Signs of bad anxiety

Signs of an anxiety disorder

If you're experiencing symptoms of anxiety over a long period of time, you may have an anxiety disorder.

For more information about symptoms, read anxiety, fear and panic.

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a long-term condition that can make you feel anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event.

You may have GAD if:

your worrying is uncontrollable and causes distress
your worrying affects your daily life, including school, your job and your social life
you cannot let go of your worries

you worry about all sorts of things, such as your job or health, and minor concerns, such as household chores

You should see your GP if anxiety is affecting your daily life or causing you distress. They can diagnose your condition based on your symptoms, which may include:

feeling restless or on edge
being irritable
getting tired easily
having difficulty concentrating or feeling your mind goes blank
having difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep
having tense muscles

If you're diagnosed with GAD, there is treatment available. Read more information about treating GAD.

Other types of anxiety disorder

There are several other types of anxiety disorder, including:

panic disorder – a condition where you have recurring, regular panic attacks; for more information, see anxiety, fear and panic
phobias – an extreme or irrational fear of something, like an animal or a place
agoraphobia – a fear related to situations such as leaving home, being in crowds or travelling alone
obsessive compulsive disorder – a condition that usually involves unwanted thoughts or urges, and repetitive behaviours
post-traumatic stress disorder – a condition caused by frightening or distressing events

Further information

Anxiety, fear and panic
Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD)
Panic disorder
Stress
5 steps to mental wellbeing
Mind: anxiety and panic attacks

Page last reviewed: 18 January 2022
Next review due: 18 January 2025

NIMH » Anxiety Disorders

Overview

Occasional anxiety is a normal part of life. Many people worry about things such as health, money, or family problems. But anxiety disorders involve more than temporary worry or fear. For people with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The symptoms can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, schoolwork, and relationships.

There are several types of anxiety disorders, including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and various phobia-related disorders.

Signs and Symptoms

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) usually involves a persistent feeling of anxiety or dread, which can interfere with daily life. It is not the same as occasionally worrying about things or experiencing anxiety due to stressful life events. People living with GAD experience frequent anxiety for months, if not years.

Symptoms of GAD include:

Feeling restless, wound-up, or on-edge
Being easily fatigued
Having difficulty concentrating
Being irritable
Having headaches, muscle aches, stomachaches, or unexplained pains
Difficulty controlling feelings of worry
Having sleep problems, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep

Panic Disorder

People with panic disorder have frequent and unexpected panic attacks. Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear, discomfort, or sense of losing control even when there is no clear danger or trigger. Not everyone who experiences a panic attack will develop panic disorder.

During a panic attack, a person may experience:

Pounding or racing heart
Sweating
Trembling or tingling
Chest pain
Feelings of impending doom
Feelings of being out of control

People with panic disorder often worry about when the next attack will happen and actively try to prevent future attacks by avoiding places, situations, or behaviors they associate with panic attacks. Panic attacks can occur as frequently as several times a day or as rarely as a few times a year.

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. For people with social anxiety disorder, the fear of social situations may feel so intense that it seems beyond their control. For some people, this fear may get in the way of going to work, attending school, or doing everyday things.

People with social anxiety disorder may experience:

Blushing, sweating, or trembling
Pounding or racing heart
Stomachaches
Rigid body posture or speaking with an overly soft voice
Difficulty making eye contact or being around people they don’t know
Feelings of self-consciousness or fear that people will judge them negatively

Phobia-related disorders

A phobia is an intense fear of—or aversion to—specific objects or situations. Although it can be realistic to be anxious in some circumstances, the fear people with phobias feel is out of proportion to the actual danger caused by the situation or object.

