How to control Anxiety?

For me, simply knowing to stop and chill whenever necessary - things like meditation, going on a walk and stuff like that really calms my nerves. Things like working out, sports and all that stuff is great for both the body and soul imo. A lot of little things help me out even on really bad days.

Professional help like therapy is very effective. Can take a while to find a doctor you like. Acupuncture helped a lot also.

Nothing I can contribute to this thread that hasn't already been said, so here have a comic: http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/hey-why-dont-you-be-more-social.jpg

Abstract concept: Resolve your idea conflicts. Anxiety is a result of not knowing how to make choices. A lot of people deal with this with coping mechanisms. Eating, smoking, exercise, medication, etc. This doesn't solve the underlying cause (ie the idea conflict). It can be helpful as a patch, but it is only temporary. So to be more specific: Be more clear with what you want and don't want. Taking the above image (the just "be social" thing) as an example: Don't do things just because others say you should. Doing that will often mean you don't really understand why you're doing it, and so wont know how move forward in the situation (eg if you just "be social" but don't actually like socialising, you'll be left trying to socialise with no idea what you're trying to do and getting no enjoyment out of it). Do stuff that you like doing where you understand what you're trying to do. Stuff like meditation can be good. One thing you can do as a meditative act is reflecting on your idea conflicts, working out how to make choices about the things you're anxious about. Choose your values clearly and act towards them. If you can't work out how to make progress on idea conflicts on your own (it's hard to make progress eg if your ideas are inexplicit) then look into related subjects. Books, TV shows, documentaries. Learn about related ideas until you find something that seems right, then you can start making sense of the ideas you have a conflict over and make progress.

i take medication without it life would be an unbearable hellscape thats only cure would be a bullet through the brain did that get too dark? have a pony http://images6.fanpop.com/image/answers/3145000/3145820_1359951892239.54res_368_375.jpg

Lamby Been there (both with prescribed and self-medicated) If that's what keeps you going right now, then keep it up But you can improve the underlying issues :) you don't need to resign yourself to doing that forever It's hard, but it's worth it

Most depression (and anxiety) is chemical imbalance in the brain. You can't really "control" it. Some is caused or made worse by traumatic life events (abuse, molestation, etc) Sometimes you can learn to deal with that part better over a very long time. But there is no way to "fix" it usually.