There are a lot of people struggling with stress, anxiety, and even severe anxiety disorders today. It’s an epidemic. Our lives are simply moving too fast. The world we are negotiating has experienced more significant change in the last 100 years than in the one thousand years prior. Our bodies simply aren't designed to keep up with the pace and acclimate that quickly. And that’s just talking about our lifestyle, jobs, habits, and changing social roles and mores. What about the barrage of chemicals our bodies are dealing with and endlessly interfacing with our social media devices and a 24/7 news cycle? All of this is stressing our bodies and nervous systems, as well.
As an Orange County Marriage and Family Therapist and Somatic Experiencing Practitioner specialized in holistic approaches to anxiety reduction and trauma healing, I come in contact with Anxious Folk every day. Tons of them. And they’re not just anxious. They’re super anxious. Anxiety is part of our survival system so when we literally need to Run For Your Life! we can, fueled by the powerful adrenaline and stress hormones surging through our body. While anxiety will always be part of our innate survival mechanisms, it wasn’t meant to run our lives. When anxiety is running your life, flooding you with stress hormones, running you into the ground, and keeping you in hyped up states of vigilance, high activation, and constant worry or rumination, something is amiss. Big time. Anxiety has gotten the better of you and you’re stuck in Anxious Overdrive. Very uncomfortable. Very painful emotionally and sometimes physically, and potentially life-disrupting.
What Happens When Your Body Gets Stuck In Anxious Overdrive?
By the time most my clients find me they’ve already figured out anxiety is their big issue. Anxious Folk. We tend to know who we are (and if we don't, our friends and family definitely do). In fact, many Anxious Folk are adept at diagnosing (and misdiagnosing) themselves on the Internet.
But how can you tell you might be dealing with anxiety? What are the symptoms?
But how can you tell you might be dealing with anxiety? What are the symptoms?
The Symptoms Of Severe Anxiety.
1. Racing thoughts. Lots of them. Anxious Folk tend to be bright, intelligent people with great big beautiful frontal lobes. Our big beautiful brains are adept at problem solving. We like to chew on things. We’re also good at creating new problems to solve. We call that “just being realistic.” Or “just being smart or prepared.” Everyone else calls it “worry.” When your mind won’t turn off and is busily creating and trying to solve problems that may never come up at all, there’s a good chance you’re struggling with anxious thought patterns. Anxious thought is characterized by cycles of intrusive, worrisome, negative, repetitive thoughts and particularly, catastrophic or “worse case scenario” thinking. Once Anxious Folk get started worrying about something, we’re going to chew on it for quite awhile. Sometimes the only thing that will disrupt our train of thought will be a new train of anxious thought. Anxiety and anxious thought can take over your experience of yourself and disrupt life. It can be exhausting.
2. Sleep disruption. There are a lot of things that can disrupt sleep. Anxiety is one of the more prevalent causes of sleep difficulties and insomnia. Anxious thought patterns will keep us awake at night. Anxious thoughts may follow us into our dreams and disturb our rest. We may wake up in the middle of the night with a start, already anxious, already worried, or even in a full-blown panic attack. Or we may wake up way too early, even when deeply fatigued, and be unable to resettle back into sleep.
3. Panic Attack. Not everyone who experiences anxiety or even severe anxiety is going to experience panic attacks, but many people do. A panic attack is a discrete event of extreme and overwhelming panic and fear, often for no perceivable reason. The symptoms of panic attack include but are not limited to: terror or fear that one is dying at this moment, fear of losing control or “going crazy,” heart palpitations, profuse sweating, shortness of breath, Derealization (or feeling unreal, disconnected to reality, or in a dreamlike state), chest pains, dizziness, a choking sensation, tingling, numbness, muscle weakness, and dry mouth.
A panic attack will typically peak in intensity in 10-15 minutes and will rarely last over 30 minutes, although they can last up to an hour. Once you’ve had a full-blown panic attack it’s not uncommon your anxiety now becomes organized around avoiding ever having another attack. Having had that feeling once, you never want it again. Your fear and anxiety then mobilize around avoiding whatever triggered the last attack, anxiety over having another attack, and high vigilance regarding any level of anxiety. Your fear of recurring panic can become a very controlling and life-limiting experience.
People may have intense anxiety attacks and never quite tip into full-blown panic and yet still have a very uncomfortable and debilitating experience.
A panic attack will typically peak in intensity in 10-15 minutes and will rarely last over 30 minutes, although they can last up to an hour. Once you’ve had a full-blown panic attack it’s not uncommon your anxiety now becomes organized around avoiding ever having another attack. Having had that feeling once, you never want it again. Your fear and anxiety then mobilize around avoiding whatever triggered the last attack, anxiety over having another attack, and high vigilance regarding any level of anxiety. Your fear of recurring panic can become a very controlling and life-limiting experience.
People may have intense anxiety attacks and never quite tip into full-blown panic and yet still have a very uncomfortable and debilitating experience.
4. An inability to be calm or still. Anxious Folk are busy people. More than that, they often have real difficulty sitting still or doing nothing and relaxing for a little while. Sometimes they can feel like they are just trying to outrun their anxious mind. Anxious Folk are the original Energizer Bunnies. They can get a lot done in a short period of time, but will have a hard time slowing down, taking a deep breath, and letting it all go for a little while. Sometimes Anxious Folk will present with rapid breathless speech. It just comes with the territory.
