Anxiety is a natural emotional response to perceived threats or challenges which is accompanied by such symptoms as heart palpitations, trembling, sweating and gastrointestinal discomfort. As long as your anxiety is affecting only your physical and emotional levels and it subsides after an event that triggered it passes, your anxiety is normal. However, when it begins to affect your mental level by making it impossible to think logically and also affects your social level by making it hard to go to work or school, your anxiety is an issue that needs to be addressed.
Understanding the difference between normal anxiety and an ‘anxiety disorder’ is an important first step in dealing with the issue. This article aims to delve into the specifics of what differentiates the two, including situations that trigger them, their duration, and the impact on your life.
Situations That Trigger Anxiety
Normal Anxiety:
- Situation-specific: Anxiety often arises in life-altering situations that warrant it, such as before a surgery, job interview, or even a wedding.
- Proportional Response: The level of anxiety generally matches the seriousness of the situation.
Anxiety Disorder:
- Unpredictable: Individuals may feel anxious seemingly out of the blue or in situations that do not objectively warrant such a strong emotional response.
- Disproportional Response: The anxious reactions can be excessive and may not align with the actual event, often affecting day-to-day functioning.
Duration and Frequency of Anxiety
Normal Anxiety:
- Temporary: The feeling typically subsides once the triggering event is over.
- Occasional: Occurs infrequently and usually in response to identifiable stressors.
Anxiety Disorder:
- Prolonged: Symptoms often persist for 6 months or more.
- Chronic: The anxiety is almost always present, to the point where the individual may not even remember what it feels like to be relaxed.
Impact on the Physical Level
Normal Anxiety:
- Physical Symptoms: Every person is physiologically and neurologically different, so your symptoms can range from mild to intense and include faster heartbeat, butterflies in the stomach, upset or pain in the stomach, and slight to severe trembling. Increased sweating is also normal in some individuals.
- Focus Enhancing: Normal anxiety can actually improve performance by sharpening focus and awareness or, alternatively, pushing you into actions, such as getting better prepared for an upcoming event.
Anxiety Disorder:
- Physical Symptoms: Includes heart palpitations, severe trembling, sweating, and gastrointestinal issues.
- Performance Inhibiting: Severe anxiety can cripple a person’s ability to perform even the most mundane tasks.
Impact on the Cognitive and Social Levels
Normal Anxiety:
- No Long-Term Effects: The anxiety does not usually impact job performance, schoolwork, or relationships.
- Short-lived: After the stressful situation has passed, the individual returns to a normal state.
Anxiety Disorder:
- Significant Life Disruption: May cause problems at work, school, and in relationships.
- Avoidant Behavior: Individuals may start to avoid people, places, or situations that are triggering, thereby limiting their life experiences.
Example Cases
Normal Anxiety:
- Emma becomes anxious when she realizes she has a job interview the next day. She spends some time preparing, does well in the interview, and her anxiety subsides.
Anxiety Disorder:
- John feels an intense dread every morning before going to work. This has been going on for months, and he’s started calling in sick to avoid the crippling anxiety. His relationships with coworkers and superiors have suffered as a result.
While anxiety is a normal part of the human experience, it is crucial to recognize when it crosses the line into a serious issue that needs to be dealt with. When your anxiety has a paralyzing, debilitating or crippling effect on you and is preventing you from living your life, for example making it impossible for you to go to work, it is usually described as ‘anxiety disorder’ and is commonly treated by means of medication and cognitive-behavioural therapy. However, the effectiveness of these treatments is often temporary as it does not address the root cause of your fear and treats your anxiety as some sort of ‘malfunction’ which is pointless and purposeless.
If you have tried various usual treatments and none of them were as effective as you expected, there is an alternative method. The Five Level Wellness Method works not only with the physical, but also with the other four levels of your being, including the non-material or spiritual level. No part of you is being ignored and the true cause of your fear is being addressed during your work with this method. If you are ready to deal with your anxiety on a whole new level, the FLW Method may be for you.
