Anxiety in the workplace

[danaeris]

I've recently realized that one of the reasons I have so much trouble working at work is that I am anxious. I don't feel safe. A person I don't know well, or trust, could walk through that door at any time and start yelling at me. This particular anxiety should go away when I am at home, or normally does, making it easier for me to focus on my work, since I no longer feel I must be alert at all times for a tiger to jump through the window and start mauling me.

Yes, it is THAT irrational.

Anyone else have this problem? What do you do for it? If I could close my door, it might be better, but I can't.

Comments

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

Meep? Has this actually happened to you? I mean a random co-worker you don't know well coming in and yelling at you?

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Oh, no. It hasn't, that I can recall, at any office I've worked at. Nonetheless, I feel unsafe in this space. I said it was irrational!

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

Well, even irrational fears generally have SOME vague basis in reality. I doubt you'd be fearing it if you had never had someone yell at you for no apparent reason, even if the setting wasn't work. I'm not great at this psychology stuff, but it seems to me like trying to find the root of the fear would be a good first step to trying to counteract it.

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

That doesn't really fit my experiences. Anxiety isn't quite the same as fear, and I don't think most psychologists think of anxiety disorder as a result of some concrete trauma. Obviously certain settings can be triggers, but other things can cause anxiety without having any deep hidden root. (Though as with everything in psychology, I'm sure that professionals debate it at great length.)

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

I guess I've never experienced anxiety then - I've never had a fear I couldn't trace back to a past experience that at least vaguely justified it, however remotely. Certainly I've had fears that were much greater than would appear to be warranted by past experience, but none that I think came out of absolutely nowhere.

The reason for this must be either that my belief in emotions having logic to them is so strong that I suppress the unfounded emotions, or that I make up reasons in retrospect. Not sure which. But whichever it is, it does make my world feel more stable, so I think it is good for me.

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

Well, congratulations, you're not suffering from anxiety, then.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

Could you tell that to my doctor then please? She keeps insisting that what I describe as low-blood-sugar symptoms are actually anxiety.

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

Sounds like one of those "one answer to all problems" doctors. My mother's convinced that every minor ailment is Lyme disease. ;-) (She's not a doctor. But she is occasionally right about Lyme disease.)

[aberrantvirtue.livejournal.com]

Is your desk set up so you face your door? If not, setting up a mirror or something so you can see your door may help alleviate it in the short term...at least you won't be surprised by people coming in?

*hugs*

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

I have that problem, but it's only noticeable when I'm feeling unstable in general. I've found that it's essential that I don't have my back right to the door. Off to the side is ok, but I jump (literally) if someone comes up behind me. That jumpiness is only part of it, but rearranging your desk area might help a lot. Maybe even put your desk between you and the door, so you're behind the desk and looking at the doorway?

The more general concern that you're going to get in trouble or yelled at, I have too, but I'm not a doctor and I don't quite know what makes it better for me. CBT does help.

[benndragon.livejournal.com]

Waitaminute. . . *that*'s why the fairly standard sounds of labmates tossing things in the biohazard bin sets off a startle reaction when I'm doing TC work - it's coming from *behind* me. In contrast, I don't have that reaction at my bench, even though there's a bench behind mine, because the bin is sufficiently off to the side that it registers as coming from the side, not from behind. The sound is generally hard plastic against hard plastic after having been thrown, so it's a very loud and sudden noise. Very annoying.

[neeuqdrazil.livejournal.com]

I know exactly what you mean - whenever the bosses go into the president's office and close the door, I get anxious, panicky, and, depending on my mood, nauseous, to the point where I've thrown up a couple of times.

Not that they've *ever* then come out and told me I was fired or yelled at me, but that's what it's all about.