Anxiety is the new epidemic, a result of modern lifestyle. It is common knowledge that humans are plagued by worse anxiety than our ancient ancestors. According to the statistics, 18.1% of the US population is affected by anxiety, which makes it the most common mental ailment in the country.

Leading mental health influencer, aka brain health doc Dr. Ketam Hamdan, shares her unique and enlightening content on mental health issues with thousands of followers. She uses social media to connect with thousands of people from all cultures and walks of life, raising awareness on pressing mental health topics.

As a licensed therapist and founder of Brain Health Center, she provides Neurotherapy services that give clients insights into what is happening in the brain and contributes to anxiety. Using brain scans, she helps her clients learn how mental health issues originate in the brain and body. She spends significant time educating people about their brains and autonomic nervous system, which is instrumental in understanding and treating anxiety.

Dr. Hamdan works with high-profile professionals across significant industries to guide them on the process of self-transformation and how to heal developmental wounds that get in the way of achieving their greatness. Her unique approach using neuroscience, psychology, leadership, and ancient wisdom has helped many of her clients grow, whereby traditional approaches failed and left most feeling hopeless.

Anxiety disorder is one of the most popular topics she regularly engages with her audience. Anxiety is a familiar feeling linked with worrying thoughts and associated physical changes like increased heart rate that can interfere with a person’s quality of life. Dr. Hamdan explains the three things that can make your anxiety worse.

1. Avoiding

Many people are conditioned to avoid certain behaviors as a child and are told things like “Don’t cry” and “Don’t be mad,” etc. According to Dr. Hamdan, it only makes the feeling worse when we do this. Avoiding feelings, emotions, or situations is short-term relief, but in the long run, this makes your anxiety around the thing you are avoiding worse.

2. Numbing

Numbing anxiety or feelings associated with it through behaviors such as binge-watching TV, mindlessly scrolling social media, drinking, drugs, hair pulling, etc., is also more common than people realize. People tend to believe that they can numb themselves out of a period of anxiety, but that’s a lie. Dr. Hamdan says that this coping mechanism only leads to other mental health issues and increases the frequency of such behaviors over time.

3. Criticizing yourself

Being critical of yourself and saying hurtful things because you feel anxious will only make you feel worse. Anxiety is a messenger. People need to learn how to listen to their anxiety and tap into what it is trying to tell them or teach. Dr. Hamdan recommends trying self-compassion and making peace with the fact that it is okay to feel anxious. Being kind to yourself is the key to treating yourself with anxiety.

Dr. Hamdan is optimistic that she can help hundreds and thousands of people defeat common mental health problems and learn to live fulfilling lives through proper education and awareness. She believes we need to embrace the importance of the brain, heart, and body connection and recognize that humans are whole. You can check out her page and follow @brainhealthdoc for more informative psychology-related content.