Anxiety is a feeling of fear or nervousness. You may feel anxious without exactly knowing why. Or you may worry and become anxious about making too many mistakes, being criticized, or “failing” at a task.

Some people may have anxiety that appears suddenly and that can be overwhelming. This is called a panic attack.

Anxiety may be related to a very stressful situation (like the situation that caused the head injury) that gets “replayed” in the person’s mind over and over. This can interfere with sleep. This is called post-traumatic stress disorder.

Since each form of anxiety calls for a different treatment, anxiety should always be diagnosed by a mental health professional or doctor.

What causes anxiety after concussion?

• Anxiety often happens when you face too many demands, like returning to work, time pressures and deadlines, and parenting or caregiving duties.
• Situations that require a lot of attention and information-processing can make you anxious, like crowded environments, heavy traffic or noisy children.

What can be done about anxiety?

• Try to reduce the environmental demands and unnecessary stresses that may be causing anxiety.
• Add structured activities into your daily routine, such as exercising, volunteering, church activities, or participating in self-help groups.
• Anxiety can be helped by certain medicines, by psychotherapy (counselling) from a mental health professional who is familiar with brain injury, or by a combination of medicines and counselling.

Depression is a mood disorder. It may be described as feelings of loss, sadness, or anger that interfere with a person’s everyday activities. Talk to your doctor or healthcare provider if you think you may be depressed. Treatment can help you enjoy life again.

People can become depressed when something unpleasant happens to them. Concussions are unpleasant injuries.

Here are some strategies you can try yourself to help you feel better when you feel depressed.

• Do something that you enjoy every day. Make a plan to do this and stick to it.
• Find things to look forward to every day.
• Try to tell yourself positive things daily. If you’re thinking sad or depressed thoughts, just say “stop”. Simply stopping this thought can help make you feel better.
• Think of things you are thankful for.
• Picture yourself doing your favourite things.
• Ask yourself questions to try and think of things in a different way:
  • “Is this fact or opinion?”
  • “What would be a more helpful way of looking at things?”
  • “It’s OK to feel sad about this situation. What can I do to get through it?”
  • “What would I say to a friend in this situation?”
• Rate your mood (learn from the video)