It is normal to feel worried sometimes. Whether you are starting a new job, leaving your kids for the first time, moving cities, or going through a stressful period in your life, worry is a natural response to difficult situations.
When that worry becomes constant and persistent, however, you can begin to feel like you are always braced for something to go wrong. You may find yourself constantly thinking about what could happen, preparing for the worst, or feeling like you cannot fully relax. When worry becomes intense, persistent, and begins to affect your thoughts, behaviours, relationships, or everyday life, it may be a sign that you are experiencing anxiety.
Anxiety is something that many Canadians experience. According to Statistics Canada, more than 5 million Canadians aged 15 and older met the criteria for a mood, anxiety, or substance use disorder in 2022. In the same year, 5.2% of Canadians aged 15 and older met the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder. This increased to 11.9% among women aged 15 to 24.
Anxiety can show up differently for everyone. Some people mainly experience racing or worrying thoughts, while others notice physical symptoms such as an increased heart rate, sweaty palms, muscle tension, or an upset stomach. You may also find yourself avoiding certain situations because they make you feel anxious.
If you think you may be experiencing anxiety, asking yourself a few simple questions can help you become more aware of what you are going through. These are some of the questions we might ask in a first session at our Vancouver practice.
It is important to remember that these questions are not intended to diagnose an anxiety disorder. If you are concerned about your symptoms or how they are affecting your life, a counsellor or doctor can help you better understand what you are experiencing.
Do you feel nervous, restless or tense regularly?
Anxiety manifests itself as physical symptoms and because of this, you may feel tense, restless, or nervous. If this happens daily, it is worth paying attention to.
You may notice that your body feels tense even when there is no obvious reason to feel stressed. You may also have difficulty sitting still or relaxing because you constantly feel like something needs to be done.
Notice how often these feelings turn up, and whether they stick around after a stressful situation has passed. Worry that lifts once the stressful thing is over is doing its job. Worry that stays is telling you something different.
Are you always on the edge of panic, fear or bracing yourself for the worst?
If you feel constantly on the edge of panic, or bracing yourself for the worst-case scenario, in turn feeling tense and restless, it may be a sign of acute anxiety.
Anxiety can cause you to constantly think about what could go wrong or prepare yourself for something bad to happen. Even when everything is going well, you may find it difficult to relax because you are waiting for the next problem to appear.
This can leave your mind and body in a constant state of alertness, which can become exhausting over time.
Do you experience random physical symptoms throughout the day ie: an increase in heart rate, sweaty palms?
Our bodies begin to show physical symptoms that are in line with our emotions. When something is funny, we laugh, when we’re sad, we cry. An increase in heart rate, bad belly, increased rate of breathing, tensing, and sweaty palms are all telltale signs of anxiety. Try tuning in to your body, is there anything happening that is showing signs of panic or fear?
Are you feeling exhausted or worn out?
One of the most common signs of anxiety is fatigue. During the fight or flight response, our body is filled with adrenaline and always is on high alert. Our bodies only have a limited capacity to work with and once our cups are full, our bodies can feel the toll.
When your body is in a constant state of high alert and stress it can wear you down and make you feel drained. This can come off as a lack of motivation, and a lack of strength but in reality, it is our body's way of telling us that we are overworking it both physically and mentally and that it requires a break.
If anxiety is leaving you feeling exhausted or is beginning to affect your everyday life, anxiety counselling in Vancouver can help you better understand what you are experiencing.
Do you have trouble concentrating throughout the day and often find yourself thinking about anything but the present moment?
With anxiety, it may be hard to focus on what is right in front of you. Let’s face it, this is a very common problem in today’s very busy world, however, trouble focusing on a persistent basis can cause problems in work, school, in your relationships and when you need to carry out important tasks.
This can manifest itself as brain fog, careless mistakes, difficulty with short term memory, difficulty making decisions, missing important meetings or deadlines, and losing things frequently or not remembering where they are.
If you often find yourself replaying something that already happened, or rehearsing something that has not happened yet, and struggle to stay with the task in front of you, you may be experiencing anxiety.
Are you having trouble sleeping?
Insomnia is a very common symptom of anxiety. Anxiety and sleep affect each other interchangeably meaning anxiety can cause a lack of sleep and a lack of sleep can cause anxiety - they go hand in hand.
