxiety disorder and need treatment to manage your anxiety. Likewise, if stress is your constant companion, it is an indicator that not all is well in your life and, if possible, you should relieve or remove some stressor. It may be that all your stressors are imperative, in such situations, rather than remove a stressor you should consider rearranging and reevaluating your stress mechanisms. No matter how important the causes behind your stress seem, it is unsustainable and you must remove some stressor sooner or later. Further, if you have a panic attack, it is your brain’s way of alerting you that you need help and you should listen to it whatever the cost.
If you have an anxiety disorder, or think you may have an anxiety disorder, speak with an adult you trust, consider the resources provided, and remember that mental illnesses cause your brain to lie to you; nothing is perfectly safe but you are safe enough, basic precautions will keep you and those you love safer than worry ever will, just because something is possible doesn’t mean it is inevitable, your fears don’t make you weak, your aversions don’t make you a baby, your needs don’t make you a burden. Anxiety disorders, like any mental health issue, are never the fault of the sick person, they are the product of genetics, brain chemistry, and circumstances.
What Is Anxiety Disorder? by 
