When you are diagnosed with having an anxiety disorder, it is all too easy to end up blaming your anxiety for every 'bad' thing that happens in your life. You may be of a disposition where your experiences of the world are anxiety provoking and this then puts a different slant on the way that you experience life.

Once you get into this way of living, it may be that your anxiety becomes a cover for other emotions, so that you effectively then live your life in a false way.

So maybe it's time to take a look at what could be hiding behind your anxiety.

Maybe you have heard of the term 'secondary emotion'. This is a term that is used to describe an emotion that is experienced in place of a different emotion, perhaps one that you find difficult to express. Men and women tend to have difficulty with expressing different emotions.

With men, for example, it is often sadness, disappointment, embarrassment or even jealousy that cannot be expressed and these emotions often come out as anger instead. Whereas with women, it is often anxiety that is experienced instead of them being able to express the suppressed emotions.

In fact, this turns into a sort of defence mechanism. By denying certain emotions we 'protect' ourselves from having to deal with difficult feelings but the counter side of this is that we experience what we see as anxiety when it is in fact quite often just a cover for something else.

So, in time, you may find that you go through your life experiencing anxiety quite often, almost until it becomes a familiar feeling, but the reality may be that you have other emotions being held at bay that you need to deal with.

The obvious way to find out what emotions are being hidden behind your anxiety is to ask yourself that very question. Take your time over it and be honest with yourself, admitting if need be that maybe there are other feelings that you have chosen to ignore up until now. Have you been suppressing grief, hurt, or disappointment and would it really be so bad to open up to these feelings? What would be the worst thing that could happen if you were more honest with yourself emotionally?

This exercise may leave you feeling more fearful than before but it will still have been good that you gave yourself time to think about your true feelings and to be more honest with yourself. This is a very big step in the right direction. In fact, sometimes it turns out to be a lot easier to confront and experience the suppressed emotion than it is to constantly live with the anxiety that is acting as a cover for it.

If you find that you need to vent your anger on some cushions, or sit quietly and cry your tears of disappointment, then that's fine. Maybe you need to drive your car somewhere away from the crowds and scream out your anger at the top of your voice. It doesn't matter. Whatever you feel you need to do to deal with these suppressed emotions is fine. The important thing is that you start to take action and to deal with them in whatever way is best for you.