Moderated by
Tracy-Kate Teleke, PsyD, M.A., LMFT
Marriage & Family Therapist
I assist adults and couples in CA experiencing relationship challenges and interpersonal struggles including anxiety, depression, and a myriad of other life challenges.
Top Rated Answers
Everybody worries or gets the odd case of butterflies in the stomach. But when you feel that anxiety is making you miss out on opportunities and happiness or interfering with your life that's when it becomes serious, like anxiety attacks, trouble concentrating, feeling extremely uncomfortable, hands shaking and sweating, that's how you know if you have anxiety.
I know I have anxiety if my stress simply just goes beyond what it normally is. It's normal to be stressed every so often, but once it becomes a serious problem that interrupts life, then it's anxiety. I have anxiety about public speaking, talking to people in general, having to go to new places, and a lot of other things. Anxiety for me feels like I'm frantically panicking and I can't get it under control. Anxiety hits me and makes me too afraid to do certain things.
Anonymous
May 27th, 2015 9:33am
you'll find yourself worrying alot and it would get bad and you might have attacks
Anxiety is an emotion which makes a person feel powerless and helpless about certain people and situations. These situations can get so frightening that one may get anxious by just thinking about them. You know you have anxiety when you have a red face, shortness of breath and upset stomach. People dealing with anxiety also experience nausea (i.e. butterflies) trembling or shaking (including shaky voice), a racing heart or tightness in chest, sweating or hot flashes with feeling dizzy or faint.
Anonymous
November 19th, 2014 12:33am
Everyone experiences anxiety, but an anxiety disorder is when the anxiety interferes with a person's day-to-day life. This website perfectly sums up all the symptoms of an anxiety disorder http://www.helpguide.org/articles/anxiety/anxiety-attacks-and-anxiety-disorders.htm#signs and if it applies to you don't let it frighten you. There are ways to overcome the stressful moments in your life and become a pro at handling your feelings of anxiety :)
Anonymous
November 16th, 2014 11:10pm
if you have any concerns about having an anxiety disorder, the best thing to do is to see a professional who can then properly diagnose you
You have to be diagnosed by a doctor because of the fact that only a licensed professional can accurately diagnose you!
Anonymous
November 2nd, 2015 8:12pm
Anxiety can be described in many different ways. For me, I go into panic attacks. For others, you may just feel tremendously afraid. It depends on your personality and what kind of anxiety you have.
I've heared a definition that worrying is panicking about something specific and anxiety is just experiencing panick about something not really specific. But I do not genuiely think that it's important to know if you have anxiety. I only think think that it's important to know if the stress/panick you experience makes you not function normally anymore. Because in the end I think labels like anxiety/worrying are created to make people realise they need to change something about their situation. So I think the only question that you need to answer for yourself is: am I functioning healthy and if that's not the case how can I change that.. But that's my opinion:)
Common emotional symptoms of anxiety include feelings of dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst and general irritability. If this seems accurate, a good idea would be to check out the anxiety guide on here for more info!
Anxiety is a feeling of worry, uncertainty, and doubt about the outcome of a certain event or situation. More specifically anxiety is the fear that results from the lack of knowledge about the outcome of this event. If you have anxiety you'll find yourself worrying over how some future event will go over, and afraid of this event because you don't know how it's going to play out.
If you're worried that you have anxiety, you probably do. Anxiety is very common, and not necessarily a bad emotion to be having. It can remind you that you care about what is going on. It is only when this anxiety starts interfering with your day to day life that you should start to get concerned.
Anonymous
March 29th, 2015 4:39pm
It's best to consult a a mental health professional. Anxiety can be caused by many factors and a therapist or psychologist would best be able to handle your unique situation.
Anonymous
November 19th, 2014 1:00am
If you think you have anxiety I would make an appointment with a doctor or psychiatrist. They can help you figure out if what you are feeling IS anxiety or if it is something else.
Anonymous
November 18th, 2014 7:06pm
A lot of the time you can experience the symptoms of anxiety, for example fear of socialising and possibly even know you have anxiety. However, to be properly diagnosed and know for sure you would have to see a medical professional and seek diagnosis.
It will be different for everyone, but most people experience increased heart rate, flushing, feeling hotter, breathing faster, a knotted-up feeling in their stomach or chest area, panicked feelings, and racing thoughts.
The best thing would be to go to a doctor, therapist, or other professional who can help diagnose you with anxiety.
When you have anxiety, you worry about and stress over every little detail of everything, even if there is nothing to be stressed over.
Palms sweaty when talking to someone (in person or on phone), Avoid social situations at times. Go out during less busy periods. Believe that everyone is watching you and talking about you constantly.
A horrible way to live :(
If you worry over a small problem, or the small problem is massive to you and you can't let go of it. If you obsess over something, can't let it drop. Run short of breath when panicking, chest pain, feel like you're having a heart attack. Tingling in an arm. The systems effect people differently, mainly stressing over something and you can't relax or feel like you're going insane in a stressful situation. That feeling of angst in the pit of your stomach, a nasty build up.
Anxiety depends on the person and can change from one person to another. However common signs are extreme nerves, the feeling that everything is going down and being overwhelmed without being able to think wisely.
If you are over thinking about something, get worried easily, lose your focus, can't control emotions then yes you have a problem with anxiety.
Heart starts racing, you feel incredibly hot, chest pressure, feel like you can't catch your breath!
The best way to truly know is to go to a psychotherapist and have them diagnose you. You would also know if you had a panic/anxiety attack. You could look up the symptoms in the DSM-5 and try to diagnose yourself but risk misdiagnosing yourself.
Anonymous
November 6th, 2014 12:31am
usually you will get a fast breath and kind of be a little scared and you should see a doctor if you are concerned about having anxiety
Technically only a doctor can truly say wether or not you have anxiety, but if you are scared, loss of appetite, increase or beginning of nausea, and are starting to feel depressed, you may have anxiety.
Usually your heart beats faster and stronger, you feel sweaty, shaky and even dizzy. The are some examples of bodily functions related with anxiety.
It's hard to know. In a sense everyone has anxiety to an extent, it's a totally natural thing to feel nervous before something big (Exam or performance etc). An anxiety disorder is when the feeling comes up more often than it should, and over 'little' things. If it's really affecting your life and your not doing extreme things every hour you probably have some level of anxiety disorder.
Anonymous
July 12th, 2016 8:44am
If you feel yourself often feeling worried about things and it is affecting your daily life there is a good chance you have some sort of anxiety. You may also experience episodes of panic, difficulty breathing, sweating, shaking and nervousness.
When the world seems like its too much, when you know no ones looking but you still feel eyes on the back of your head. You know when you are curled up in bed worried about things that wont ever happen. that's how you know
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