High Functioning Anxiety: What it is and What it is not

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Apr 21, 2022

✨POV✨: Running on anxiety and getting things done is what's up this season. Can we unsubscribe from this?

The thing about high functioning anxiety is that no one knows its existence.

It can almost pass off as a superpower since high functioning anxiety can be the fuel to get things done.

You'd find yourself anxious about say, a deadline, but this anxiety somehow pushes you to excel and meet this deadline.

People may call you detail-oriented or a stickler for time.

You may also relate to being proactive at work or school, someone who is a perfectionist or a borderline Type A personality (habits or behavior of high achieving people like competitiveness).

Do you relate?

These can all point to physical symptoms of high functioning anxiety in daily life, stemming from existing mental health conditions like anxiety.

But like how you can treat anxiety, high functioning anxiety can also be dealt with.

The more you know, the better it gets to understand where your high functioning anxiety stems from and how to reduce its impact on your everyday life.

What is high functioning anxiety 🥶

High functioning anxiety is when you exhibit anxiety disorder symptoms like racing thoughts throughout the day, restlessness and jittery, or nervous habits like overthinking and overanalyzing past and future events.

The difference?

It may not get in the way of your productivity.

You may have noticed how you cannot stop shaking your legs, biting your nails/lips, or even tapping your pen on the table during class or at work?

Even though these are physical signs of anxiety, you can still go on about your responsibilities.

But it is not easy to manage stress and the build-up of severe anxiety that comes along the way.

These are anxiety symptoms that point in the direction of underlying anxiety disorders.

Types of anxiety disorders 🧐

Not all of us experience high functioning anxiety or anxiety symptoms the same way.

This is because even though our anxiety disorder manifests as common physical signs and symptoms, the triggers of our high functioning anxiety symptoms can be different.

And knowing where these triggers stem from can cut (for example) the unnecessary suffering of racing anxious thoughts by half!

High functioning anxiety may stem from one of these few anxiety disorders:

👉🏽 Generalized anxiety disorder

When everyday things like work, school, or even the household chores you have in daily life give you anxiety when there's no warranted reason to be anxious - that's a generalized anxiety disorder.

The anxiety symptoms can be excessive worry throughout the day, muscle tension, or muscle aches.

👉🏽 Panic disorder

This is when past mistakes or past traumatic events give you intense anxiety leading to anxiety symptoms like breathlessness and chest pain, causing excessive anxiety and panic attacks.

And frequent panic attacks lead to panic disorder, a type of mental health disorder.

👉🏽 Other anxiety disorders

Would you say that your anxiety escalates at the thought of future social events days or even weeks before the D day?

You experience rapid heartbeat and overwhelming worry of "what if things go wrong" or "what if they judge me" to the point where you avoid social settings - chances are you may have a social anxiety disorder, another common anxiety disorder.

To read more about these anxiety disorders, check Chronic Anxiety: What It Means and How to Cope.

What high functioning anxiety is not 👀

High functioning anxiety is not a mental disorder, nor does it fall under clinical disorders.

High functioning anxiety is also not a leeway to set aside your capacity and capabilities to take on more.

Even though people with high functioning anxiety tend to look like their life is sorted and they're killing it in life - they're great with deadlines or are super organized, it's not a breezy journey.

These "positive" characteristics of high functioning anxiety are the tip of the iceberg.

Here's the flip side that not many see - even though high functioning anxiety has the potential to impact mental health (that can lead to mental disorders like anxiety disorders), it may still go unnoticed or misunderstood.

This is why high functioning anxiety is not to be sidelined or glorified.

How to deal with high functioning anxiety 🤗

Here's the key - treating anxiety disorders or high functioning anxiety begins by equipping yourself with the healthiest coping strategies that work for you.

Here are some ways how:

🧘🏽‍♂️ A healthy lifestyle

A healthy lifestyle is about what you eat, how you handle everyday life, and how these impact your mood and overall life in a better way.

🍳 For sustenance:

Did you know that foods with Vit-D, selenium, and Omega-3 work to combat mental illnesses?

These have anti-inflammatory qualities and work well with mood-related cells in the brain.

This means that adding nuts, fish, eggs, and leafy greens to your diet can improve sleep, ability to focus, and overall good mental well-being!

Dark chocolate, yogurt, and chamomile also boost serotonin and dopamine (this helps regulate mood, sleep, and overall brain pleasure).

Don't forget to stay hydrated!

📌 For everyday life:

If to-do lists and mini-goals drive you, break down your day into little prioritized, achievable chunks.

For example, begin your day with some quiet time to silence the anxious, racing thoughts that come with the day.

Fortunately, you can make this a routine with being - the world's first-of-kind self-therapy app. Check out this mini guided session designed by mental health specialists to help kickstart your day: I want to feel the calmness of the morning.

Now, break your schedule according to priority and allot time just for rest/sleep.

If you're looking for ways to feel less anxious after a hectic day, here's a mini guided therapy session on being that can help - I want to release the stress from my body before sleep.

💭 Counter your high functioning anxiety thoughts

You may be familiar with the nervous energy and thoughts you experience and live with every day.

But here's how you can make things better, slowly but steadily.

Make deep breathing a routine.

Why?

Breathing is known to accelerate oxygen in our system. And making this part of your routine can do wonders!

Next, you will intentionally interrupt those thoughts, replacing them with truths, aka affirmations.

These are positive statements with the intent of self-love and emotional support to promote healthy behavioral changes, helping to get rid of fear and worry.

The other thing you can do is use being as a distraction to feel better. Here's a mini guided therapy you can start with: I am feeling anxious right now.

💆🏼‍♂️ Introspection, not overthinking

High functioning anxiety can have positive traits and even negative characteristics - like, anxiety pushing you to quit that job but you’re doing that only to please your partner.

You may be letting these negative traits drive you to get things done.

Instead, focus on the positives like being punctual and proactively getting stuff done instead of doing them to please someone or out of fear of rubbing them the wrong way.

🚦 Know your boundaries

Write down your boundaries in terms of how much you can offer at school, at work, or even in your relationships.

This list can act as a blueprint for what you can expect without compromising your self-esteem or mental health.

Need help with boundaries? Check out this mini therapy on being: I feel like my work-life boundaries have blurred.

So, to conclude 🥰

You now know that high functioning anxiety is not an anxiety disorder.

But the very fact that it can stem from anxiety disorders should tell you that this high functioning anxiety may need to chill for a bit.

It definitely can feel overwhelming to juggle racing thoughts or negative thought processes daily, so you can't sideline the anxiety symptoms of your high functioning anxiety.

The recommended way to deal with high functioning anxiety or any anxiety disorder is with the guidance of wellness professionals or therapists.

In case that seems like an anxiety-inducing thought at this moment, there's being in the interim.

Here, you can access tools that bring you calm wherever you are, whatever time of the day.

Know that your high functioning anxiety can be overcome.

Your mental health > everything else.

Cheers!

Disclaimer

This is not a substitute for therapy or mental health services. Consult mental health professionals for high functioning anxiety problems or your depression/anxiety disorder diagnosis (or any other mental health disorder/mental illness or clinical disorders). Their primary treatments and diagnostic criteria include cognitive behavioral therapy and progressive muscle relaxation - some of the therapies and techniques your mental health professional would recommend.