Anxiety Explained: When Worry Becomes a Disorder
The word “anxiety” gets thrown around a lot., but it’s really nothing to take lightly. Depression and anxiety are the top mental health conditions in the world, affecting millions of people on a daily basis. It’s helpful to understand what anxiety really is.
Many people think anxiety is about feeling anxious or worrying. While those are aspects of anxiety, that’s not the whole story.
Of course, we all have fears and worries from time to time. The difference between those feelings and an anxiety disorder? Anxiety often stems from irrational fears or worrying about something that hasn’t happened, isn’t likely to happen, and/or is beyond your control if it does happen. When that worry and anxiety become overwhelming and impact functioning, in ways such as preventing you from doing desired activities or consuming so much emotional energy that you don’t have the bandwidth to live the life you want, then we consider a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder.
One common type of anxiety disorder is Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), which involves excessive worry about multiple areas of life, occurring more days than not for at least six months, and accompanied by symptoms like restlessness, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbance, or muscle tension.
It’s important to understand that anxiety disorders can take various forms including (GAD), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Panic Disorder, and Specific Phobias. We’ll talk more about some of these in later blog posts.
A persistent focus on worst case scenarios, avoiding these triggers or feelings, and a pervasive sense of doom can take over. That’s when you need to take a good look at what’s happening internally. If you don’t, you may find yourself trying to cope with a growing sense of helplessness that can be crippling.
So, with that in mind, let’s break down the three components of anxiety to better understand the condition and how it can impact you.
1. Cognitive
The cognitive portion of anxiety refers to the anxious thoughts you might have. Think of a recording that you can’t turn off. The thoughts feel uncontrollable. Often, they are about the past, things you can’t change. Or, they can be thoughts about the future, things that have not yet happened. In anxiety thoughts about the future are often catastrophizing or worst-case scenario thoughts. Or, you may struggle with worrying excessively with worry about small, everyday things; often the level of worry is out of scale to what you’re worrying about. For instance, you may worry about being a few minutes late to an appointment.
2. Behavioral
There are a few different ways you might respond to anxiety, which is the behavioral component of the condition.
Some people choose avoidance. For example, you might be anxious about an upcoming assignment for work or school, so you avoid doing it, you procrastinate. Or, you might be anxious about conversing with people you don’t know, so you avoid going to large gatherings.
Other people who deal with anxiety can respond with safety behaviors, such as Googling information about health symptoms constantly to try to reassure themselves.
Both procrastination and constant checking are forms of avoidance. Unfortunately, these behaviors don’t lead to positive long-term results. They might make you feel better and safer in the moment. But, they’re not giving you the option to admit you’re struggling, and they certainly don’t give you the opportunity to tackle your anxiety. Instead, they can make it easy to deny you have a problem, and you’re less likely to seek out any necessary treatment.
3. Physical
Anxiety may be a mental health condition, but your body can respond in many physical ways to your constant fear and worry.
Some of the most common physical symptoms associated with anxiety include:
Rapid heart rate
Upset stomach/digestive issues
Sweating
Unfortunately, in many cases, these physical symptoms can make things worse, causing a vicious cycle to occur. Your anxiety causes your body to react, then your symptoms make you panic or develop irrational fears about sickness, dying, etc., and it worsens your feelings of anxiousness. In the end, it contributes to even more anxiety.
Anxiety Therapy
Once you accept the fact that you have anxiety, understanding the signs and symptoms becomes easier. The more you know about the condition itself, the easier it can be to treat it.
When you seek anxiety therapy, you and your therapist will first work to learn underlying contributors to your anxiety or what might trigger it for you. Anxiety impacts everyone differently so understanding triggers and what anxiety looks like for you is critical.
Anxiety won’t go away on its own. Getting the right treatment is important to learn. Effective therapy for anxiety typically uses a cognitive-behavioral approach, which focuses on helping you understand the components of anxiety as well as teaching you skills for managing your anxiety.
If you’ve been struggling with fears and worry but aren’t sure if you have an actual anxiety disorder, it may be time to reach out for help.
At Chanderbhan Psychological Services, located in Laredo, Texas, we offer a safe, confidential space where you can get counseling for symptoms of depression, anxiety and other struggles that may be impairing your life. Our therapists specialize in using empirically supported approaches (treatments that are proven by research to work) for anxiety disorders and other psychological disorders. We also offer a caring, non-judgemental space where you can ask the important questions at your own pace, with guidance that feels human and respectful.
Our practice offers therapy, counseling, and psychological evaluations grounded in clinical expertise and ethical care. We serve individuals in Laredo, TX, and across South Texas, providing individualized support through in-person and online therapy.
If you’re considering starting therapy, you can learn more about our therapists here.
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Stress is usually tied to a specific situation and improves when that situation resolves. Anxiety tends to linger, escalate, or attach itself to new worries. If your fear feels hard to control and begins interfering with daily life, it may be more than stress.
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Occasional anxiety can subside. An anxiety disorder typically does not resolve without intentional change. Avoidance behaviors often make it worse over time. Therapy helps interrupt that cycle.
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Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective way treatmentment approaches for anxiety. It focuses on identifying anxious thinking patterns and changing behaviors that maintain anxiety. Over time, this reduces symptoms and builds confidence.
