Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety Symptoms 

The best way to manage anxiety is to understand its symptoms. The more you know what causes your anxiety symptoms, what they mean, why you struggle with them, and what you can do to manage them, the more you’ll be able to start making real progress on your anxiety symptoms.

Some individuals experience anxiety symptoms that are one hundred percent mental with no physical symptoms. Others experience anxiety symptoms that are one hundred percent physical. They are anxious physically even though they have no worries and their minds are clear. Most individuals encounter some combination of the two. There is no wrong or right way to experience anxiety.

Anxiety has hundreds of symptoms, but these symptoms may change depending on the type of anxiety you have. “Anxiety disorders” is an umbrella term for a group of anxiety conditions, each of which has unique signs and symptoms.

Common Symptoms of Anxiety

The most common anxiety symptoms are those directly caused by the fight-or-flight system — the system in your brain responsible for keeping you safe from harm. When it works improperly, it causes anxiety.

Usually, if you have anxiety, you will experience some combination of these symptoms. Much depends on the anxiety disorder what you’re paying attention to, how long you’ve had it, and more. For instance, some anxiety symptoms, like chest pains, are more common in panic attacks than in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) [2].

Don’t take this list to mean that you do or do not have anxiety. Anxiety is more complicated than that. But if you do have an anxiety disorder, you will likely experience at least fifty percent of the following common anxiety symptoms.

These are some of the most common anxiety symptoms. If your symptoms do not appear on this list, that does not make them rare. There are still thousands of anxiety symptoms that millions of people all over the world experience.

Mental Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety is a mental health illness, so the best way to start talking about anxiety symptoms is to look at the mental ones. Anxiety changes your brain. It alters how you think, how you process, and how you perceive information. For instance, a person without anxiety may see a random individual looking at them and think nothing of it. However, a person with anxiety may see the same person looking at them and worry that they’re being judged or that the person is dangerous. Therefore, the same situation is processed differently.

Likewise, anxiety can cause strange mental symptoms. It can cause anhedonia, a total loss of the ability to feel pleasure. It can cause intrusive thoughts, like imagining yourself being violent to a child even though you have no violent tendencies. It can even cause you to forget who you are. This is because anxiety changes the neurochemicals in your brain that tell you how to think and act. But rest assured, healing anxiety can also change your brain back to its previous state. Like an illness, anxiety alters your brain, but none of those changes have to be permanent.

Types of Anxiety Disorders 

Agoraphobia is a type of anxiety disorder in which you fear and often avoid places or situations that might cause you to panic and make you feel helpless, trapped, or embarrassed.

Anxiety disorder due to a medical condition includes symptoms of panic or intense anxiety that are directly caused by a physical health problem.

Generalized anxiety disorder includes excessive and persistent anxiety and worries about events or activities — even ordinary, routine issues. The worry is out of proportion to the actual situation, is challenging to control, and affects how you feel physically. It often happens along with other depression or anxiety disorders.

Panic disorder includes repeated episodes of sudden feelings of fear and intense anxiety or terror that reach a peak within minutes (panic attacks). You may have feelings of impending danger, chest pain, shortness of breath, rapid, fluttering, or heart palpitations. These panic attacks may lead to worrying about them happening again or avoiding situations in which they’ve occurred.

Selective mutism is a consistent failure of children to speak in certain situations, such as school, even when they can speak in other situations, such as at home with close family members. This can interfere with school, work, and social functioning.

Effects of Anxiety on Your Body

Anxiety can really seem to cause almost every symptom imaginable because it does. It mimics health conditions. It can make you so sensitive to how you feel that normal perceptions feel seems abnormal. It can create its own issues — such as acid reflux, which then causes chronic cough.

In almost any mental health book, the anxiety symptoms list is extremely short, and this leads to individuals developing even more anxiety as they worry that they may have something else, that something else may be wrong with them.

But if you do research, talk to individuals who have anxiety, and learn more about the mental condition, you will find that there are hundreds of anxiety symptoms out there. All the more reason to find ways to cure it.

Severe Anxiety Symptoms 

Anxiety is not just about feeling anxious – it is also about the physical and real symptoms caused by an anxiety disorder. The anxiety and deep fear of a person are supported by severe, physical symptoms of anxiety.

Physical Symptoms of Severe Anxiety

Physical symptoms of severe anxiety are typical in panic attacks and include:

Psychological Symptoms of Severe Anxiety

Intense fears of losing control, going crazy, or dying are common psychological symptoms of severe anxiety. There are additional symptoms, though, depending on the type of anxiety disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can produce symptoms of severe anxiety including:

Behavioral Symptoms of Severe Anxiety

Behavioral symptoms of severe anxiety often take the form of avoidance. Because severe anxiety symptoms are so terrifying, people will do almost anything to avoid feeling them. This might include:

These severe symptoms of anxiety can even escalate until the person refuses to leave the house or talk to most people.

