Parent of son with anxiety

[agarza922]

I am trying to help my 21 year old son get through anxiety problems.  I am trying to be supportive and have taken him to all kinds of doctors to check on general health and specific health problems.  Everything seems to be normal.  I am patient but sometimes feel that he just needs to get through it with a little more determination.  I know that's not true so do you have any suggestions other then being there and maintaining a positive attitude?

[Samantha_Dragon]

I suffer from anxiety and the worst thing my father has ever said to me is that I just need to suck it up and deal with it.
I would suggest a therapist or a psychologist. His physical health might be fine but mental health is a little trickier.
Good luck with your son. I hope that he can get his anxiety under control and that it doesn't effect his life.

[mandatyrer]

All you can do is be there for him. Try and push him to get better but be patient with him.

I'm eighteen and have anxiety issues myself - I'm agoraphobic. I know my mum really struggles with being there for me because she doesn't fully understand what it is that I'm going through. She wants me to get better but she knows she has to be patient with me. And I really respect her for being so patient with me.

Being the one going through it, I can't really understand what it's like to be the person that has to see someone else go through it. But I know it must be difficult.

Depending on the type of anxiety you might want to try and get professional help for him such as a therapist.

It might take a very very long time for him to get better but it will happen eventually. You just need to have patience, no matter how hard it is.

[Americanhell]

I just posted and will continue to post this. Im 31 and have been struggling with anxiety for over ten yrs actually around 15. I have been through 2 meds taken for over 10 er so yrs, homeopathy, acupuncture, cognitive therapy etc. One thing i found that works really well for specifically anxiety and the panicky feeling is a vitamin b complex. I just started taking it and was really surprised of the calming effects. I honestly have lost a lot of faith in western meds over the years and i was at the point of wanting a natural help. I figured there has to be something! Anyways, go to a pharmacist and tell him what ur son is dealing with and ask him about a vit-b complex. In Canada I bought one called StressEase. Im telling you i cannot believe how well i feel from it. Ive spent thousands(no joke) over the last ten er so  yrs and this lil pill full of natural vitamins and minerals our body needs helped me so much so far. 15 bux here. Give it a shot before u try any chems with horrible side effects and liver killers. Im no doctor and this is no lie but i know what helped me and if it can help someone i would be so happy to be of some at least a lil help. best of luck, Mike.

[Gulfstream2]

Hello, sorry to hear your son is having anxiety issues but if he keeps up with it and stays consistent in getting over it, or more importantly getting to the root cause, he will be better.

Obviously I don't know how long he's had these anxiety problems but from my own experience I do know that anxiety can take a while to reside for good, especially if he's been chronically anxious for some time. I had this bout of anxiety of my own for about three months (I'm not sure why) but I never went to a therapist or a doctor due to lack of insurance and what I did was sort out my problem(s) were, then just train myself not to be anxious - believe me, its no easy feat at first but like any other "personal skill" it takes time and practice and repitition to attain and eventually master.

I guess for you as the parent, perhaps you could try to talk to him about what he thinks is causing the anxiety, you know sort of identify some base cause of it all and then work at in bits, trying to resolve them in various ways. What's the nature of his anxiety? Is it centered around his health - is he a hypochondriac? I mention this since you wrote something about general health and going to the doctor. Or is it social anxiety, OCD, performance anxiety, or just general anxiety / chronic worrying?


Other than that I am not sure what else I can suggest, except that he see a psychiatrist and they would know what to do, and they'd be able to develop some sort of strategy to work for him. By any chance, is he on medication for it?

Overall, determination and perseverance is crucial for getting over the problems, that's something I learned on my own. I hope all goes well and that this has helped to some degree.