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Anxiety is the body preparing for threat. Some of it is useful. When it stays on after the danger has passed, it can steal attention, sleep, and choice.

• Avoiding what you fear often keeps the fear in charge. Gentle, repeated exposure — with support — is how many anxiety treatments work.
• A panic wave usually peaks and falls within minutes, even though it can feel endless in the moment.
• Caffeine, poor sleep, and skipping meals can mimic or amplify anxiety symptoms.

Common myth. People with anxiety just need to calm down or think positively.

31 questions in the wheel

Mood conditions change energy, interest, sleep, and how the future looks. They are medical and human — not laziness or a failure of will.

• Anhedonia — losing pleasure in things you used to like — is often more central than tears.
• Bipolar disorder involves distinct mood episodes lasting days to weeks, not hourly mood swings.
• Asking someone if they are thinking about suicide does not plant the idea. It can open a door to help.

Common myth. Depression is just sadness you can snap out of.

42 questions in the wheel

Wellness is not the absence of struggle. It is the set of habits, relationships, and meaning that make struggle more survivable.

• Mental health and physical health are the same system — sleep, movement, food, and connection all move the needle.
• Mindfulness is practicing attention on purpose, not emptying your mind of thoughts.
• Self-compassion (treating yourself like a friend) predicts resilience better than harsh self-criticism.

Common myth. If you meditate and exercise, you should not need therapy or medication.

40 questions in the wheel

Sleep and mental health feed each other. Protecting sleep is one of the highest-yield things you can do for mood, attention, and anxiety.

• A consistent wake time matters more than a perfect bedtime.
• Alcohol may help you fall asleep and then fragments the second half of the night.
• CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) is first-line treatment for chronic insomnia — often before sleeping pills.

Common myth. You can catch up on a week of short nights with one long weekend lie-in.

28 questions in the wheel

Most people recover in relationship — with friends, family, peers, and clinicians. Knowing how to ask, listen, and set limits is a mental health skill.

• You do not have to wait until things are unbearable to start therapy. Earlier is easier.
• Good support sounds like 'I'm here' more often than 'here's what you should do.'
• Stigma still delays care. Naming a struggle out loud is often the first treatment.

Common myth. Therapy is only for people in crisis or who are 'crazy.'

27 questions in the wheel

Labels can open doors to care — or become cages. This category is about common conditions, what they are not, and why accuracy reduces shame.

• People living with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.
• OCD is not a quirky love of tidiness. It is unwanted thoughts plus rituals that briefly relieve terror.
• PTSD can follow many kinds of trauma, not only combat. 'Split personality' is not schizophrenia.

Common myth. People with serious mental illness are usually dangerous.

36 questions in the wheel