Anxiety is one of the most common types of mental health disorders. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2019 “Over 15% of adults experienced symptoms of anxiety that were either mild, moderate, or severe in the past 2 weeks.” However, some people have high-functioning anxiety—meaning they have anxiety and don’t even know it.
North Atlanta Behavioral Health is here to help you free yourself from the constraints of your anxiety. Visit our admissions page today to get started.
9 Signs and Symptoms of High-Functioning Anxiety
High-functioning anxiety is a type of persistent worry or fear that doesn’t interfere with your ability to function in daily life. So, you can maintain a job, complete tasks and chores, and even appear as a highly accomplished person to others. Still, under the surface, you feel like something is off.
The following are signs and symptoms of high-functioning anxiety:
1. Overachieving
To others, you appear like you’ve got everything together. In fact, you are likely successful in your field or do extremely well in school. However, the truth is that your anxiety motivates much of your outward overachieving behaviors.
There is a big difference between excelling and overachieving. Essentially, overachievers set impossibly high standards for themselves. Then, they harshly criticize themselves if they don’t meet these standards.
Excelling in your hobbies, passions, profession, school, or other interests isn’t a sign of high-functioning anxiety. But if your accomplishments never seem good enough or you equate any minor mistake with a total failure, you might have an underlying anxiety disorder.
2. Overanalyzing
Overanalyzing or overthinking means you obsess over every possible outcome from past events or when planning for the future. While critical thinking and learning from the past can be healthy, pouring over every detail can get in the way of moving forward.
You might struggle to let things go or plan for the future. Because of this, you get stuck in indecision or ruminate past events. Oftentimes, this is driven by excessive worry and anxiety.
Furthermore, overanalyzing a task or event can lead to procrastination.
3. Avoidance
Avoidance is a maladaptive way of coping with anxiety. This means you avoid any situation, person, place, or thing that triggers your anxiety. Moreover, you often avoid opportunities that would ultimately enhance your life.
While everyone has phobias and avoids certain things, maladaptive avoidance limits your ability to live a healthy and fulfilling life.
4. Need for Control
Oftentimes, a person with anxiety thinks that if everything goes a certain way, then their anxiety won’t come up. Unfortunately, you can’t control every possible outcome. And several factors will happen outside of your control—despite any preparation.
Letting go of the need for control is an important skill for people with high-functioning anxiety.
5. Fear of Disappointing Others
The fear of disappointing others leads to other issues, such as negative self-talk and perfectionism. It’s important to find a balance between meeting other people’s expectations and doing the best that you can. After all, you can’t control how others respond to you—even when you do your best.
6. Self-Doubt
Self-doubt often paralyzes people with high-functioning anxiety as well as a similar issue called high-functioning depression. It can also get in the way of celebrating your successes and accomplishments. This may even lead to what’s called “imposter syndrome”—where you fear that everyone else will “find out” that you aren’t as competent as you appear.
7. Racing Thoughts
Racing thoughts are a common symptom of anxiety. It might seem like the noise in your head never goes away. You’re always thinking and can’t prioritize one thought over another.
8. Unable to Relax
You might also struggle to relax. This could be the result of other symptoms—especially racing thoughts. When you have a minute to settle down, your mind doesn’t stop.
Oftentimes, when you do take a break, you feel unproductive or that you must be doing something else. And, when you have nothing to focus on, you start overthinking or ruminating.
9. Physical Symptoms (With No Medical Explanation)
Anxiety doesn’t only affect your mental health. You can have physical symptoms resulting from underlying anxiety. These symptoms occur with no medical explanation.
Physical symptoms of high-functioning anxiety include the following:
- Muscle tension
- Headache and migraine
- Excessive sweating
- Gastrointestinal problems
- Sleep disturbances
What Causes High-Functioning Anxiety?
There are several possible causes of high-functioning anxiety, including:
- Genetics: You might be born with a predisposition for anxiety. Thus, your parents or other close relatives could also have anxiety disorders.
- Home environment: Is your home life chaotic? How about during childhood? If you’re dealing with significant stress at home, you could develop an anxiety disorder.
- Childhood trauma: Early traumatic experiences can have a profound effect on your adulthood. You might have learned maladaptive coping skills, such as avoidance behaviors. In addition, you could have become an overachiever to please neglectful or abusive parents.
- Stressful workplace: Do you often take work home with you or feel a lot of pressure at work? This kind of stress can lead to anxiety because you’re rarely ever able to relax.
- Brain chemistry: Anxiety and other mental health disorders could be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Certain chemicals, like dopamine and serotonin, help you feel good, calm, accomplished, and focused. On the other hand, an overabundance of stress hormones like cortisol contributes to excessive stress and anxiety.
What Can I Do to Manage My Anxiety?
Once you are aware of your anxiety you can take steps to manage it. Managing anxiety and reducing stress often go hand-in-hand. So, if you focus on stress reduction techniques, your anxiety should also go down.
Tips to manage anxiety and reduce stress include the following:
- Daily relaxation: Schedule a few minutes per day to relax. You might listen to music, meditate, or engage in deep breathing.
- Avoid comparing yourself to others: Comparing yourself and your life to others can drive your anxiety. Take a break from social media, as this might expose you to unrealistic comparisons.
- Celebrate Your Accomplishments: If you have high-functioning anxiety, you probably think a lot about your mistakes or failures. Celebrating your successes and accomplishments can help you develop a realistic self-image.
- Talk About It: Sharing your inner experiences with others can help you manage your anxiety. When you hold things in, they can spiral out of control. Talk to a trusted friend or family member about your fears and anxieties.
- Move Your Body: Exercise, a walk around the block, stretching, dancing—whatever gets you moving—can help you manage anxiety. Movement helps to relieve stress and stored energy in the body.
The above-mentioned tips can help you manage anxiety. However, if your high-functioning anxiety is out of control, you could have an anxiety disorder. For this, you need professional treatment to address a mental health disorder.
Professional treatment for anxiety includes the following:
- Medications: A psychiatrist can prescribe anti-anxiety or anti-depressants to restore chemical imbalances that might cause anxiety.
- Psychotherapy: During individual or group therapy, you can learn to change the way you think and perceive the world around you. You can also learn new ways to cope with stress.
- Peer support: Anxiety can often make you feel all alone in your struggles and thoughts. Peer support groups help you realize you aren’t alone and provide a safe place to share with others.
- Holistic approaches: Anxiety disorders affect every aspect of your health. Holistic approaches, like yoga, meditation, and red light therapy, can help you regain a sense of well-being.
Get High-Functioning Anxiety Under Control Today
High-functioning anxiety can be difficult to identify. However, awareness of an underlying issue is the first step to healing. At North Atlanta Behavioral Health, we offer outpatient mental health treatment programs for anxiety and other disorders.
Contact us today to get your anxiety under control.
