Symptoms of anxiety are very difficult to notice immediately. In this article, we will consider a list of the most common conditions, when they appear, you need to seek help.
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What is an anxiety disorder?
A random feeling of anxiety can happen to anyone right now, because the country is under a full-scale invasion by Russia. But if your symptoms are continuous, or with too little intervals, preventing you from living and fulfilling your duties, you should seek help from a specialist.
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According to the National Institute of Mental Health, there are several types of anxiety disorders, and they all depend on one important symptom: an overwhelming feeling of anxiety and fear that invades a person’s personal life and interferes with living.
12 symptoms of anxiety disorder
There are several signs and symptoms common to most anxiety disorders.
WARNING! This article is not a way to diagnose or self-diagnose. Only a specialist can give you the correct diagnosis!
1. Sleep problems
An adult usually sleeps about seven hours a day. But when your sleep regime begins to suffer — shortens, or on the contrary, greatly lengthens — this is a sign that something has gone wrong.
According to research by ADAA physicians, stress and anxiety can cause or exacerbate sleep problems.
2. Strong excitement
Ordinary anxiety and fear is absolutely normal, but if it does not go anywhere, prevents you from living and working, does not let you sleep and occupies all your thoughts, you should contact a doctor about this problem.
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3. Irrational fears
Some anxiety disorders cause specific fears: fear of flying, animals, loud noises, etc. If this fear suffocates you, prevents you from living normally, or significantly affects your life, this indicates a disorder.
4. Muscle tension
Almost constant tension in the muscles, for example — clenching the jaw, fists — often accompanies anxiety disorders. This symptom often goes so far that a person can stop noticing it after a while. But he is not going anywhere from this.
5. Scary scenes
This is another symptom of anxiety. Most people usually feel a little fear, a slight nervousness before public speaking. But if the fear is so strong that nothing can help or reduce it even a little, you should ask for help.
6. Chronic upset stomach
Sometimes anxiety isn’t just about the jitters before speaking to a large audience, or the fear of reading bad news. Anxiety disorders often cause stomach problems: nausea, diarrhea, indigestion.
Anxiety can really make your stomach hurt, this is not fiction.
7. Panic attack
Repeated panic attacks are the main reason immediately contact a specialist. Not everyone who suffers from a panic attack has an anxiety disorder, but people who experience them repeatedly may be diagnosed with panic disorder. People with this disorder fear when, where, and why their next seizure might occur, and they tend to avoid places where seizures have occurred in the past, which can significantly affect quality of life.
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8. Fear of crowds
People with social anxiety disorder usually often think that everyone around them is staring at them, and at the same time they experience certain symptoms — facial redness, tremors, heat, sweating, difficulty speaking. These symptoms often prevent people from maintaining relationships, being effective at work and in everyday life.
9. Compulsive behavior
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is when a person is not only haunted by obsessive thoughts and ideas. They are also accompanied by compulsive actions: reassuring oneself that everything is fine again and again, constantly washing hands, fixing things, and so on.
Compulsive behavior includes such “rituals” that begin to control a person’s life. For example, a person may close and open the door of a room three times before leaving or entering.
10. Perfectionism
Obsessive perfectionism goes hand in hand with anxiety disorders, say psychologists. If a person constantly “tugs” himself, judges and bites for some minor mistakes, worries that he does not meet his standards, it is probably not that he is somehow not like that.
11. Flashbacks
Flashbacks are reliving a traumatic experience or event. And they are the main symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD for short. This is the main “bell” that you should urgently contact a doctor for help!
12. Self-doubt
Constant self-doubt, doubts about one’s competence, impostor syndrome and problems with self-esteem are frequent companions of various anxiety disorders and even OCD.
Be attentive to yourself and your health!