6 Reasons to Join an Anxiety Support Group

When you live with anxiety, the mere thought of joining an anxiety support group can kick the fight-or-flight response into overdrive. To avoid attending an anxiety group with other people, you might be willing to fight tooth and nail to escape into the safety of the space under your bed. However, anxiety support groups offer benefits like the ability to share your experiences and challenges, to be deeply heard, and to offer a listening ear in return. These are only a few of the benefits people can reap by joining a support group for anxiety. Here are six more reasons to join a support group for anxiety. 

The purpose of a support group for anxiety is to allow members to grow from exchanging both ideas and empathy. The power of groups lies in their very nature. 

6 Compelling Reasons to Join an Anxiety Support Group

It's natural to feel reluctant to join a support group when you have anxiety. Worries and what-ifs can prevent you from trying something that just might lead to a break-through in your struggle with anxiety. Those worries and worst-case scenarios could weaken in the face of these reasons why it could be positive to join an anxiety support group. 

1. The awkwardness is shorter-lived than you might think. Walking into a room full of strangers might be anxiety-provoking at first. Yet everyone in the group has at least two things in common: anxiety and the desire to get rid of it. Chances are you'll be welcomed and understood from the beginning. 
2. No one is judging you. Anxiety has a way of tricking us into feeling judged wherever we go. In a support group though, the people attending truly want to support, not evaluate.
3. You're good enough to be there. So often, anxiety tells us we're not good enough for pretty much anything. Support groups help people identify and embrace their worth. Everyone in the group deserves to be there, including you. 
4. You'll feel good that you're not bothering people. A common effect of anxiety is the belief that we're imposing on others, that we bother everyone by talking or just being present. Anxiety support groups are welcoming, supportive places. Not only are you not bothering people there, you are enhancing the experience by sharing your thoughts and perspectives as well as listening to others and providing feedback. 
5. It's hard to hide from the group. Because an anxiety support group is there to help members grow, everyone shares struggles, goals, and plans--and members keep each other accountable, checking in about progress. You might tell yourself that you're working toward a goal, but you can ignore yourself fairly easily. When you commit to something in a support group, members will keep you focused. 
6. You're grounded. Participation in a support group can help you feel centered, with your feet firmly planted on the ground. It's a wonderful reality check. You discuss anxiety, its effects, and what to do about them. You get anxiety out of your head and in the open for reality-based feedback from group members. 

The Best Reason of All to Join an Anxiety Support Group

There are many great reasons to join a support group for anxiety. Perhaps the best one of all is that in joining a group, you are actively taking back your life. To join forces with others on a similar mission makes you stronger than your anxiety.