- [Amanda] Hey, Psych2Goers.
Do you know someone that you think may have anxiety,
but you're not sure?
Anxiety doesn't have the single face of outwardly,
obvious signs like fidgeting or erratic breathing.
There are different types of anxiety
and different tolerances or ability to hide it.
We're here to provide some info
so that you may be able to be there for someone
who may be too embarrassed or fearful
to ask for help outright.
You know that the surface can hide many things,
so let's peel a little bit back
and look at some signs of hidden anxiety.
Number one: irritability and anger.
People with anxiety tend to feel irritable,
which can then escalate into expressions of anger.
To the outsider,
it can look like the person is moody or testy,
sometimes without an apparent reason.
This is often from the anxious person
hiding a constant multitude of worries over time,
allowing them to brew.
Where this moodiness turns into anger
is when the worries start getting interpreted as threats,
anxiety does a great job
of upping and exaggerating the freak out level
of even the smallest thing.
The outburst of anger could well be the anxious individual
unleashing a protective response.
Number two: overly conscientious.
This one is tricky and tends to be downplayed or ignored
since it usually benefits others.
The outside world gets this super meticulous,
incredibly prepared individual
who shows up extra early to appointments,
finishes their work far before the deadline,
and all while being well dressed with perfect hair.
In fact, the work is finished so efficiently,
the person has time to assist others.
Doesn't that sound great?
Wait, not so fast.
Watch out for these things happening to an abnormal extent.
Sure, it's easy to wave it off as thinking,
well, if they can do it, why not?
But before you happily skip off
to reap the rewards of their hard work,
consider what's actually happening.
Companies have a tendency to take advantage of
and exploit the symptoms,
piling on more work and expectations.
Unfortunately, this is kind of terrible
for the person with anxiety.
They're still human,
and as such, they still have the same human limits.
All those extras they take on
simply fast-track them to burnout or a meltdown.
They may be overextending themselves to conceal fears
of failure and nervous energy.
They could be trying to live up
to their unreasonable expectations of themselves,
overcompensating in all areas
to alleviate their failure phobia.
This is not sustainable.
Number three: endless criticism.
The follow up to the previous point
about over conscientiousness
is the anxietist person's inner critique,
it's loud, it's constant,
and it's a real Karen.
Not only do those with anxiety
apply strict criticisms to themselves,
but also to people around them,
making those people pull away,
leading to more anxiety.
You can see how this excessive worry
readily starts the domino effect
of making a mountain out of a molehill.
They see many things around them are scary or wrong,
just as they perceive things
that they themselves do are wrong.
They believe that what they do or say could lead
to failure, rejection, terrible things, and so on.
The endlessness of the what-if worry
and the and so on scenarios
slide them down the slippery slope of hyperbolic fear
with hyper self-criticism as their only rope to safety.
To increase the feeling of safety or control,
they might start trying to control the environment
by becoming hypercritical of friends and family.
Number four: codependency.
This one stems from the fear of losing,
disappointing or being rejected by other people.
The fear is such a destabilizing force
that they constantly are thinking
they'll be suddenly abandoned.
To alleviate this fear,
they cling extra tight to a loved one.
They might also be blindly loyal to them
and only live life through the other person.
This codependency tendency can display itself
by too frequent calls,
constant checking in for no reason
other than I just wanted to know.
They may even refuse to leave their home
without the person they fear losing the most.
Number five:
unusually overbooked or underbooked social schedule.
This is swinging from one end of social busy-ness
to the other,
depending on if the greater fear is losing people
or other self-directed phobias.
The fear of losing people, in general,
can manifest as an unusually overbooked social schedule.
Their thoughts and feelings are geared and locked in
on the perception that they cannot refuse anyone anything,
because if they do,
they'll be dropped or otherwise rejected.
If the greater, overwhelming fears
are things like embarrassing themselves in public,
being trapped in certain spaces
or other things that increase in likelihood
with socialization,
their schedule becomes a barren wasteland.
Keep in mind too,
that although this can sound somewhat reasonable,
the fears are from a place of warped perception.
So embarrassing themselves in public
could be something no one even noticed,
but the person with anxiety
feels they've shamed themself forever.
And number six: fidgety or restless body language.
This is something that can be physically observed
in the moment.
Anxiety can make a person more restless and on edge,
since they're already hyper-conscious about how they look,
how others see them, and so on,
the nervous energy has to go somewhere.
The nervous energy leaks out
in subtle fidgety actions and gestures
such as shifty or avoidant eye contact,
knuckle cracking, lip biting, playing with hair or clothes,
or even nonstop rambling.
This physical response to restlessness can become habitual,
such as constantly finding something to occupy their mind
like social media scrolling or mobile games.
If socializing causes anxiety,
isolating habits can also crop up,
like having headphones on in public,
so that person may not be standoffish or purposefully rude,
they could just have anxiety.
As we've seen, anxiety disorders are complex and varied,
symptoms can be similar
but not identical between the different types of anxiety
and can be experienced in varying degrees.
All that said, though,
there is a normal range of anxiety
experienced by most people.
So no, being anxious because of a specific event,
like a test or a presentation, is not a disorder.
A disorder is when the anxiety
has gone beyond that normal range
and is now causing clinically significant distress
or impairment in multiple, often everyday aspects of life.
It can be difficult to discern either way though,
and the only ones who can give you a clear,
definite diagnosis are doctors.
They're also the best ones equipped to help,
or at least guide a person to appropriate help,
so reach out if you need it.
Did you find this video helpful?
Let us know in the comments.
We hope this video has helped a bit to calm your nerves,
and we'd love to see you at the next info byte.
In the meantime, comment, like, and share.
See you soon.