People with a phobia:

May have an irrational or excessive worry about encountering the feared object or situation
Take active steps to avoid the feared object or situation
Experience immediate intense anxiety upon encountering the feared object or situation
Endure unavoidable objects and situations with intense anxiety

There are several types of phobias and phobia-related disorders:

Specific Phobias (sometimes called simple phobias): As the name suggests, people who have a specific phobia have an intense fear of, or feel intense anxiety about, specific types of objects or situations. Some examples of specific phobias include the fear of:

Flying
Heights
Specific animals, such as spiders, dogs, or snakes
Receiving injections
Blood

Social anxiety disorder (previously called social phobia): People with social anxiety disorder have a general intense fear of, or anxiety toward, social or performance situations. They worry that actions or behaviors associated with their anxiety will be negatively evaluated by others, leading them to feel embarrassed. This worry often causes people with social anxiety to avoid social situations. Social anxiety disorder can manifest in a range of situations, such as within the workplace or the school environment.

Agoraphobia: People with agoraphobia have an intense fear of two or more of the following situations:

Using public transportation
Being in open spaces
Being in enclosed spaces
Standing in line or being in a crowd
Being outside of the home alone

People with agoraphobia often avoid these situations, in part, because they think being able to leave might be difficult or impossible in the event they have panic-like reactions or other embarrassing symptoms. In the most severe form of agoraphobia, an individual can become housebound.

Separation anxiety disorder: Separation anxiety is often thought of as something that only children deal with; however, adults can also be diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder. People who have separation anxiety disorder have fears about being parted from people to whom they are attached. They often worry that some sort of harm or something untoward will happen to their attachment figures while they are separated. This fear leads them to avoid being separated from their attachment figures and to avoid being alone. People with separation anxiety may have nightmares about being separated from attachment figures or experience physical symptoms when separation occurs or is anticipated.

Selective mutism: A somewhat rare disorder associated with anxiety is selective mutism. Selective mutism occurs when people fail to speak in specific social situations despite having normal language skills. Selective mutism usually occurs before the age of 5 and is often associated with extreme shyness, fear of social embarrassment, compulsive traits, withdrawal, clinging behavior, and temper tantrums. People diagnosed with selective mutism are often also diagnosed with other anxiety disorders.

Risk Factors

Researchers are finding that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to the risk of developing an anxiety disorder.

The risk factors for each type of anxiety disorder vary. However, some general risk factors include:

Shyness or feeling distressed or nervous in new situations in childhood
Exposure to stressful and negative life or environmental events
A history of anxiety or other mental disorders in biological relatives

Anxiety symptoms can be produced or aggravated by:

Some physical health conditions, such as thyroid problems or heart arrhythmia
Caffeine or other substances/medications

If you think you may have an anxiety disorder, getting a physical examination from a health care provider may help them diagnose your symptoms and find the right treatment.

Treatments and Therapies

Anxiety disorders are generally treated with psychotherapy, medication, or both. There are many ways to treat anxiety, and you should work with a health care provider to choose the best treatment for you.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy or “talk therapy” can help people with anxiety disorders. To be effective, psychotherapy must be directed at your specific anxieties and tailored to your needs.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an example of one type of psychotherapy that can help people with anxiety disorders. It teaches people different ways of thinking, behaving, and reacting to situations to help you feel less anxious and fearful. CBT has been well studied and is the gold standard for psychotherapy.

Exposure therapy is a CBT method that is used to treat anxiety disorders. Exposure therapy focuses on confronting the fears underlying an anxiety disorder to help people engage in activities they have been avoiding. Exposure therapy is sometimes used along with relaxation exercises.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Another treatment option for some anxiety disorders is acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). ACT takes a different approach than CBT to negative thoughts. It uses strategies such as mindfulness and goal setting to reduce discomfort and anxiety. Compared to CBT, ACT is a newer form of psychotherapy treatment, so less data are available on its effectiveness.

Medication

Medication does not cure anxiety disorders but can help relieve symptoms. Health care providers, such as a psychiatrist or primary care provider, can prescribe medication for anxiety. Some states also allow psychologists who have received specialized training to prescribe psychiatric medications. The most common classes of medications used to combat anxiety disorders are antidepressants, anti-anxiety medications (such as benzodiazepines), and beta-blockers.

