Anxiety Symptoms can be classified in four groups: behavioral, physical, cognitive and emotional.
Behavioral Anxiety Symptoms
Appetite change: dramatic appetite change such as not eating at all or compulsive eating is one of the most common symptoms of anxiety.
This of course doesn’t mean that all the people that have eating disorders suffer from anxiety. However eating disorders are closely related to anxiety and depression.
Hyperactivity: another very common symptom of anxiety which, in case of severe anxiety, can have exhausting effect on individual. These individuals are literally unable to sit still. They are very difficult to talk to and their hyperactivity is making them very inpatient.
Excessive arguing: individuals that suffer from anxiety are capable to endlessly argue over unimportant things such as whether a tomato is a vegetable or fruit.
Excessive working: this is one of the most common anxiety symptoms, especially in men. When men are anxious they are almost always in need to do something.
Change in need for sex: some people that suffer from anxiety lose interest in sex yet others experience increased need for sex; so much so that their partners are complaining that they are being overwhelmed. This can be a serious problem and needs to be addressed appropriately without the accusations from either side.
This is a good place to mention that whenever there is a problem in your relationship you should always avoid to argue over who is guiltier for the present situation. Instead of running in very tiring circles you should invest your time and energy in productive talk and in finding the best compromise or solution for a given situation.
Other behavioral symptoms of anxiety are: nail biting, skin picking, hair pulling, scratching, sweating, and excessive crying and so on.
Physical Anxiety Symptoms
Muscle tension: it is very common for people that suffer from anxiety to experience muscle tension and to feel tense in general.
Chest pain: this is one of the most frequent symptom of anxiety. When experiencing this symptom individuals suffering from anxiety disorder tend to think that they are about to have a heart attack or even die.
Ticks: majority of people that suffer from anxiety disorder have some kind of ticks. Very often ticks are involuntary excessive blinking and arm or leg shaking.
Blushing: if you are always blushing in certain social situations there are big chances that you suffer from social anxiety. This type of anxiety is relatively easily treated with cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Other physical anxiety symptoms are: headaches, abdominal pain, dry mouth, sore muscle, dry or itchy eyes, etc.
Cognitive Symptoms of Anxiety
Recurrent or obsessive thoughts: Individuals with obsessive compulsive disorder have recurrent and obsessive thoughts about something (for example bacteria) and experience compulsions such as washing hands numerous times per day.
Tendency to predict the worst: this is a very common anxiety symptom and individuals with this symptom are literally afraid of tomorrow and the future. This is because they “feel” that something bad will happen for sure in near future. Because of this they almost never initiate anything and they are very cautious about everything.
Constant negative thinking
Having thoughts of death or suicide
Having problem concentrating
Emotional Symptoms of Anxiety
Fear of passing out: this fear is almost always present in individuals that suffer from anxiety attacks.
Fear from a specific situation: if you experience overwhelming fear from specific situation or object (dead or alive) you are probably suffering from specific phobia. There are more than 600 specific phobias and you can find out more about them right here: the complete list of phobias definitions.
Fear of death: this is very common symptom of anxiety in individuals that suffer from anxiety attacks and experience chest pain that they perceive as heart attack.
Fear of going crazy
If you recognized some of the anxiety symptoms, numbered above, in yourself you should talk to your physician or psychologist about it. An important thing you should know is that only a healthcare professional can make a proper diagnosis and that in this article symptoms of anxiety are numbered for educational purposes only.
