Author and podcaster Caroline Foran remembers the day when everything fell apart for her.
"I was trying to put my mascara on to go into work and I couldn't actually put it on my eyes," Caroline told RTÉ. "I was kind of like, jabbing it on my face."
A study from the World Health Organisation in 2017 showed women are twice as likely as men to experience anxiety. Add a pandemic in on top of that, and suddenly the number suffering from anxiety mushrooms.
As part of International Women’s Day, Caroline told us about when she first experienced anxiety in 2014, she felt like she had lost "a protective layer of skin".
Anxiety can be linked to any aspect of life – family, social or personal. Or, as Caroline told RTÉ, it can stem from all of them at once.
"You’re at a level of overwhelming stress that you mightn't even be aware of," she said. "And then you’re adding in work stresses, family stresses, and, suddenly, you’re not able to cope."
Michi Hyams runs her own software start-up. Anxiety crept up on her in 2018, after a similar mix of work and personal problems.
We are seeing anxiety – or people may be experiencing anxiety – who haven't experienced it before
After experiencing a series of what she calls "little traumas", she felt a rise of panic one day when driving home.
"I was no longer in control," Michi told RTÉ. "It was as if it was pure fear and adrenaline running through me and I did not know how to grab the steering wheel again."
Since Covid struck, health experts say that many more women have experienced what Caroline and Michi describe.
And that means that hundreds, if not thousands, of Irish women may have recently experienced anxiety.
"Some people are ringing us … we feel they are anxious, and they may not realise it themselves, because anxiety isn't always clear, that somebody's kind of feeling anxious," said Dr Duffy.
"It may present as physical kind of symptoms," she said.
Often, she said, it takes some talking for somebody to realise that they are not actually having a heart attack.
Louise O’Leary, the Advocacy Manager at St Patrick's Mental Health Services, told RTÉ about the gendered impact.
"We are seeing anxiety – or people may be experiencing anxiety – who haven't experienced it before."
"Gender inequalities," Louise said, "were already a reality before the pandemic and were there."
But gender inequalities that have arisen during the pandemic will have a further impact on the mental health and wellbeing of women.
"When there's a crisis, when there's a problem, it tends to be the female partner in the relationship who’s left to pick up the pieces," Dr Illona Duffy, a Monaghan GP, told RTÉ.
The difficulty for many women right now is not just recognising the problem, but getting the help they need.
Like most things in the health system, the advice if you’re feeling anxious is to call your GP.
In almost every single walk, you basically have a mini-therapy session with your friends.
They can be of great help, but if you are referred onward, the waiting lists can be lengthy.
GPs told RTÉ that patients could be waiting up to 18 months for psychology services.
Those waiting times have only increased during the pandemic.
"They have massive waiting lists. But the big thing is we know that early intervention is what helps. Early intervention prevents anxiety," said Dr Duffy.
Tackling anxiety early on can prevent it from developing into depression, she said.
Yet, if you’re waiting for an appointment, there is still hope, since there are many things you can do to ease your anxiety.
The women who spoke to RTÉ said that, while professional support helped them immensely, it wasn’t the only thing that helped them.
"I have been on more walks than I have ever been on in my entire life," said Michi. "And in almost every single walk, you basically have a mini-therapy session with your friends."
For Caroline, it can be as simple as paring back your to-do list and cancelling a few appointments.
