Just Stress or Symptoms of Anxiety Disorder?

Symptoms of anxiety disorder are often dismissed as just stress. Too much stress is one of the top signs of anxiety. If your stress leads to the symptoms anxiety brings, it’s time to face it.

If you have a hunch that your stress is something more serious, it probably is. If you’ve been researching the difference between anxiety attack symptoms and an anxiety disorder symptom, and comparing them with your stress levels, read on.

Stress and anxiety are often confused for one and the same thing. However, these two are quite different. They often present similar symptoms, making it hard to differentiate them. While stress is caused by factors that can be easily pinpointed, anxiety disorder can hit for no apparent reason. More often than not, stress leads to anxiety disorder, where pre-existing anxiety is pronounced. It is important for one to be able to point out the symptoms of anxiety disorder as it has more severe consequences and can be long-term.

Stress is a cognitive or physical experience, which happens in response to stressors, usually over a certain situation, happening or thought. It occurs because of frustration, anger, nervousness, irritation and anxiety. The factors (stressors) causing stress are different in every person. Examples of stressors include events such as going through a rough patch in marriage, loss of employment or an illness. Physical signs of stress include headache, feelings of fatigue and muscle tension. Cognitive signs that one is suffering from stress include lack of concentration and constant worry. Although these symptoms of stress are similar to symptoms of anxiety disorder, they usually disappear once the stressors cease to exist.

While anxiety is a normal occurrence in every person's life, anxiety disorder is more of a psychological problem. It is a group of conditions and is best defined as a mental disorder characterized by inappropriate anxiety, which follows a particular pattern. People with anxiety disorder tend to worry about everyday events such as school, work, health, money and family. They also tend to expect the worst to happen always. Persons with anxiety disorders have reduced brain activity. It is linked to distress and comes with the risk of suffering pain, disability, loss of freedom and/or death. Everyday life for anyone displaying symptoms of anxiety disorder is disrupted, unlike conditions where one can still go about their duties even while under stress. They worry over things that do not usually bother most people.

The three common causes of anxiety disorder are environmental factors, genetics and brain composition. Environmental factors include divorce, physical or sexual abuse, death of a loved one, changing schools or jobs and withdrawal from addictive substances one has been long using such as nicotine or alcohol.

Symptoms of anxiety disorder are physical and emotional. Physical symptoms include headaches, insomnia, sweating, dizziness, fatigue, diarrhea, frequent urination, muscle tensions, twitches, pounding heart and shortness of breath. Emotional symptoms include irritability, feeling jumpy, restlessness, anticipating the worst, watching for signs of danger, having trouble concentrating, feeling that the mind has gone blank and feeling tense.

Doctors use two main approaches to treat anxiety disorder: medication and cognitive-behavior therapy. Because there are no physical tests to diagnose, they rely on symptoms of anxiety disorder that present in a patient to make a diagnosis. In the short term, tranquilizers are used to decrease physical effects. In the long term, anti-depressants are applied. Behavior therapy is aimed at changing thought patterns so that patients look at worry and fear more realistically.

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