Are We Confusing Anxiety And Feeling Anxious?

“Anxious Or Anxiety? That’s The Burning Question,”

It is a known fact that all of us tend to experience anxiety on a periodic basis. Anxiety, on most occasions, is a really normal response to stress. 

Anxiety is something that encourages us to study for exams or complete our jobs/assignments. It can act as a warning signal and prevent us from walking through a dangerous street at night. Also, it is one of the major players in our flight or fight response during dodgy situations. The presence of minor levels of anxiety (feeling anxious) is not only normal, but also good.

“It facilitates the making of healthy decisions and helps us finish activities/jobs we undertake.”

Anxiety can however become a problem when it occurs more than occasionally. It becomes a serious issue when it prevents other thoughts, interferes with daily life, and becomes an energy consuming entity. When anxiety begins affecting an individual’s personal life, job, or general health, it is possible that the person is suffering from an anxiety disorder. 

Anxiety disorders are typically based on irrational or increased fears of something. This fear can be observed in some of the most prevalent forms of anxiety disorders, like generalized anxiety disorder which is marked by continuous worrying and fears; panic disorder which causes recurrent and severe panic attacks; agoraphobia refers to fear of going to places from where the anxiety sufferer feels, is no escape; and social anxiety disorder which is marked by inability to converse with strangers or new people or being the center of everyone’s attention.

Below are some of the major differences between feeling anxious and having anxiety:

1. The reason for anxiety

Any kind of anxiety has some underlying cause, such as some ongoing occurrence in someones life, which is triggering anxiousness. The event can be a big test in the near future or the first meeting with the parents of your partner. It is completely normal for people to feel anxious about such situations and such anxiety eventually tends to disappear after the event has occurred.

Generalized anxiety sufferers on the other hand continuously experience anxiety. There are no particular stimuli that trigger the anxiety and associated fears also tend to be irrational. The sufferer may be aware about the irrationality of his/her fears as well as the excessive worrying! However, despite such knowledge of the truth, they are simply unable to elicit an appropriate response to the abnormal mental and physical responses.

2. The associated signs and symptoms

Anxiety disorders are marked by not just increased worrying, but also symptoms of physical ill-health. Anxiety sufferers may experience dizziness, headaches, nausea, tremors, sweating, redness, and shaking, etc. They may feel as if they cannot breathe or even talk. It is very challenging for these people to focus on anything else other than the irrational fears in that moment.

People who are just anxious do not experience such symptoms or don’t entertain them if they arrive. If you’re currently suffering consider a method based around the teaching of cognitive behavioural therapy to get back to living the life you want and deserve.

3. The duration and strength of anxiety

The level of anxiety in anxiety sufferers is not equal to the amount/size of the trigger. For instance, even a casual and quick presentation of around 5 minutes can trigger anxiety and prevent the sufferer from completing it. Also, people with anxiety tend to experience the symptoms for longer durations; the symptoms may begin weeks before a supposed stress-causing event.

Take a good look at yourself, study yourself, and see where you stand when it comes to either feeling anxious (situational) or having generalized anxiety. You may find that the label you’ve placed upon yourself for a long period of time wasn’t true at all, and it may just be certain areas or people that cause it.

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