To know if you have anxiety Observing the symptoms is very important to be able to treat it properly. Anxiety is one of the most common psychological alterations, which occurs in a larger number of people and that each of us can experience at some point in his life.
However, it can often be difficult to detect what feelings respond to an anxiety disorder and when you are actually suffering from an anxiety disorder. Alteration of this type.
How is anxiety detected?
To properly interpret anxiety as a psychological symptom first of all we must mention that anxiety itself does not always have why Constitute a mental disorder.
In fact, anxiety is interpreted as a mental and physical activation mechanism that people use on multiple occasions in our lives.
People can experience anxiety When we have a lot of work to do in a short time, when we want achieve a goal Concrete or when We are studying a vital examination.
In this way, anxiety appears whenever we need to activate in a special way to perform certain tasks.
However, when this activation appears in a context in which there is no reason why we should activate more than normal for Our optimal functioning appears what is called pathological anxiety.
Thus, in these cases, people suffer abnormally high activation and experience many difficulties in reversing the situation, returning to a State of peace or calm down.
This fact reveals the difficulties in differentiating the normal or adequate activation of our body with anxiety and psychological state Which characterizes him, which can be very annoying and unpleasant.
As we have said, the main aspect that allows us to differentiate one state from the other is the presence of a stimulus that motivates the overactivation of Our body and our mind .
However, often the stimuli can be very ambiguous, since anything that can motivate a state of greater activation in a person, Will always be interpreted subjectively.
This causes that the divergence of opinions on whether a person suffers anxiety or not is a more than common aspect in this type of alterations, and the People sometimes do not know for sure whether they are anxious or not.
Thus, in order to help delineate what aspects characterize a state of anxiety and what sensations a nervous person experiences, it is vital Consider the following signs.
10 signs to find out if you have anxiety
1-Sleeping problems
Possibly the main characteristic that presents in the anxiety disorders are the Trouble sleeping .
With sleep problems there is no reference to specific days in which it is difficult to fall asleep or days when one wakes up more Early than usual, but continuous and repeated problems in the attempts to rest properly.
An anxious person will most likely have problems To fall asleep At night despite having made a remarkable physical and Psychological during the day.
So, although you may feel tired or in need of rest, an anxious person is often very difficult to fall asleep when lying down in the bed.
This fact is explained due to the physical and psychic overactivity that a person experiences than an anxiety disorder.
Anxious individuals have greater brain activation at all times of the day and find it hard to divert attention from their thoughts for the whole day.
Thus, when they are tired or go to bed, it is very difficult to perform the simple mental exercise to avoid extreme thoughts to get To fall asleep
In order to sleep properly people need a minimum State of calm and relaxation , So that people who fail to achieve it have Many difficulties to fall asleep.
2-Muscle tension
Another fundamental aspect that characterizes States of nervousness Is muscle tension.
As we have remarked, When anxiety appears There is an immediate increase in the activation of the mind and body.
In this way, the muscles of the body, instead of To be relaxed And with a normal tone for most of the time like most people, These are in constant tension.
To understand better, we will put the following example:
Anxiety is that brain mechanism that allows us to get our body going before situations that require a quick and effective response.
For example, if you are in the middle of the forest and hear a threatening noise, anxiety will allow you to activate your body in the relevant way so that, in case You can respond appropriately.
In this way, one of the main actions that your mind will perform on your body will be to tighten the muscles tightly so that they are Prepared for action.
If this anxiety state occurs only during this situation, the muscles will be tightly tensioned for a limited period of time. Time, and as the threat disappears these will return to their normal tone.
However, when you present Pathological anxiety , Your mind will be activating your muscles continuously throughout the day, every day.
In this way, if you suffer anxiety your muscles will become more and more tension, you will be unable to relax them and very probably you will feel pains of Back or cervical.
3-Physical discomfort
Due to the same reasons we mentioned earlier, anxiety can cause a large number of physical aches and pains.
As our body is permanently activated, it can never relax and we begin to experience certain annoying sensations.
The physical sensations that can be experienced in anxiety can be diverse, however, the most common are usually the typical" Nerves in the stomach ".
This sensation is characterized by a series of unpleasant discomforts in that part of the body that are interpreted as nervous sensations, as if the Nerves were stored in the stomach.
This is because the intestine is an organ highly sensitive to psychological tensions, so we experience the permanent activation of that Part of the body as very annoying and unpleasant.
Likewise, these sensations can give rise to swelling, gas, constipation or other digestive problems.
However,"nerves in the stomach"are not the only physical discomfort that anxiety can cause.
Palpitations, elevated heart rate, sweating, tremors, choking sensation, chest tightness, instability, dizziness or nausea may Be other physical symptoms experienced in anxiety.
