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" 1. &amp;quot;Stop stressing!&amp;quot;  Stress and anxiety are different. Everyone stresses at some point or another, but not everyone is anxious. Stress is frustration and nerves. Anxiety is amplified. There&amp;#039;s an underlying sense of panic and unease. I stress when I have a lot of work to do. I get anxious when I know I&amp;#039;ve messed up at work and it was a mistake I could&amp;#039;ve prevented. Oh, and I&amp;#039;m also not sleeping at night and want to vomit a lot of the time, and I run the entire situation over and over and over again in my head. Yay.  2. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s all in your head.&amp;quot;  Right! Anxiety is a part of the way my brain is wired. It is quite literally in my head and, hence, it is beyond my control. You have &amp;quot;irrational&amp;quot; things in your head, too. You know you&amp;#039;re not fat, but you complain about it anyway. Is that something you&amp;#039;d like me to remind you of the next time you feel self-conscious about something? 3. &amp;quot;Why don&amp;#039;t you just pop a Xanax?&amp;quot;  When used as prescribed by a doctor, medication can help treat anxiety \u2014 but anxiety is not something that can be permanently cured by popping a pill. It oftentimes takes medication and a major pause to grasp what I&amp;#039;m panicking about. I have no problem being reliant on medication, but I am very well aware that it is not magic. It&amp;#039;s just not that simple.  4. &amp;quot;What do you have to be anxious about?&amp;quot;  This is condescending. Everyone has their insecurities and problems, and this is mine. A lot of the time, my anxiety makes me anxious. You might not be able to tell by looking at me (or anyone else), but not everything is as put-together as it seems. RELATED: 8 Signs You&amp;#039;re Not Letting Go of Your Problems \u00BB 5. &amp;quot;Have you tried yoga?&amp;quot;  I appreciate that you&amp;#039;re trying to help me find a solution, but deep-breathing, exercise, and meditation don&amp;#039;t work for everyone. For me, a candid conversation with someone I trust helps me pinpoint the source of the anxiety; from there, I can get a better handle on what&amp;#039;s making me internally panic. 6. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re making me anxious.&amp;quot;  Unintentionally, I promise! 7. &amp;quot;Will you just relax?&amp;quot;  Telling a panicking person to just relax is like screaming fire in a crowded theater \u2014 it is the least helpful thing you could do in that moment. I want to chill out, but, again, it&amp;#039;s not easy.  8. &amp;quot;There are people who have real problems.&amp;quot;  I did not claim to be starving or dying or anything like that, but you&amp;#039;re (1) dismissing a very real issue and (2) making me feel bad about it at the same time. When I&amp;#039;m in the moment, and I need to cry or curl up or be alone in my head, it all feels very real. 9. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re a control freak!&amp;quot; Being able to control situations that I know will make me anxious definitely helps, but control issues are not the gateway to anxiety, if that&amp;#039;s what you&amp;#039;re saying. TELL US: What else would you add to this list? Photo: McMillan Digital Art/Getty This story originally appeared on Cosmopolitan.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/advice/a19872/things-not-to-say-to-someone-with-anxiety/>