Other severe behavioral symptoms of anxiety include those seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). People with OCD become obsessed with ideas such as:

Once an obsession takes hold, the person feels an overwhelming urge to perform an action, a compulsion, also known as a ritual. Examples of severe compulsions include:

Panic Attacks 

A panic attack is a sudden episode of intense fear that triggers severe physical reactions when there is no real danger or apparent cause. Panic attacks can be very frightening. When panic attacks occur, you might think you’re losing control, having a heart attack, or even dying.

Many people have just one or two panic attacks in their lifetimes, and the problem goes away, perhaps when a stressful situation ends. But if you’ve had recurrent, unexpected panic attacks and spent long periods in constant fear of another attack, you may have a condition called panic disorder [3]. Although panic attacks themselves aren’t life-threatening, they can be frightening and significantly affect your quality of life. But treatment can be very effective.

What Can I do to Manage my Anxiety Symptoms? 

Anxiety disorders are easier to treat when caught early. See a medical or mental health professional if:

How are Anxiety Disorders Treated? 

There are many anxiety treatment options. Research has found that the most effective treatment for anxiety disorder is the combination of good self-help information, support, and therapy. Therapy is particularly effective when delivered by therapists who have personally experienced and have successfully overcome anxiety disorder in their own lives. Having successfully overcome anxiety disorder means they understand your struggle, how anxiety disorder can impact a person’s life, and what is required to overcome it. 

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy or “talk therapy” can help people with anxiety disorders. To be effective, psychotherapy must be directed at the person’s specific anxieties and tailored to his or her needs.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an example of one type of psychotherapy that can help people with anxiety disorders. It teaches people different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to anxiety-producing and fearful objects and situations. CBT can also help people learn and practice social skills, which is vital for treating social anxiety disorder.

Medication

Medication does not cure anxiety disorders but can help relieve symptoms. Medication for anxiety is prescribed by doctors, such as a psychiatrist or primary care provider. The most common classes of medications used to combat anxiety disorders are anti-anxiety drugs (such as benzodiazepines), antidepressants, and beta-blockers.

Anti-Anxiety Medications

Anti-anxiety medications can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, or extreme fear and worry. The most common anti-anxiety medications are called benzodiazepines. Although benzodiazepines are sometimes used as first-line treatments for generalized anxiety disorder, they have both benefits and drawbacks.

Some drawbacks of benzodiazepines are that people can build up a tolerance to them if they are taken over a long period of time and they may need higher and higher doses to get the same effect. Some people may even become dependent on them [4].

Antidepressants

Antidepressants are used to treat depression, but they can also be helpful for treating anxiety disorders. They may help improve the way your brain uses certain chemicals that control mood or stress. Antidepressants can take time to work, so it’s important to give the medication a chance before reaching a conclusion about its effectiveness.

Antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) are commonly used as first-line treatments for anxiety. Some types of drugs may work better for specific types of anxiety disorders, so people should work closely with their doctor to identify which medication is best for them. 

Support Groups

Some people with anxiety disorders might benefit from joining a self-help or support group and sharing their problems and achievements with others. Internet chat rooms might also be useful, but any advice received over the internet should be used with caution, as Internet acquaintances have usually never seen each other and what has helped one person is not necessarily what is best for another. You should always check with your doctor before following any treatment advice found on the internet. 

Stress Management Techniques

Stress management techniques and meditation can help people with anxiety disorders calm themselves and may enhance the effects of therapy. Research suggests that aerobic exercise can help some people manage their anxiety; however, exercise should not take the place of standard care and more research is needed.

Co-occurring Treatment for Alcohol and Anxiety Disorder

A person with a dual diagnosis has both an alcohol or drug problem and a mental disorder. These conditions happen together frequently. About half of people who have a mental illness will also have a substance use disorder at some point in their lives and vice versa. The interactions of the two conditions can worsen both. People with a dual diagnosis require an integrated treatment plan that addresses both disorders as interconnected issues.

Individuals who struggle with mental health disorders either seek clinical medication or self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. People that get prescriptions for their condition are less likely to develop abuse disorders, but often the medications that they get access to have high abuse potential, creating more risk. People that self-medicate for their mental illnesses often start early, and the use of drugs or alcohol as a way to escape becomes a natural part of life.

Self-medication is dangerous because it can lead to addiction or even an overdose. It also makes treatment harder because the person has to treat addiction and mental illness. If they do not treat both problems at a dual diagnosis treatment center, they are more likely to have a relapse.