Is Your Anxiety Disguising Other Feelings?

August 29, 2019

Dr. Srikanth Reddy

#Best Psychiatrist in Indore

#Best Psychologist and De-Addiction Specialist in Indore

 

Anxiety and personality style are sometimes linked. Anxiety can come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and flavors. Sometimes anxiety is like a little pinch that can propel you to do something you’ve been avoiding, and sometimes it can be an overwhelming crush of terror. But most of the time it is somewhere in between.

There is an array of explanations for what causes generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). One that gets overshadowed by biological explanations is that anxiety can be a learned style for how someone deals with feelings and the world.

What Is Generalized Anxiety Disorder?

Some people develop GAD as a child while others do not see symptoms until they are an adult. Either way, living with GAD can last a long time. In many cases, it occurs along with other anxiety or mood disorders. In most cases, it improves with medications or talks therapy (psychotherapy). Making lifestyle changes, learning coping skills and using relaxation techniques also can help.

Symptoms

GAD symptoms can include:

• Worrying about excessively worrying
• incapability to set aside or let go of a worry
• incapability to relax, restlessness, and feeling keyed up or on edge
• Difficulty concentrating, or the feeling that your mind “goes blank”
• Distress about making decisions for fear of making the wrong decision
• Carrying every option in a situation all the way out to its possible negative conclusion
• Difficulty handling uncertainty or indecisiveness

Physical signs and symptoms may include:

• Being easily startled
• Trouble sleeping
• Sweating
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Muscle tension or muscle aches
• Trembling, feeling twitchy
• Nausea, diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome
• Headaches

Disguise for Other Feelings

Anxiety can also often be experienced in place of other feelings. For most people, anxiety is part of experiencing fear. However, feelings that are uncomfortable or hard to express can be transformed into anxiety.

Many people struggle to absorb, process, express and understand these feelings and honor their intent (to express dislike, ask for forgiveness, accept a loss, etc.) In turn, they can become anxious about the same condition or things that may seem less deserving of attention (e.g. every detail of how an event will go).