Antidepressants

Antidepressants are used to treat depression, but they can also be helpful for treating anxiety disorders. They may help improve the way your brain uses certain chemicals that control mood or stress. You may need to try several different antidepressant medicines before finding the one that improves your symptoms and has manageable side effects.

Antidepressants can take several weeks to start working so it’s important to give the medication a chance before reaching a conclusion about its effectiveness. If you begin taking antidepressants, do not stop taking them without the help of a health care provider. Your provider can help you slowly and safely decrease your dose. Stopping them abruptly can cause withdrawal symptoms.

In some cases, children, teenagers, and adults younger than 25 may experience increased suicidal thoughts or behavior when taking antidepressant medications, especially in the first few weeks after starting or when the dose is changed. Because of this, people of all ages taking antidepressants should be watched closely, especially during the first few weeks of treatment.

Anti-anxiety Medications

Anti-anxiety medications can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety, panic attacks, or extreme fear and worry. The most common anti-anxiety medications are called benzodiazepines. Although benzodiazepines are sometimes used as first-line treatments for generalized anxiety disorder, they have both benefits and drawbacks.

Benzodiazepines are effective in relieving anxiety and take effect more quickly than antidepressant medications. However, some people build up a tolerance to these medications and need higher and higher doses to get the same effect. Some people even become dependent on them.

To avoid these problems, health care providers usually prescribe benzodiazepines for short periods of time.

If people suddenly stop taking benzodiazepines, they may have withdrawal symptoms, or their anxiety may return. Therefore, benzodiazepines should be tapered off slowly. Your provider can help you slowly and safely decrease your dose.

Beta-blockers

Although beta-blockers are most often used to treat high blood pressure, they can help relieve the physical symptoms of anxiety, such as rapid heartbeat, shaking, trembling, and blushing. These medications can help people keep physical symptoms under control when taken for short periods. They can also be used “as needed” to reduce acute anxiety, including to prevent some predictable forms of performance anxieties.

Choosing the Right Medication

Some types of drugs may work better for specific types of anxiety disorders, so people should work closely with a health care provider to identify which medication is best for them. Certain substances such as caffeine, some over-the-counter cold medicines, illicit drugs, and herbal supplements may aggravate the symptoms of anxiety disorders or interact with prescribed medication. People should talk with a health care provider, so they can learn which substances are safe and which to avoid.

Choosing the right medication, medication dose, and treatment plan should be done under an expert’s care and should be based on a person’s needs and their medical situation. Your and your provider may try several medicines before finding the right one.

Support Groups

Some people with anxiety disorders might benefit from joining a self-help or support group and sharing their problems and achievements with others. Support groups are available both in person and online. However, any advice you receive from a support group member should be used cautiously and does not replace treatment recommendations from a health care provider.

Stress Management Techniques

Stress management techniques, such as exercise, mindfulness, and meditation, also can reduce anxiety symptoms and enhance the effects of psychotherapy. You can learn more about how these techniques benefit your treatment by talking with a health care provider.

Join a Study

Clinical trials are research studies that look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases and conditions. The goal of clinical trials is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Although individuals may benefit from being part of a clinical trial, participants should be aware that the primary purpose of a clinical trial is to gain new scientific knowledge so that others may be better helped in the future.

Researchers at NIMH and around the country conduct many studies with patients and healthy volunteers. We have new and better treatment options today because of what clinical trials uncovered years ago. Be part of tomorrow’s medical breakthroughs. Talk to your health care provider about clinical trials, their benefits and risks, and whether one is right for you.

To learn more or find a study, visit:

NIMH’s Clinical Trials webpage: Information about participating in clinical trials
Clinicaltrials.gov: Current Studies on Anxiety Disorders: List of clinical trials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) being conducted across the country
Join a Study: Adults - Anxiety Disorders: List of studies being conducted on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD
Join a Study: Children - Anxiety Disorders: List of studies being conducted on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD

Learn More

Free Brochures and Shareable Resources

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): When Worry Gets Out of Control: This brochure describes the signs, symptoms, and treatment of generalized anxiety disorder.
I’m So Stressed Out!: This fact sheet intended for teens and young adults presents information about stress, anxiety, and ways to cope when feeling overwhelmed.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: When Unwanted Thoughts Take Over: This brochure describes the signs, symptoms, and treatment of OCD.
Panic Disorder: When Fear Overwhelms: This brochure describes the signs, symptoms, and treatments of panic disorder.
Social Anxiety Disorder: More Than Just Shyness: This brochure describes the signs, symptoms, and treatment of social anxiety disorder.
Shareable Resources on Anxiety Disorders: Help support anxiety awareness and education in your community. Use these digital resources, including graphics and messages, to spread the word about anxiety disorders.

