Anxiety disorders are characterized by excessive or exaggerated worry about everyday situations with no significant or obvious reason for worry.
I provide Anxiety Therapy to younger adults (aged 18-40) located in Liverpool, Clay, Baldwinsville, and the greater Syracuse, NY area.
Do you worry (or feel apprehensive) about a variety of different types of things? Do you tend to anticipate disaster or negative outcomes with most events or activities?
Is your worrying impacting your daily life? Do you feel tense often and have difficulty relaxing?
Anxiety sucks. The “what ifs”, the overthinking, and the ruminating. Then there’s the spiraling that inevitably comes with all the overthinking and jumping to conclusions. Don’t forget the stomach aches, the headaches, and the shaking. The many sleepless nights. It’s canceling plans at the last minute because of the surge of panic that comes with not knowing exactly how everything is going to go. After canceling those plans it’s feeling worried that everyone is upset with you, or even worse – disappointed in you.
Anxiety is this constant feeling of being on edge that prevents you from ever truly relaxing, even when you have downtime. Your mind is always thinking about something you “should” be doing so trying to relax becomes stressful. It’s so exhausting. Your mind and body are never truly at peace.
Anxiety is a normal feeling that all humans experience. It is protective and beneficial in many ways. It’s normal to feel anxious if you’re in a situation that threatens your emotional or physical safety. Anxiety is supposed to trigger a fight or flight switch to turn on during these times to keep you safe.
The problem with anxiety disorders is that the fight or flight switch stays on and never seems to truly shut off. It’s like a car that has shifted out of gear and is now stuck. The switch seems to trip accidentally and stays on for situations such as getting off at the wrong exit on the highway or knowing your supervisor at work wants to meet with you.
High functioning anxiety is not a mental health diagnosis but rather a term that refers to people who live with anxiety but identify as functioning reasonably well, or even excelling, in different areas of life. Typically the version of yourself that you present to the world is not an accurate representation of how you feel inside.
Someone with high functioning anxiety may appear to be the picture of success:
At Work:
You might arrive at work earlier or stay later than everyone else. You’re always the first to sign up for an extra task or help out when needed. You’ve never missed a deadline or declined any task given to you. Coworkers perceive you to be motivated and driven, and your boss loves you.
In reality….
You power through the work day and then crash at home. You snap at your spouse because you’re physically and mentally drained from work. You feel overwhelmed and desperately in need of a day off, but you worry about being perceived as weak or a slacker. Your anxiety prevents you from setting boundaries, saying no, or taking a much needed sick day. You fear failure and resent your job for sucking the life out of you, but wouldn’t dare let anyone know that.
Socially:
You have a full social calendar because you say yes to everyone and everything. All of your weekends for the next 6 months are booked with social or family obligations that you aren’t even really that excited for. You answer every call and respond to every text promptly so that no one gets mad at you. You’re your friends’ therapist and the family peacemaker. Everyone seems to like you, and perceives you to be supportive and always doing well.
In reality …
You spend too much time on activities to please other people when you’d rather be doing something else. You find you don’t have time to tend to your own hobbies, interests, and needs because you’re busy meeting the needs of everyone else. You’re afraid of conflict and of disappointing others, so you do everything possible to avoid anyone being upset with you. You’re uncomfortable sharing your true feelings or expressing your needs for fear of being a burden, so you rarely ever do.
It’s certainly normal to feel anxious or uneasy in some social situations: Giving a presentation at work may cause your palms to feel sweaty as you anticipate talking in front of a large group. Going on a first date may cause a feeling of butterflies in your stomach as you wonder if the two of you will vibe.
In social anxiety disorder, however, everyday interactions cause significant anxiety, distress, and self-consciousness because you deeply fear being scrutinized, evaluated, or judged negatively by others. This intense fear and anxiety often leads to avoidance behaviors that can disrupt your life. In the above examples you may start calling out of work on the day of your presentations, or avoiding dating altogether due to your anxiety.
Avoiding the situations that trigger your anxiety helps to alleviate anxiety in the short term, however, in the long run anxiety worsens as you continue to engage in avoidance behaviors.
Research shows that psychotherapy (like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) is generally more effective than medication alone.