Everyone’s experienced the feeling of fear at some point, but there’s a difference between anxiety as a response to an event as opposed to anxiety as a chronic condition. People have a natural biological response to potentially dangerous situations. Fear is an important feeling to have because it helps us to keep ourselves safe. Feeling anxious in certain situations is common, but anxiety is a serious problem when it begins to interfere with your life as a whole. It’s easy to be in denial about suffering from anxiety and overlook it as normal fear, so knowing about the signs and symptoms of anxiety can help you determine whether your anxiousness is more than just situational.

Anxiety is a psychological disorder, but the signs and symptoms of anxiety are both physical and psychological. Anxiety causes disruptions in the way people think and feel. Some of the physical symptoms are muscle tension, nausea, headaches, trouble sleeping, sweating, heart palpitations, trembling and fatigue. Psychological symptoms include excessive worry, difficulty concentrating and jumpiness. Unfortunately, anxiety often comes along with other disorders such as panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, depression and drug/alcohol abuse. These other conditions have some of the same signs and symptoms.

If you suspect that you have signs and symptoms of anxiety, it can help to talk to a doctor or a counselor. Even if you don’t think it’s a big deal, it doesn’t hurt to make sure. If you are considering the possibility of having anxiety, it indicates that there’s something bothering you even if it might not be to the extent of anxiety disorder. If you’re feeling anxious in general, talking with a counselor can help sort out those feelings. Physical symptoms are easier to notice than emotional ones, so if you’re experiencing any of the physical signs or symptoms of anxiety, it’s a good idea to get it checked out. Since anxiety is a psychological disorder, it’s important that you describe what you’re feeling as best as you can to a professional.

There are ways to alleviate the signs of symptoms of anxiety. There are medications available to help patients with anxiety to feel more calm and relaxed by decreasing muscle tension and restlessness. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is treatment which helps patients to recognize their anxious thoughts and modify them, therefore changing the way they might overreact to anxiety-provoking situations. There are also muscle relaxation and breathing techniques that can help calm patients. By treating the signs and symptoms of anxiety, doctors can also treat the symptoms of other disorders the patient might have. In this case, comorbidity of illnesses can be an advantage because they can all be treated at once. 

Tags: signs and symptoms of anxiety, anxiety