Multimedia

Mental Health Minute: Anxiety Disorders in Adults:Take a mental health minute to watch this video about anxiety disorders in adults.
Mental Health Minute: Stress and Anxiety in Adolescents: Take a mental health minute to watch this video about stress and anxiety in adolescents.
NIMH Expert Discusses Coping with the Pandemic and School Re-Entry Stress: Learn about the causes or triggers of stress and coping techniques to help reduce anxiety and improve the transition back to school.
NIMH Expert Discusses Managing Stress and Anxiety: Learn about coping with stressful situations and when to seek help.
GREAT: Learn helpful practices to manage stress and anxiety. GREAT was developed by Dr. Krystal Lewis, a licensed clinical psychologist at NIMH.
Getting to Know Your Brain: Dealing with Stress: Test your knowledge about stress and the brain. Also learn how to create and use a “stress catcher” to practice strategies to deal with stress.
Guided Visualization: Dealing with Stress: Learn how the brain handles stress and practice a guided visualization activity.
Panic Disorder: The Symptoms: Learn about the signs and symptoms of panic disorder.

Federal Resources

Anxiety Disorders (MedlinePlus – also en español)

Research and Statistics

Journal Articles: References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine).
Statistics: Anxiety Disorder: This webpage provides information on the statistics currently available on the prevalence and treatment of anxiety among people in the U.S.

Last Reviewed: April 2022
Unless otherwise specified, NIMH information and publications are in the public domain and available for use free of charge. Citation of NIMH is appreciated. Please see our Citing NIMH Information and Publications page for more information.

treatment, how to get rid of anxiety, how to deal with anxiety for no reason

Anxiety is a negatively colored mood with feelings of worry, tension, and fear. In moderation, such emotions are useful: they help to mobilize forces and find a way out of extreme situations. But there must be grounds for concern, and normally it lasts a limited period of time.

If a person constantly experiences a feeling of anxiety and anxiety for no reason, this may indicate the presence of a mental disorder. In the absence of help, constant tension wears out the nervous system and the body as a whole, which leads to a breakdown in adaptation mechanisms and the development of chronic diseases. nine0003

If you notice that you cannot relax for a long time, then you should think about visiting a specialist.

In pathological cases, a state of anxiety and restlessness without a cause manifests itself both mentally and physically.

Mental symptoms:

constant feeling of fear and excitement for no reason,
poor concentration and attention,
sleep disorders,
emotional lability, irritability, tearfulness,
inability to relax and fully engage in daily activities or communication,
the need to reassure others that everything is okay. At the same time, words of support do not bring relief.

Physical symptoms:

rapid breathing and heartbeat,
headaches, pain in the abdomen and in the region of the heart,
excessive sweating,
eating disorders: increased or loss of appetite,
weakness,
shivering, chills,
stool disorders: frequent urge, constipation,
feeling short of breath,
nausea,
muscle spasms and pain.

