We’ve all experienced it.

The sweaty palms before a speech. The racing heart before a big game. The stomach ache before a test.

Whether you’re 6 or 60, tall or short, rich or poor, experiencing anxiety from time to time is a normal part of being human.

While a little bit of anxiety can enhance our performance on tasks, high levels of anxiety can negatively impact judgment and clear thinking, impeding the ability to learn, make simple decisions or take action. When anxiety starts interfering with someone’s ability to live a normal life, it’s considered an anxiety disorder, one of the most common and treatable mental disorders.

More and more teens suffer from debilitating anxiety that interferes with activities like going to school or social activities. Mental health experts say teenage anxiety has evolved into a misunderstood and rapidly growing cultural epidemic.

In an effort to help people understand anxiety and raise awareness that it is treatable, Bainbridge Youth Services recently brought the IndieFlix documentary, “Angst: Raising Awareness Around Anxiety,” to Bainbridge Island. The film features candid interviews with young adults and kids who have experienced anxiety, including Olympian and mental health advocate Michael Phelps.

More than 100 people attended the March 15 screening at Bainbridge Cinemas, which was followed by a panel discussion that included a local physician, a mental health counselor, a school counselor and two Bainbridge High School students discussing their own experiences with anxiety and tools to cope with it.

Panelist Jillian Worth, a Virginia Mason physician and board member of Bainbridge Youth Services, estimates that “one half of all illnesses today are rooted in anxiety.” She adds that anxiety issues come up daily for many of her patients.

Dr. Worth urged parents to model healthy ways of dealing with their own anxiety. “Tell your kids when you’re having a bad day. Share your own anxious feelings and how you dealt with them. Our modeling matters. If kids see parents using alcohol or other substances to cope with stress and anxiety, kids are likely to do the same.”

As the movie demonstrates, anxiety feels uncomfortable, with distressing body sensations signaling that the body’s fight, flight and freeze system is activated, fed by thoughts of potential problems or threat (which often exist only in our minds). The tendency to try to avoid situations and people associated with feeling this discomfort is understandable. Ironically though, the experts in the movie explain that “experiential avoidance” actually increases distress in the long term.

Giselle Macfarlane, a counselor at Bainbridge Youth Services who also has a private practice, liked the way the film demonstrated strategies for working with anxiety instead of avoiding it. “The film showed teens talking openly about how they are feeling instead of hiding it, something we can model and support as parents by listening well. It also showed ways to come back to the present moment and turn down the fight, flight or freeze response.”

Dr. Worth teaches her patients a variety of practices to work with anxiety. For instance, when anxious, she recommends teens listen to apps with guided mindfulness meditations or deep breathing exercises. No one else needs to know what they are listening to on their phone. At Bainbridge High, yoga and wellness clubs are helping kids reduce stress through developing mindfulness and relaxation practices. These skills can serve kids throughout their lives.

Dr. Worth mentioned that it is important to catch anxiety issues early. When anxiety stops a person from taking part in important activities, working with a counselor for professional support is a great next step to improve quality of life. Medication is also sometimes useful.

Bainbridge High 10th-graders Katie Trevino-Yoson and Ali Spence, both of whom serve as BYS student board members, could relate to the film and shared their own feelings of anxiety and the pressures of living in a highly competitive and success-driven community.

“We need to support a culture of solidarity,” says Yoson. “We should support each other instead of competing against each other.”

Spence, who just minutes earlier experienced her own anxiety over speaking on the panel, said it’s important to be kind to yourself.

“The important thing is to compare yourself not to other people but to yesterday’s version of yourself and be better than that,” Spence says.

She was proof that you can overcome anxiety. “It’s important to be present and take things as they come. Realize that what will happen will happen rather than worrying about it,” she told the group.

Ann Brandner, the school counselor at Commodore Options School, recommends taking a time out as a healthy way to work with stress and anxiety. “It’s OK to unplug,” says Brandner, who shared she doesn’t own a cell phone. “Take a walk in the woods and spend some time in nature.”

She says anxiety has increased among younger kids. “Students feels like the pressures are building. While having high standards is good, it’s important to let kids know that they don’t have to be perfect.”

The movie started an important community conversation about anxiety. As one audience member succinctly put it, “if each one of us was a bit more open about the emotions we are experiencing and how we cope with them, like the teens on the panel and in the film demonstrated, it would go a long way in decreasing the stigma of mental health issues.”

The film audience shared tips on ways they work with their own anxiety:

• I take my dog for a walk.

• I send positive text messages to myself.

• I find time for art journaling. It helps me feel more balanced.

• I talk to friends and family.

• I escape all the modern “noise” by going out on a bike ride.

• I write “to do” lists to break the many worries apart and chunk them into small tasks.

• I notice what is happening physically, mentally, emotionally without judgement and allow those sensations to simply be there.

• I walk, stretch, practice yoga, light candles, breathe.

• I ask myself “Hey! What’s the worst that can happen?” I take a deep breath and go for it knowing I am safe.

• I have mints in my pocket because they soothe my stomach, which calms me down.

• I work on a puzzle.

• I sing to myself, meditate, clean.

• I think of who my heroes are in books or movies and try to embody those qualities. This gives me courage to face my fears.

Cezanne Allen is executive director of Bainbridge Youth Services.