If you know someone with anxiety and think they blow it out of proportion, try hyperventilating.

Stand in front of a clock and breath in and out, as hard and as quick as you can, for one minute. Your throat will go dry, you’ll feel ready to pass out, and you might gain some sympathy for people who experience these symptoms as part of anxiety.

“Anxiety can be exceedingly, exceedingly uncomfortable,” said licensed psychologist Debra Theobald McClendon.

However, “When you feel anxious, it’s OK because it’s normative. The question is what you do with it that can be helpful or not,” she said.

Read the rest of the article “How to Recognize and Cope with Debilitating Anxiety.”