Unreasonable anxiety and anxiety increase or smooth out from time to time. Exacerbations often accompany stress: conflicts, important events, illness. Normally, a person recovers quickly after the situation is resolved, but when upset, negative emotions do not go away. nine0003

The intensity of anxiety varies from mild to severe. The extreme is panic. If you ignore an anxiety state for a long time for no reason, then panic attacks can join it. They overtake unexpectedly and sometimes without a good enough reason, but after this episode, a person begins to avoid situations similar to the one in which it happened: public transport, an elevator, or just a crowd of people. This greatly reduces the quality of life and can lead to social isolation. nine0003

Causes of causeless anxiety and anxiety

The occurrence of anxiety disorder is influenced by heredity. It has been found that certain brain structures and features of biological processes play an important role in the emergence of fear and anxiety. Personal characteristics, somatic health problems, lifestyle and various types of addictions also matter. Sometimes there is no cause for causeless anxiety and worry. Negative feelings usually have a trigger - an event or thought that causes an anxious response. However, most people are not aware of their triggers and believe that their emotions are groundless. In this case, only a specialist will help to understand why excitement arises for no reason. nine0003

There are a number of diseases, the symptoms of which are constant anxiety. With causeless fear and anxiety, the reasons may be as follows:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Persistent nervousness and worry over small things that are usually visible to others and last 6 or more months. It starts in adolescence and intensifies with age.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder: obsessive thoughts and fears that are accompanied by obsessive actions that do not bring relief. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is distinguished - a person is indomitably haunted by memories that reproduce a traumatic situation. nine0014
Phobias: irrational fear of any, even mundane, things. Accompanied by uncontrolled panic and physical manifestations.
Panic attack - an excruciating and sudden attack of panic, which is accompanied by a fear of death and vivid somatic symptoms. The regular occurrence of panic attacks means the development of a panic disorder.
Post-traumatic stress disorder: occurs after a severe traumatic situation and is accompanied by high levels of anxiety, avoidance and flashbacks. nine0014

These are the most common examples, but pathological anxiety can be a symptom of other disorders or the result of a failed stress management. If you want to understand why there is a feeling of anxiety for no reason, you should consult a doctor. Without clarifying the main factor and working on it, it is impossible to restore health and peace of mind.

What to do with causeless anxiety and anxiety

It is difficult to live in constant stress. If you experience causeless anxiety and fear of what to do, the following list will tell you: nine0003

Talk to someone you trust. This could be a relative, a close friend, a therapist, or a helpline employee. People are social creatures, so communication is a good way to relieve internal tension.
Find a way to calm down quickly. There is not always a person with whom you can share. Therefore, it is important to find a suitable method that will help you relax: breathing techniques, soothing music, aromatherapy, self-massage, and more. If you cannot independently choose a technique that quickly helps with anxiety for no reason, a specialist will tell you what to do. nine0014
Add physical activity to your life. It is a natural and effective remedy for anxiety. Moderate sport relieves stress, lowers stress hormones, and strengthens the nervous system. Get at least 30 minutes of physical exercise a day.
Normalization of lifestyle. Get enough sleep, eat well, give up bad habits. This stabilizes physical performance and neurotransmitter levels, which helps maintain emotional balance. nine0014
Start keeping a diary. Notes help identify patterns of anxiety flare-ups, understand the causes, and notice early signs of their occurrence. Also, thanks to this, you will begin to focus more on positive events that you might not have noticed before.

With excitement for no reason, everyone who regularly encounters this wants to know what to do. There is no universal method, however, the 5 steps listed above are recommended for every person with increased anxiety. This may be enough to alleviate symptoms. But if self-help techniques do not give the desired effect, then with a regularly occurring feeling of anxiety for no reason, you need to find out from a specialist what to do. nine0003

Treatment of causeless feelings of anxiety and restlessness

Regardless of the cause of pathological anxiety, professional help is the only complete method to eliminate the problem. If you have constant excitement and anxiety for no reason, you can quickly and effectively learn from a psychiatrist or psychotherapist how to get rid of this condition.

