For twenty years, I thought I was the only one

One in seven of your colleagues is struggling with anxiety or panic attacks. Most of them say nothing. Here is why that needs to change, and what you as an HR professional or manager can do about it.

My story

For twenty years I lived with panic attacks. For twenty years I thought I was the only one. Nobody around me knew. Nobody noticed. I functioned fine, did my job, was there for others. But inside, there was a constant battle going on.

It was only later that I discovered I was far from alone. One in seven people in the workplace struggles with anxiety or panic attacks. And fewer than one in five of them ever brings it up with their doctor. That is not coincidence. That is shame.

As an HR professional or manager, you look at people every day without really knowing what they are carrying. That is not your failing. It is a collective silence, fed by a culture in which vulnerability at work is still too often read as weakness.

What is happening in the workplace?

In any average meeting room of seven people, at least one is currently experiencing anxiety symptoms serious enough to qualify as a disorder. That colleague is largely invisible. Fewer than one in five people with an anxiety disorder is known to their GP. The rest keep working, often functioning at reduced capacity for years, and only come into view when it is already too late.

These are not estimates based on a quick questionnaire. The NEMESIS-3 study by the Trimbos Institute established diagnoses through in-depth interviews averaging ninety minutes. The finding: 13.5 percent of Dutch working adults had an anxiety disorder in the past year. That is approximately 1.2 million people. Women are affected almost twice as often as men. Young adults aged 18 to 24 are the hardest-hit group, at nearly twenty percent.

Anxiety and panic attacks are not a character flaw or a sign of inadequacy. They are responses from a nervous system that has become overloaded, sometimes through significant experiences, sometimes through a prolonged build-up of tension, sometimes simply through predisposition. Employees who struggle with this often present at work as engaged, reliable, and conscientious. They rarely stand out. And that is precisely what makes it so hard to see.

What actually helps?

The good news: a great deal helps. Both physical and cognitive approaches include well-evidenced therapies. Additional lifestyle interventions, such as sleep, breathing, and movement, can meaningfully reduce symptoms.

But there is something at least as powerful, and often underestimated: recognition.

Being told you are not alone. Understanding how the brain and body interact during anxiety. Realising that nothing is wrong with you as a person, but that your nervous system has learned a pattern that can be unlearned. That insight alone can be an enormous relief for people who spent years believing they were simply ‘too sensitive’ or ‘not strong enough’.

The role of HR and managers

You do not need to solve this problem. But you can create the space in which people feel safe enough to talk about it. That starts with making the subject visible within your organisation.

Want to make this topic discussable in your organisation?

Crystal Clarity offers an anonymous webinar on anxiety and panic, developed specifically for the workplace. Employees can join without giving their name, without any barrier, and without their manager knowing they are there.

Get in touch and we will explore together what fits your organisation.