Anxiety symptoms manifest in a range of ways and can differ from person to person. These can vary in severity and duration, and the signs are sometimes ignored or misidentified. To help understand how anxiety manifests, it’s crucial to understand a bit more about it, especially if it starts to impact your daily functioning.
Generally, when people think of anxiety, they think of an uncomfortable feeling that makes us feel “prickly” and tense. For most people, feelings of anxiety ebb and flow depending on what’s happening around them. In getting to grips with common anxiety symptoms, it’s also essential to understand the difference between feelings and symptoms.
In this post, we’ll cover the difference between feelings and symptoms, and discuss the physical and emotional symptoms of anxiety. As this post forms part of SACAP’s Anxiety Awareness Series, we’ll also touch on anxiety across life stages and share relevant coping tools and short online courses you can take to manage anxiety.
What is a symptom versus a feeling?
When learning to manage sometimes overwhelming anxiety, it can be challenging to differentiate between symptoms and feelings. To define symptoms, these are typically tangible physical manifestations that we can see and measure. For example, sweating and heart palpitations are physical and tangible symptoms associated with anxiety.
Feelings, on the other hand, are more subjective and difficult to quantify. For example, sadness and hunger are feelings, but because everyone experiences them differently, or perhaps not to the same extent, we can’t accurately measure them.
Perhaps one of the reasons anxiety is challenging to understand is that it is a combination of symptoms and feelings, which can complicate the process of identifying a root cause. However, if we learn more about the physical and emotional manifestations of anxiety, we can become more aware of the interplay between both symptoms and feelings.
Physical symptoms of anxiety
Regarding tangible physical manifestations, here are some of the most common physical symptoms of anxiety:
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Heart palpitations
- Restlessness
- Hyperventilating
- Increased sweating
- Trembling
While these symptoms can be associated with other health conditions, they all point to an overactivated nervous system. It’s important to note here that these symptoms, for example, in an emergency or disaster, are part of our innate functioning to help deal with catastrophe.
However, when there is no identifiable catastrophe, these symptoms may occur alongside feelings such as ongoing worry, tension, and dread, which we’ll discuss in the next point.
Emotional symptoms of anxiety
Anxiety, as mentioned above, involves feeling nervous, scared, and threatened. Other emotional symptoms of anxiety include the following:
- Insomnia (inability to sleep)
- Fear of impending doom
- Obsessive thoughts
- Panic attacks
These symptoms, which have strong emotional and mental components, can be trickier to quantify. We may also experience some of these symptoms, such as insomnia, for example, before an important event or stressful exam.
Symptoms such as a fear of impending doom, obsessive thoughts and panic attacks, however, signal a more chronic experience of anxiety. These symptoms highlight underlying physical and emotional disturbances that we must identify to manage our mental health and day-to-day lives better.
How anxiety manifests in different life stages is another crucial consideration, which involves identifying triggers and other factors that can exacerbate it.
How does anxiety manifest in different life stages?
In one of the articles in SACAP’s Anxiety Awareness series, The Complex Roots of Anxiety, we outline some of the causes of anxiety, which include biological, genetic, social and environmental factors. Anyone can experience anxiety at any age, but research by the WHO suggests that young adults and women are particularly vulnerable to anxiety, which can lead to dysfunctional decision-making.
Navigating major life transitions can also come with anxiety, such as graduating from university and experiencing uncertainty about career choices and economic realities, as explored in an APA article about anticipatory anxiety. Starting a family, going through a divorce or losing a loved one can also affect mental health and exacerbate existing mental health challenges.
Unfortunately, many people manage to cope with high-functioning anxiety, which can have devastating long-term consequences for physical and mental health. Therefore, learning how and when to seek help is crucial.
When to get help
We will all probably experience some level of anxiety in our lives. However, if you experience the following, it’s advisable to seek out support from a registered mental health professional:
- You experience worry and anxiety that interfere with daily life. For instance, maintaining hygiene, going to work or relationships.
- Your anxiety is causing you stress, which is becoming unmanageable.
- You feel depressed.
- You are using drugs or alcohol to cope.
- Your anxiety is manifesting itself physically, for example, headaches, stomach problems or insomnia.
How to deal with anxiety
Learning how to deal with anxiety depends on the person and the severity of their symptoms and feelings. The first step is usually to understand and manage triggers through counselling.
Self-care, including exercise, a healthy diet, regular sleep, stress management, and relaxation techniques, can assist in de-escalating the severity of an anxiety episode. For those with debilitating anxiety symptoms, a registered mental health practitioner might prescribe medication.
Learn more about managing mental health at SACAP
To gain a more comprehensive understanding of anxiety, SACAP offers a range of degree programmes and courses that will equip you with valuable knowledge and skills in mental health.
Our core offerings include the following degree programmes and higher certificates, which will enable you to not only better manage your own mental health, but also to support others:
- Bachelor of Psychology
- Bachelor of Applied Social Science (Majoring in Psychology and Counselling)
- Diploma in Counselling and Communication Skills
For short online courses that will equip you with the know-how to better manage and identify anxiety and improve your mental health, we also offer the following:
FAQ:
1. What are the physical symptoms of anxiety?
Physical symptoms of anxiety include heart palpitations, sweating, hyperventilation, dizziness and nausea.
2. Can anxiety cause stomach issues or chest pain?
Yes, anxiety can affect digestion and cause chest pain, as being in “fight or flight” mode alters levels of stress hormones in the body, which affect everyday functioning.
3. How do I know if I'm having an anxiety attack or panic attack?
An anxiety attack usually occurs after a gradual buildup of stress and tension, while a panic attack can occur suddenly and not always with an apparent trigger. Therefore, a panic attack may feel more intense than an anxiety attack, but the latter might last longer.
4. What are the behavioural signs of anxiety?
Behavioural signs of anxiety include restlessness and avoiding situations that might provoke feelings of anxiety. Withdrawal and struggling to deal with daily life are other behavioural signs of anxiety.
