What It Means When Anxiety Starts Getting Worse
You may be wondering what is making your anxiety worse and if you should be concerned about it. Your anxiety can get worse for a variety of reasons. Increase in stress, poor sleep habits, lack of mental health care, and more can cause an increase in anxiety.
For many people, worsening anxiety increases gradually. You may feel as though you are managing your anxiety fine, until eventually you notice your anxiety is feeling more unmanageable than before.
Increased anxiety can show up as more intrusive thoughts, body symptoms like muscle tension, unhealthy or inconsistent self-care habits, and daily functioning, like your ability to get your work done.
Signs Your Anxiety May Be Increasing
Take note of the following symptoms, which can be signs that your anxiety is increasing:
- Overthinking topics that normally didn’t bother you before
- Irritability or low mood
- Difficulty sleeping
- Physical tension
- Panic attacks
- Reassurance-seeking with others
- Procrastinating
- Avoiding situations that once felt manageable, like work responsibilities or social situations
Changes People Often Miss at First
Anxiety doesn’t always just present in the classic symptoms of worry, panic, and physical signs that you may be familiar with. More subtle signs of anxiety include mental fatigue, lower frustration tolerance, thinking in “what ifs” frequently, or needing to exert more control over your life to feel ok.
These signs are difficult to spot because they mostly happen internally in your mind, and they might begin to feel like your “new normal”, even as they make your life more difficult to manage.
How Anxiety Can Start Taking Over Daily Life
Often, anxiety initially shows up for people in regard to big moments, like giving a speech or navigating a tense conversation. But anxiety left unmanaged can begin to take over your daily life and functioning.
You might start to notice anxiety showing up in your responsibilities, such as your work, school, or parenting roles. These roles become more and more overwhelming to you, as you find yourself plagued by worry, procrastination, and perfectionism.
You also might observe issues in your relationships, such as needing reassurance from others or having difficulty showing up to social engagements. Internally, you may notice difficulty concentrating, challenges maintaining health habits and self-care, and a lack of enjoyment of your daily life.
Why Avoidance Can Make Anxiety Stronger Over Time
When you become overwhelmed by anxiety, you may attempt to manage it by avoiding situations that evoke your anxiety. For example, your boss makes you anxious, so you try to avoid seeing them and communicating with them as little as possible.
This coping attempt makes some sense – you are trying to avoid the feeling of anxiety by avoiding the situation that appears to be causing it. However, this attempt at coping may offer short-term relief, but it also keeps you locked into a long-term cycle of actually reinforcing your anxiety.
In the example of avoiding your boss, you’re reinforcing the idea that facing your boss is a threat and is unmanageable. This actually increases your anxiety over time! Every time you’re faced with dealing with your boss, you likely notice your anxiety grows more intense, and your desire to avoid increases along with it.
When Your World Starts Getting Smaller
Getting stuck in a cycle of avoidance eventually shrinks your world. In the example of having an anxiety-inducing boss, your avoidance of this anxiety might grow to include avoiding coming to work, avoiding interacting with anyone who reminds you of your boss, and avoiding taking on any work responsibilities that you might have once found rewarding and fulfilling because they might involve more interactions that induce anxiety.
As you get stuck in a cycle of feeling anxiety and seeking to avoid it, your choices, routines, and confidence all diminish. You find yourself living in a smaller and smaller world, unable to function normally and do the things that you once found fulfilling.
What Worsening Anxiety Can Feel Like Emotionally and Physically
Anxiety often presents in both emotional and physical symptoms.
Some emotional signs of anxiety to be aware of are:
- Feelings of dread
- Irritable mood
- Shame or guilt
- Sadness or depression as a result of being caught up in the anxiety-avoidance cycle
- Feelings of low self-worth
Some physical signs of anxiety to notice are:
- Restlessness
- Fatigue or exhaustion
- Muscle tension
- Increased heart rate or breathing
- Chest tightness
- Digestive issues
- Difficulty relaxing
When Is It Time to Get Help for Anxiety?
Many people struggle with the question of when it’s time to get help for anxiety. Anxiety can feel like something that you just have to white-knuckle your way through, or you may downplay your symptoms and feel like it’s not bad enough to seek help.
You don’t have to wait until you are in crisis or until your anxiety feels severe to seek counseling for anxiety. Some signs that therapy might be beneficial for you are if you’re noticing anxiety feels persistent (as in it arises often, or feels like it’s always around on some level), disruptive (as in it impacts work, school, parenting, etc.), or it’s simply becoming harder to manage.
Therapy for anxiety can be helpful whether your anxiety ranges from mild to severe. We can take a proactive approach when it’s mild, and offer you much-needed support when it’s severe.
How Therapy Can Help When Anxiety Feels Like It Is Escalating
You may wonder how therapy can help with anxiety, and what you can learn or explore when addressing your anxiety in counseling. Anxiety therapy can include the following:
- Identify the patterns of your anxiety
- Build coping skills for when anxiety or panic arises
- Increasing self-understanding and self-compassion
- Learning how to respond differently to anxious thoughts and sensations
- Reducing avoidance
- Connecting with what makes your life fulfilling that you may have been missing out on while managing your anxiety
Therapy Does Not Require You to Be at a Breaking Point
Many people with anxiety tend to struggle to speak up and advocate for themselves. Anxiety can create a vicious cycle where you downplay your symptoms and struggles, and therefore further feel you don’t deserve to seek help.
You don’t have to be at a breaking point to seek therapy for anxiety. In fact, therapy can be more effective the sooner you seek help.
Anxiety Support That Helps You Feel More Grounded
If you are concerned that your anxiety is getting worse, seeking therapy can help you get out of the anxiety/avoidance cycle and bring more fulfillment and ease to your life. Seeking help before your anxiety gets worse offers many benefits, allowing you to feel more like yourself and grow your self-confidence and self-kindness.
I’m a licensed professional counselor specializing in therapy for anxiety. My approach is aimed at helping you get out of the anxiety/avoidance cycle, build your self-worth, and explore what you want most out of life beyond simply managing your anxiety. To explore working with me, book a free call at the link below.