This blog is not intended to be used to diagnose or treat any mental disorder. If you have mental health symptoms, please discuss them with a licensed mental health professional or your primary care physician.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is one of many normal and healthy emotions; but, just like most things in our daily lives, it’s only beneficial in moderation. When we're in a life-threatening, survival situation anxiety can induce your flight or fight response - good! Anxiety sneaking up on you when there is no major threat to our survival - not so good! If this is the case, it may be a mental health issue that you're minimizing or overlooking. The American Psychological Association defines anxiety as:
““An emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and sometimes physical changes to the body like increased blood pressure and heart rate”. ”
Here are 5 symptoms of anxiety that you may be dismissing.
1. Worrying
Worrying is a normal part of our day to day life. When faced with important life events or a difficult decision, worrying is natural. But sometimes worrying can become so overwhelming that it begins to interfere with our life. Do you feel as though you cannot control your worrisome thoughts? Do you experience racing thoughts regarding an event or person you’re worried about? Then this may be a symptom you’re overlooking.
2. Physical Symptoms
Everyone experiences butterflies when they’re on a first date, has their heart race when they must give a speech, or even gets short of breath sometimes. But the physical symptoms you experience when you have an anxiety disorder are no joke. If you’re experiencing heart palpitations, increased blood pressure, shortness of breath, sweating, and/or redness of the skin just because you raised your hand to answer a question in your class, then you be experience some seriously uncomfortable symptoms of an anxiety disorder that you should not be dismissing.
Ready to get reduce your anxiety symptoms? We’re here to help!
3. Avoidance
Do you often avoid hanging out with your friends after conflict? How about avoiding attending events that make you feel uncomfortable? Of course, it’s natural to want to be in an environment where you feel comfortable; but, if you are repeatedly avoiding a necessary meeting with your boss (or some other situation that is important to you or someone else) because you’re experiencing such a high level of anxiety over it, then you may be struggling with a problem bigger than just the conflict with your boss (or other said situation).
4. Sleeping Problems
Everyone has nights they’re restless and don’t sleep well, right? Of course. That’s normal occasionally. But if you’re having trouble falling and staying asleep because of racing or worried thoughts or even waking up fatigued after a night of good sleep, then it could be an anxiety induced problem that you’ve been ignoring.
5. Difficulty Concentrating
Difficulty concentrating can be caused by many things - anxiety being one of them. If you have issues staying on topic because your mind is constantly finding its way back to something you’re worried about or simply going blank because it’s being overworked, then you may be battling something a little more difficult than basic absent mindedness.
When Does Anxiety Need Treatment?
There is never a right or wrong time to seek help from a professional for the symptoms you are experiencing. If you feel as though it is causing a struggle in your day to day life, contacting a counselor or medical doctor/psychiatrist is always an option. Anxiety symptoms are often overlooked in the fast-paced society that we live in. However, it is not something you have to just work through on your own. There are many resources available for you to understand what you’re experiencing and to help you manage and reduce your symptoms.
Ready to find relief from your anxiety symptoms? We’re here to help!
Sydney graduated from John Glenn High School in 2017. She is currently working towards a bachelors degree, dual majoring in Psychology and Criminal Justice at Muskingum University. She plans to further her education by completing a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology.
Sydney is an active member on her campus. She is a member of the Chi Alpha Nu sorority where she must maintain a 3.0 GPA and 10 community service hours a semester. She is also a member of the Psychology club, Criminal Justice club. Sydney is honored to be able to be a part of this team and gain experience in the mental health field at a young age.