When is it Time to Get Help For Anxiety?

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time: it’s something we as humans have evolved to have to help protect us from potentially dangerous and stressful situations. Feeling anxious before a big test or a job interview, for example, is completely normal. But, anxiety can also evolve into a debilitating problem. When the stress you feel begins to no longer be proportionate to the situation you’re in and is affecting your daily life, it may be time to seek professional help to treat your anxiety. Today we’ll be discussing 5 signs that it may be time for you to seek help for your anxiety. 

1. Physical symptoms  

Physical manifestations of anxiety can include things like excessive sweating, shortness of breath, racing heartbeat, upset stomach, nausea, and headaches. Experiencing these symptoms during times of stress is normal but if aspects of daily life, things like being invited to a party, talking to someone you don’t know on the phone, going to work, or leaving your house elicits these responses you could be experiencing anxiety that is not healthy. 

2. Overthinking, constant worrying, and catastrophizing

Overthinking and constant worrying are telltale signs your anxiety might be getting out of control. If you’re worrying or overthinking something to the point where it’s all you think about or it interferes with you being able to do tasks or sleep, this isn’t normal. Same with constant worrying and catastrophizing. Catastrophizing is essentially making up the worst possible situation in your head and convincing yourself it’s going to happen. It goes hand-in-hand with constant worrying. If you find yourself dwelling on something that hasn’t happened yet or creating fake but terrible scenarios in your head about tasks you have to do in your life, it might be time to seek help. 

3. Having panic attacks

Panic attacks are very concrete examples that your anxiety is out of control. Panic attacks are often mistaken for having a heart attack because of their similar symptoms. A panic attack can feel like uncontrollable shaking, sweating, lightheadedness, rapid heartbeat, tightness of chest, and upset stomach. They tend to be intense periods of time that can last for minutes, hours, or even days. Frequent panic attacks and panic attacks triggered by nothing are signs you should likely seek help.

4. Feeling irritable and restless 

When we constantly feel stressed out or on edge, we’re more likely to have a shorter fuse when it comes to anger.  Angry feelings can also be used as a way to distract ourselves from our anxious thinking. Projecting this anger on someone else also means you have a “reason” to be feeling stressed or anxious. Constant movement of your body like jiggling your knee or tapping your fingers can be another way we might try and relieve ourselves of pent up anxiety. Feeling irritable and restless more often than not is another sign your anxiety might be becoming an issue. 

5. Procrastination

Everyone puts off doing a task they don’t want to do from time to time. But if you’re avoiding or procrastinating tasks because the task itself is stressing you out or making you anxious, or you’re just procrastinating doing anything because you feel like you can’t, that’s likely anxiety taking over. If you’re feeling like you can’t push through just not wanting to do something because it feels like something deeper, it probably is. Anxiety can mask itself in ways like procrastination that don’t feel as common as other symptoms, but they’re just as real and difficult to live with. 

Knowing when to get help for anxiety can be hard. It can be uncomfortable to talk about or you might think yours isn’t actually that bad. But if it’s interfering with your daily life and or you’re experiencing some or all of the symptoms we talked about today, it’s probably time to seek help. Book your free consultation with us today to see how we can help you!