Due to the diversity of anxiety disorders, their therapy must be adapted to the individual clinical picture and diagnosis. Therefore, only a highly qualified specialist who has experience working with different types of anxiety conditions can tell you how to get rid of an anxiety state for no reason. For example, the therapy algorithm for a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is different from the help for panic attacks. nine0003

For a state of anxiety and anxiety without a cause, treatment includes the following approaches:

Psychotherapy. The most promising direction, which not only eliminates the symptom, but identifies the cause and fights it. Therapy teaches when feeling anxiety for no reason, how to get rid of acute attacks of anxiety, relax, look at life situations differently. The doctor will help to uncover the main causes of your fears and work them out. The patient receives the tools to overcome anxiety and uses them successfully. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is usually used: in the course of treatment, the patient encounters an object of concern and gradually gains confidence that he can control the situation. nine0014
Medical therapy. Depending on the type of anxiety and the presence of associated mental or physical health problems, antidepressants, sedatives, sleeping pills, and other drugs may be prescribed. When anxiety is felt without a cause, drug treatment will alleviate the symptoms and improve the quality of life of the patient during his psychotherapeutic work on the underlying cause. Uncontrolled medication leads to dangerous side effects and withdrawal syndrome, so they can only be used according to the individual course prescribed by the doctor. nine0003

It is recommended to use a combination of psychotherapeutic and drug treatment, but sometimes only the first one is enough.

You should not put off visiting a doctor if you feel that experiences are preventing you from living. Over time, the symptoms worsen and other severe mental illnesses join: depression, neurotic disorders, and more. If the normalization of lifestyle does not help, it means that you will understand how to get rid of unreasonable anxiety only from a psychotherapist. With a timely appeal to a competent specialist, only a few sessions of psychotherapy may be enough for recovery. nine0003

Thanks to modern psychotherapeutic approaches, hundreds of people are making great strides every day in the fight against anxiety disorders. There is no need to endure the painful burden of fear and anxiety, because timely assistance allows you to achieve excellent results: the patient will fully recover and return to a full life, and the improvement will be noticeable after the first session.

TOP-10 signs of increased anxiety in children and adults

Causes of increased anxiety
Symptoms of increased anxiety
How to Tell if You Have Anxiety - 10 Signs
Self-assessment - Tsung scale
Increased anxiety in a child
How to get rid of increased anxiety

Image by fizkes on Shutterstock

Anxiety is a natural reaction of the psyche to the likelihood of a threat. This is an adaptation mechanism that works when a stressful situation arises and contributes to the activation of certain body systems. When anxiety occurs, the production of adrenaline and norepinephrine increases. These are neurotransmitters that increase the rate of neural transmission. They prepare the body for a fight or flight response. nine0003

A psychopathological reaction is an increased sense of anxiety that accompanies a person constantly and is not associated with external circumstances. This condition is called organic anxiety disorder. A constantly elevated level of anxiety worsens the quality of life, forcing a person to abandon their plans. To reduce psycho-emotional stress, the patient begins to avoid everything new and unusual. As a result, a person with increased anxiety limits social contacts, spends most of the time at home, that is, in a familiar environment. This leads to low self-esteem, self-doubt and other psychological problems. nine0003

People of different genders and ages experience increased levels of anxiety. The main number of patients is in the age group from 40 to 65 years. For one reason or another, anxiety in a child or adolescent may be increased. There are no specific methods for the prevention of anxiety disorders, therefore, in each individual case, it is necessary to identify the cause and eliminate it.

Causes of increased anxiety

A feeling of increased anxiety and restlessness is accompanied by an organic anxiety disorder. It arises due to an inadequate reaction of the sympathetic nervous system, the work of which is disrupted in certain pathologies of an organic nature. They affect the normal course of physiological processes, cause a violation of the production of neurotransmitters. The imbalance of sympathetic and parasympathetic activation leads to the fact that a person is constantly accompanied by increased anxiety and fear. nine0003

An inadequate response of the sympathetic nervous system can be caused by:

cardiovascular diseases;
hormonal disorders;
traumatic brain injury (TBI), tumors and inflammatory diseases of the brain;
hypoglycemia;
vitamin B12 deficiency;
Taking certain medications.

Up to half of patients with cardiovascular diseases experience anxiety syndrome. Panic fear is one of the main symptoms of myocardial infarction. An increased tendency to anxiety in endocrine pathologies occurs due to disruption of the adrenal glands, thyroid and parathyroid glands, hypoglycemia - low blood glucose levels. nine0003

Increased anxiety and fear are observed in patients after traumatic brain injury, brain tumors, encephalitis. The reason for this phenomenon is changes in tissues, impaired cerebral circulation.