5. Difficulty concentrating. When there’s a lot going on in your mind already, it can be difficult to concentrate on the task at hand. Your anxious mind can be very engaging and distracting. It’s as if most your bandwidth is already taken up hosting your anxious thoughts. Sometimes there’s just not a lot of space left over for anything else. You can appear highly distractible at times. It also means people around you can sometimes feel you’re a bit disconnected or aloof. Anxious thoughts running through your mind can make it hard for you to pull out of your head and overthinking to truly connect with people. Even when you want to.
6. Irritability. Irritability and a short fuse may present with some Anxious Folk and particularly with men and teens. In a sense, anxiety is draining your energy to the degree that anyone or anything can seem like an irritating distraction. Irritation can also be a defensive response, gruffly covering up your state of anxiety. Sometimes we’d rather be perceived as a grouch than a fearful worried person. Anxiety is housed in both the body and the mind, no matter who is experiencing it, and has a deeply somatic (or body-oriented aspect). One way this is expressed is in irritability.
7. Social situations may be difficult. Sometime severe anxiety is going to show up as difficulty managing social situations. Anxious Folk may find themselves tongue-tied and hesitant to speak up. It can be difficult to get past the fear of rejection or the fear you’ll say something stupid, or that once you start talking you won’t be able to stop. Your mind may not shut up enough for you to actually relate directly with people. Instead, your anxious thoughts are making a lot of noise ("She thinks I'm stupid!" "Why did I say that?" "I think I offended him." "Can they tell how much my palms are sweating right how?" "How can I leave and get out of this situation?").
Anxious Folk make great listeners and may fear taking up too much space in a group and hang back, not offering their opinions or insights. As a result, it’s not uncommon for Anxious Folk to be mislabeled as “aloof” or “withdrawn.” Entering new social situations can be especially challenging and sometimes feels impossible.
Anxious Folk make great listeners and may fear taking up too much space in a group and hang back, not offering their opinions or insights. As a result, it’s not uncommon for Anxious Folk to be mislabeled as “aloof” or “withdrawn.” Entering new social situations can be especially challenging and sometimes feels impossible.
8. A host of uncomfortable physical sensations. Anxiety isn’t just experienced on the thought or even the emotional level, but is experienced intensely on the physical level as well. These symptoms can include racing heart, pain or tightness in the chest, a sense of heaviness in the chest, shoulders, or limbs, sweating, shortness of breath, stomach upset, nausea or butterflies, lower GI distress like cramping and diarrhea, trembling, twitching and exaggerated startle responses, headaches, frequent urination or the urge to urinate, sleeplessness, fatigue, inability to eat or loss of appetite, muscle tension, muscle and joint pain.
9. Significant specific fears or phobias. Rather than experiencing a more general “anxious all the time” feeling, anxiety may manifest as specific irrational fears (i.e. fear of small spaces, spiders, dogs, flying, heights, snakes, vomiting, social situations, health issues, driving, etc.). Depending on the nature of your phobia and how likely you are to come in contact with your triggers, you can experience a great deal of inconvenience, limitation, and fear.
Symptoms Of Severe Anxiety Can Be Debilitating.
Symptoms of severe anxiety can be debilitating or at a minimum, painful and distressing, but I probably don't need to tell you that. Chances are, if you found me, you or someone you love is struggling with severe anxiety now. There’s no reason to suffer alone and on your own. There is help available.
There are things you can do on your own to feel a bit better. The reality is, however, when you're experiencing severe anxiety, chances are you've been experiencing it for awhile. If you knew how to rid yourself of the experience and symptoms in a healthy safe way, you would have done it by now. Severe or even just strong symptoms of anxiety warrant the support of an experienced professional to ease and coach you through the anxiety reduction process. And it is a process.
There are things you can do on your own to feel a bit better. The reality is, however, when you're experiencing severe anxiety, chances are you've been experiencing it for awhile. If you knew how to rid yourself of the experience and symptoms in a healthy safe way, you would have done it by now. Severe or even just strong symptoms of anxiety warrant the support of an experienced professional to ease and coach you through the anxiety reduction process. And it is a process.
It Took Years To Become As Anxious As You Are Today.
It took years to become as anxious as you are today; it can take a little while to resolve it. You don’t have to do it by yourself. There’s qualified help out there to coach you as you work to reduce your anxiety and increase your level of happiness and well-being overall. Find a therapist who is comfortable with you, even when you are popping out of your skin. Look for a therapist who specializes in stress and anxiety. There are drug-free approaches to winning back your life and moving forward. I use them to support people I work with every day. You can choose peace. Now.
VICTORIA WALLACE SCHLICHT, MA, LMFT, SEP
2030 East 4rth Street, Ste. 111
Santa Ana, CA 92705
In the beautiful Cabrillo Park area
[email protected]
SIGN UP HERE FOR MY EZINE, THRIVING NEWS
714.914.5565
"I help people who feel bad feel better."
2030 East 4rth Street, Ste. 111
Santa Ana, CA 92705
In the beautiful Cabrillo Park area
[email protected]
SIGN UP HERE FOR MY EZINE, THRIVING NEWS
714.914.5565
"I help people who feel bad feel better."
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