4-Uncontrollable thinking
Another characteristic of anxiety is the Inability to control thinking .
When anxiety appears in our mind, it takes control completely and prevents us from stopping it when it causes us discomfort.
Thoughts begin to emerge without any kind of control, they slide through our minds with complete freedom and sometimes, no matter how hard we try not to We are able to stop it.
So, no matter how annoying the thoughts we have and even if we want to disappear, it still works as if it had life Own.
It is as if the haemorrhage of emotions and feelings that provokes the anxiety had a Greater control About what we think ourselves.
In this way, tranquility is perceived as unattainable, since we are only able to pay attention to our thoughts , which Increase and increase our anxiety state.
5-Excessive concern
Likewise, the uncontrollable thoughts described in the previous section do not usually have a pleasant and optimistic content.
Rather, on the contrary, they tend to focus on aspects that cause us much concern and increase our sense of anxiety and nervousness.
In this way, the concerns appear in the mind without any control, and these are getting bigger, making a loop without End with our physical feelings of anxiety.
6-Irrational fears
In some cases, excessive concerns can become totally irrational fears towards different aspects.
These anxiety problems are what are known as Phobias , And are characterized by excessive fear and without any reason whatsoever aspect concrete.
These irrational fears can appear before any element (snakes, spiders, heights, blood, etc.) or situations (driving, relating With other people, being alone, etc.).
Likewise, the person who suffers them is able to interpret them as irrational but despite being aware that it does not make sense to have such a fear Extreme, it is unable to extinguish and / or reduce it.
Once again we are faced with the uncontrollability of thought, it begins to produce highly anxious and unpleasant content, and by many efforts They always seem to win the game.
7-Perfectionism
One of the most common traits of people with anxiety is Perfectionism And the need to do things in the best possible way.
In this case, perfectionism itself is not a sign that demonstrates the appearance of anxiety but it can often explain the origin and The maintenance of this type of alterations.
Perfectionists will have a greater motivation to do things properly, but in turn they will have less control Perceive the imperfection of many of the elements that surround them.
In this way, a very perfectionist person may experience elevated anxiety states for aspects that would go unnoticed for other people That do not focus so much on the details.
8-Feeling insecure
The insecurity Is a common symptom in most anxiety disorders.
This signs is characterized by the appearance of a certain sensation in which feelings of uncontrollability are experienced, difficulty to Recognize the appropriateness and absence of stimuli that reaffirm the mastery of things.
In fact, many anxiety disorders can originate in the absence of control of aspects that are constituted as vital for a person.
Does my job guarantee me a stable job future? Will I get better with my partner and marry her? Do you study well? That realizes and will guarantee me to find work?.
Aspects such as these can generate a feeling of lack of control in the person who is experienced with elevated anxiety states and emotions.
In these cases, the central axis of anxiety may be this Lack of security And the need to be constantly activated when attempting to Vain to gain greater control of the situation.
9-Difficulty concentrating
When you are anxious or extremely nervous, concentrating and thinking clearly often presents itself as a highly complicated task.
The reason is that To concentrate properly A remarkable amount of energy is required and a total direction of our attention towards a stimulus concrete.
However, an anxious person will have his mind in constant operation, investing high levels of energy in maintaining the permanent thoughts Which define your state of anxiety.
In this way, when the person is willing to change his focus of attention and ignore his thoughts To be able to concentrate In any task, your Brain often ignores him.
For the mind of a person with anxiety, the anxious thoughts that lurks within them seem to be far more important than any other In this way, making him change his mind and getting him to concentrate on other things is often complicated.
10-Restlessness or impatience
Finally, the last sign that characterizes anxiety and that is very useful to detect this type of states is the restlessness or impatience.
Nervous people often have a lot of difficulty calming down so their body will be permanently active and restless.
Also, this state of overactivation will cause the person to appear highly impatient before anything.
The organism of a person with anxiety goes faster than the rest, so he expects things to work at the same speed as him. When this It does not happen, the feelings and thoughts of impatience appear instantly.
And what other anxiety symptoms do you have?
References
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental Disorders. 4a. Ed. Washington. 1994.
- Akiskal HS, Hantouche E, Judd LL. Generalized anxiety disorder: from science to art. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. No. 393, Vol. 98, 1998.
- Hyman SE, Rudorfer MV.Anxiety disorders. In: Dale DC, Federman DD, eds. Scientific American® Medicine. Volume 3. New York: Healtheon / WebMD Corp., 2000, Section 13, Subsection VII.
- Nutt D, Argyropoulos S, Forshall S. Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Diagnosis, treatment and its relation to other anxiety disorders. Spain. 1998.
- Vallejo-Najera J.A. Introduction to Psychiatry. 7th Ed. Scientific-Medical Editorial. Barcelona. 1974.
- Image source 1.