Lack of vitamin B12 causes negative neurological manifestations, since this component is necessary for the normal functioning of the central nervous system. An increased sense of fear and anxiety for no particular reason can occur when taking drugs based on atropine, scopolamine. nine0003

In addition to physiological, there are psychological causes of increased anxiety. These include:

features of family education;
post-traumatic stress disorder;
internal conflicts.

In the high-risk group are people who grew up in families with an unfavorable psychological climate, survived an accident, became a victim of a crime.

Anxiety symptoms

With this neurological disorder, behavioral, vegetative, emotional signs of increased anxiety are observed. The main ones are:

a feeling of constant inner tension, which may turn into panic;
feeling of helplessness in the face of a threat;
self-doubt;
difficulty concentrating;
restlessness;
fussiness, rapid speech; nine0014
stiffness of movement;
palpitations, shortness of breath;
lump in throat;
stomach discomfort;
stool disorder;
sleep and appetite disorders.

How to Tell if You Have Anxiety - 10 Signs

Experts have identified a number of signs, a kind of "checklist", by which it is convenient to determine whether anxiety is increased in an adult:

Feeling unwell. A person shows symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular and other pathologies, while diagnostics and specialists do not reveal any problems. The reasons are in the field of mental state.
Anxiety about something greatly exceeds the reason. If a person has a serious and responsible event or an important issue to solve, excitement is a natural state. However, if a person cannot cope with his emotions or the cause for excitement is insignificant, there is a problem of increased anxiety. nine0014
Constant fatigue. This condition occurs disproportionately to physical and mental stress, often accompanied by increased drowsiness. Thus, the human psyche tries to “protect itself” from external threats.
Sleep disturbance. Increased drowsiness or, conversely, problems with falling asleep is one of the most striking signs of emotional instability.
Difficulty concentrating. A person takes on several things at the same time, cannot concentrate on one task, since he needs to keep everything under control. nine0014
Restlessness. This symptom often accompanies a problem with concentration. It is difficult for a person to sit in one place, he needs to constantly “run somewhere”. He constantly jumps up from his seat to switch to another type of activity without bringing the previous task to its logical conclusion.
Muscle tension. It manifests itself in the so-called "clips", which are easy to recognize from the side. In a person with increased anxiety, the shoulders are constantly raised and tense, as if lifting a heavy weight or ready to strike. There is a habit of constantly clenching fists, facial muscles are tense: lips are compressed, the corners of the mouth are lowered down, the person is constantly frowning. Often the muscle tension is so strong that the person experiences physical pain. nine0014
Irritability and inability to control emotions. Frequent outbursts of irritation with minimal or even no reason exacerbate emotional imbalance, thus "driving" a person into a vicious circle of anxiety.
Phobias. The term "phobia" refers to an unreasonable fear of any events, objects or objects: air travel, public speaking, spiders, snakes, etc. Such fear is irrational, interferes with normal life.

Self-assessment - Tsung scale

For self-diagnosis of the level of anxiety, a questionnaire developed in 1971 by psychiatrist V. Tsung is used. As part of the test, the patient needs to read 20 statements and for each of them choose the frequency of manifestation (from "very rarely" to "almost always"). It should be noted that the test only evaluates symptoms and cannot be used as a tool for making a medical diagnosis. If the test results reveal symptoms of increased anxiety, the patient is advised to contact a clinical psychologist or psychotherapist for a final diagnosis. nine0003

Anxiety in a child

As practice shows, increased anxiety in a teenager is most often due to psychological reasons, although organic pathologies are not excluded. In the first place - features of family education. Anxious children grow up who are overprotected, make high demands on them or are treated too rudely, harshly. In adolescence, the cause of anxiety may be the contradiction between the "I-ideal" and "I-real". nine0003

What to do if a child suffers from increased anxiety? First of all, it is important to identify those factors that cause anxiety and stress.

Learn more