Anxiety

Why do I feel on edge? Why am I jittery? How can I feel worried when I'm not worrying about anything specific? I'm not anxious, I just have genuine concerns about the world!

Anxiety. We all experience it in different ways. Sometimes we worry about something right in front of us (I'm worried about my rent payments!) and sometimes we worry about things that we cannot control (I am worried about whether I will die in a fiery crash!).

Worry can often focus on something legitimate or on possibilities, creating a sense of dread or a constant sense of unease. Sometimes, we can experience a heightened level of anxiety around practically any topic.

Anxiety can be physical, behavioral, or cognitive. This means that we may experience stress and anxiety in a variety of different ways. Some may experience it physically (sweating, heart racing, muscles tension), or emotionally (I feel like I'm about to burst!), or cognitively (Everything is going to go horribly, horribly wrong!).

Here are some common signs that you might have anxiety:
Behavioral:

• avoiding situations that have triggered stress
• Change in sleeping/eating pattern
• Change in sleeping patterns
• Nervous behaviors such as foot shaking
• restlessness

Physical:

• sweating
• heart racing
• muscle tension
• difficulty breathing
• knot in the pit of your stomach

Cognitive:

• Feelings of dread/apprehension
• Nightmares
• Overwhelming fear response
• Difficulty with concentration/easily distracted

Anxiety CAN be productive in limited amounts as it can help motivate you through a difficulty or stressful situation, but it can also be counterproductive and harmful when the anxiety is overwhelming. For example, fear of performing poorly on a test may motivate you to study harder; however, if that fear becomes overwhelming, you might feel paralyzed and be unable to concentrate in order to study effectively.

Anxiety can also be an underlying component of many treatable disorders including social phobia, specific phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic disorder along with multiple others.


Once diagnosed, anxiety is very treatable. Again, we all have experiences with varying levels of anxiety due to different circumstances. Reach out to our team of experts for help and support today!

​-Dr. T