Photographer Katie Joy Crawford recently released twelve self portraits that make painfully apparent what life with an anxiety disorder feels like. Haunting photos make real for the viewer the experience of feeling one’s voice strangled by anxiety, their mind clouded, and even what it is to actually feel an absence with you wherever you go.
““Anxiety bars the sufferer from the risk of discovery, the desire to explore new ideas, and the possibility of exiting a comfort zone,” she writes in the description of her project, ‘My Anxious Heart.’ “It makes sure that it will never be alone. It finds you when you’re in the midst of joy, or alone in your own mind. It is quiet and steady, reminding you of your past failures, and fabricating your future outcomes.””