Understanding Anxiety Versus Anxiety Disorders: Meaning, Symptoms, & Treatment
Anxiety is an emotional concern that impacts most, if not all, people at some point in the lifespan. We can likely recall experiencing anxiety from a very early age because these feelings are actually a survival mechanism produced by our brain to warn us of potential danger. Anxiety manifests itself as thoughts and feelings of stress, worry, tension, and/or fear meant to make us react to protect ourselves from perceived danger. Think of anxiety as your brain telling you, “Hey watch out for _____!”
Is your child stressing over school in a way that as YOU concerned?
Anxiety is, therefore, not always a bad thing; however, it becomes a problem if anxiety is chronic and/or severe to the point that it prevents you from carrying on your daily life activities. Anxiety can also be problematic if your brain is constantly warning you to watch out in situations that are really not threatening. Feelings of anxiety are different from an anxiety disorder when the symptoms significantly interfere with your ability to function and/or when symptoms occur on a continuous basis.
Anxiety Disorders
When a person has an anxiety disorder, they have several anxiety-related symptoms that occur more days than not and interfere with their ability to do things like:
Go to work (or be productive while at work)
Attend school or focus on studying
Complete household chores (like cooking, cleaning, and laundry)
Enjoy time with family and friends
Socialize or talk to strangers (or even with people you know)
Go to public places like restaurants, movie theatres, or retail stores
In more severe cases, people with anxiety disorders can struggle with doing things such as:
Leaving their home
Driving or being a passenger in a car or public transportation
Eating or sleeping (usually eating too much or not enough and having difficulty sleeping)
The symptoms of anxiety disorders can range from mild to severe, but even in mild forms, an anxiety disorder interferes with a person’s overall quality of life. This is a key factor that distinguishes the feeling of anxiety from an actual anxiety disorder. Another key factor is how chronic the anxiety is or how long the anxiety is present. People who experience occasional symptoms that pass rather quickly likely do not have an anxiety disorder. When symptoms remain for weeks, months, or longer, an anxiety disorder is likely the case.
Some common anxiety disorder symptoms include:
Panic attacks, which are brief instances of intense anxiety symptoms (e.g., heart palpitations, difficulty breathing, sweating, feeling as if you are ‘having a heart attack’)
Fear or phobias that cause complete avoidance of the feared object/situation
Worry about one or more events/activities/problems that is all-consuming and occurs almost all day, every day
Physical symptoms such as stomach aches or other bodily aches and pains that have no medical explanation or cause
Deescalating Anxiety in the Moment
Whether you struggle with brief periods of anxiety and stress or you have (or suspect you have) an anxiety disorder, there are many interventions you can apply to alleviate the associated symptoms. Practicing anxiety-reducing strategies can prevent your anxiety from getting worse and can also help you build greater awareness of the factors that cause, contribute to, and maintain your anxiety. This puts you in control of your anxiety rather than feeling like the anxiety is out-of-control and bigger than you.
Some effective interventions you can practice on your own include:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) interventions where you identify thoughts that contribute to anxiety-related feelings and behaviors. CBT involves replacing these thoughts, which are often exaggerated or unrealistic, with more positive alternatives that serve to empower you against the anxiety.
Assertiveness training, which is believed to be very powerful in combatting many forms of anxiety. People who struggle with fear and social anxiety often have difficulty being assertive.
Mindfulness interventions, which encourage you to acknowledge and experience your anxiety when it comes rather than avoiding it or trying to dismiss the feelings (or worse, criticizing yourself for having the anxiety in the first place). Other mindfulness-based interventions include deep breathing and guided imagery.
Grounding techniques, which derive from mindfulness strategies, can be done pretty much anytime, anywhere, and involve engaging your senses. This is believed to bring you to the here and now since people with anxiety are often caught up with worries about the future rather than being present. Grounding involves touching objects around you and observing whether they are soft, hard, heavy, light, cold, or hot; tasting and savoring a food or drink by fully paying attention to it; or taking a walk and focusing on your footsteps or the environment around you (e.g., the cool breeze on your face, the warm sun touching your skin).
Anxiety can be summed up as an inevitable part of being human and having to navigate the world around you with all its challenges. There are moments of happiness and success in life, just like there are instances of uncertainty, failure, and loss. Sometimes anxiety may not have a specific trigger or it might be difficult for you to pinpoint what’s causing it. Regardless of your unique scenario, engaging in anxiety-reducing interventions is an excellent way to maintain your self-care and allows you to take some time for yourself to reflect, recover, and recharge so you are equipped to take on life’s many challenges and opportunities.