A little anxiety can be a good thing.
But anxiety can get out of hand, keeping us from living our lives to the fullest.
Here are 11 who have talked publicly about their struggles with anxiety.
GLENDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 01: Recording artist Missy Elliott performs onstage during the Pepsi Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show at University of Phoenix Stadium on February 1, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
Before going onstageshe had a full-blown panic attack.
“Like, IVs in my arm, everything,“she said.
“Nobody knew.”
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It causes sudden and repeated attacks of fear, often referred to as panic or anxiety attacks.
Symptoms can include racing or pounding heart, sweating, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and chest pain.
When Ellie Goulding suffered her first panic attack, she though she was having a heart attack.
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From that day, I kept having them.
It was the weirdest time of my life.”
Panic attacks tend to last up to about 10 minutes, but their effects are much broader-ranging.
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“Every breath is labored.
You aregoing to die.
And then when the attack is over, the depression is still there.
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Once, my stepdad asked me, ‘What does it feel like?’
And I said, ‘It feels like I’m desperately homesick, but I’m home.'”
In aWall Street Journalprofile, Emma Stone described her history with panic going back to childhood.
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Therapy helped some, but acting helped even more.
“There’s something about the immediacy of acting,“she told theJournal.
“you could’t afford to think about a million other things.
NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 16: (EXCLUSIVE ACCESS) Oprah Winfrey poses backstage at the hit musical “Hamilton” on Broadway at The Richard Rogers Theater on October 16, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic)
You have to think about the task at hand.
J-Law also found her answer to anxiety in acting.
The adorable red-carpet stumblertold France’sMadame Figarothat as a kid she begged her parents to let her start acting.
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And when she did, it seemed to whittle down the fears.
She saw my worries disappear.”
That’s why mom fought for me to be an actress,” she said.
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You out there can have the avatar me.
I can keep me.”
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Exercise “has helped with my anxiety in ways I never dreamed possible,” she posted on Instagram.
I’m glad I did.
It ain’t about the ass, it’s about the brain.”
Not everyone who has a panic attack has a panic disorder.
“Many people have just one attack and never have another,” says the NIMH.
And though panic attacks often begin in late adolescence or early adulthood, one-offs can come at any time.
Caitlyn Jenner described having her first panic attack at the age of 65.
The pain was such that she had no choice but to be on large amounts of medication.
She had ice packs over her eyes.
She closed them for a little bit, then suddenly shot up, causing the ice packs to slip.
She was undergoing something that had never happened before in 65 years of life: a panic attack.
What did I just do to myself?'"
Even the all-powerful Oprah isn’t immune to pressure.
I was in the middle of doing voiceovers, you know?
“So I have been working through it.
I’m terrified, but this is exactly what I wanted.”
A star singer with stage fright?
Adele hassaidthat hers gets so bad, “I puke quite a lot before going onstage.”
“I’m scared of audiences,” shetoldRolling Stone.
“I get sh**ty scared.
One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit.
I’ve thrown up a couple of times.
Once in Brussels, I projectile-vomited on someone.
I just gotta bear it.
But I don’t like touring.
I have anxiety attacks a lot.”
Still, “My nerves don’t really settle until I’m offstage.”
It’s the offstage stuff in particular that freaks out singer Demi Lovato.
“The only thing that sucks about being in the public eye is doing some appearances.
I don’t like award shows.
Something’s going to go wrong and someone’s going to stab me.'”
