Anxiety: A Misunderstood Condition

Did you know that anxiety – a widely used term – is almost universally misunderstood?

“Anxiety” is a term that encompasses a broad range of symptoms. How these symptoms are experienced depends on many factors, such as the nature of the experience that triggers anxiety, individual traits, degree of ability to tolerate intense feelings, ability to self-soothe, adverse life experiences encountered — especially those experienced in early childhood, how a person adjusts to novel experiences, and generally how you feel about yourself.

Anxiety follows specific neurobiological pathways that vary from person to person. You may experience anxiety very differently than another person.

Symptoms of anxiety range from mild to severe. However, any level of elevated anxiety can be very disruptive to your life. Anxiety can disrupt your sleep, appetite, and functioning in other areas of your life. At mild levels, anxiety may be just an annoyance. At high levels, however, anxiety can be disabling.

You may be familiar with many of the symptoms of anxiety: jitteriness, restlessness, worry, difficulty concentrating, panic attacks, and hyperventilation. At severe levels, symptoms can mimic medical conditions. A partial list of such symptoms includes: heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness of breath, tension headaches, neck pain, back pain, jaw pain, teeth grinding, tension headaches, unexplained abdominal pain, bladder dysfunction, migraines, nausea, transient blindness, transient deafness, fainting, blacking out in the absence of substance use, choking sensations, tension headaches, hearing impairments, memory loss, dissociation, pseudo seizures, and even hallucinations.

People who experience certain somatic (body-related) symptoms of anxiety may wind up in medical settings and be referred to medical specialists rather to a psychotherapist. A major reason is that these people do not appear stereotypically “anxious,” and they may not know they are anxious either. Because they appear relaxed, their anxiety is often missed. As a result, they may have multiple visits to doctors without improvement in their symptoms. There is even a term for when such symptoms cannot be traced to a physical ailment: MUPS, Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms.

My years of experience have taught me ways to effectively address the anxiety that may underlie symptoms not arising from a physical medical condition. If you have such symptoms and a medical cause has been ruled out, contact me for a free initial consultation.