Anxiety may appear as ruminating thoughts, worries, and fears that are keeping you awake at night, and keeping you from getting a good night's rest.
If you are up at night tossing and turning and having difficulty getting some shut-eye, you may be experiencing the symptoms of an anxiety disorder.
Is your stomach upset or experiencing gastrointestinal issues?
Much like the brain, the gut is also filled with nerves that are affected by anxieties release of stress hormones. The result? Indigestion, stomach cramping, diarrhea, loss of appetite, constipation, tensing in the stomach, and IBS. If you are experiencing GI issues, your gut may be trying to tell you something.
Do you feel the urge to avoid situations that trigger your anxiety? (ie: social events, driving, etc)
Avoiding situations that trigger anxiety is a way for people who suffer from anxiety to control negative thoughts or feelings with the hopes of not feeling or dealing with them. If you feel the urge to avoid social situations or specific actions, it may be your anxiety triggering you to avoid feeling stressed, anxious or upset.
Avoidance can provide relief in the short term, but over time it can make anxiety feel even harder to manage. When you continually avoid something because it makes you anxious, your brain can begin to associate that situation with danger.
If you notice that anxiety is causing you to avoid things you would normally like to do, it may be worth exploring what is behind that response. You can also read more about things you should avoid doing when you have anxiety.
What if you answered yes, but your life looks fine from the outside?
You may have answered yes to several of these questions and still feel like your life looks completely fine from the outside.
You may go to work, take care of your family, maintain your relationships, meet your deadlines, and continue doing everything you normally do. Other people may even see you as someone who has everything together.
At the same time, you may be using a lot of energy behind the scenes to keep everything under control.
The term high-functioning anxiety is sometimes used to describe this experience. High-functioning anxiety is not a formal mental health diagnosis, but it can describe people who experience anxiety while continuing to function in their everyday lives.
It may look like:
Overpreparing for meetings, conversations, or everyday situations
Having trouble saying no because you are worried about disappointing people
Replaying conversations in your head at night
Feeling like everything needs to be done perfectly
Constantly planning for what could go wrong
Finding it difficult to rest because you feel like you should always be doing something
Sometimes, the things you do because of anxiety can even feel like they are helping.
You may worry about a presentation, so you spend hours preparing. You may be afraid of making a mistake, so you check your work over and over. You may worry about disappointing someone, so you say yes even when you do not have the time.
When everything goes well, it can reinforce the idea that worrying and overpreparing are what kept everything under control.
Over time, this can become exhausting. You do not need to wait until anxiety stops you from functioning before you take it seriously.
Why anxiety develops
There are many reasons individuals experience anxiety and can be a symptom of many events. Some people experience anxiety because of:
A traumatic event as a child
A medical illness
Stressful life circumstances
Drug or alcohol use
Other mental health issues
Genetic predisposition
For many people it is not one single cause, but a combination that has built up over time.
What to do with your answers
If you answered yes to several of these questions, and it has been going on for weeks rather than days, that is worth taking seriously. You do not need to have every symptom on this list, and you do not need to be visibly struggling before it is worth talking to someone.
Sometimes people feel shame and guilt around having an anxiety disorder, which makes the experience even heavier than it needs to be. If you find yourself feeling upset about your anxiety or finding it difficult to control your emotions of panic and worry a counsellor can help walk you through the steps necessary to begin to heal and understand your fear to conquer it.
Anxiety can be caused by trauma, drug abuse, stress or as a result of other mental health disorders but it can also be caused by underlying health issues. If you’re experiencing a sudden onset of anxiety, without any previous history or family history of it, your doctor may conclude this to be a result of a medical condition. If any underlying medical condition is suspected, your doctor may send you for medical testing for heart disease, diabetes, thyroid issues, asthma or respiratory issues, chronic pain or IBS, and in rare cases tumours that trigger the fight or flight response, as a response to medications.
Working with anxiety in Vancouver
At Sana Counselling, we understand that anxiety can affect both your mind and your body.
Our approach can include somatic approaches, which focus on becoming more aware of what is happening in your body alongside your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. This can be helpful if you notice that your anxiety shows up physically through tension, restlessness, changes in breathing, or other physical sensations.
We offer both in-person counselling in Vancouver and online counselling across British Columbia.
If you would like to explore whether counselling may be right for you, we offer a free consultation to assess your needs and answer any questions you may have.
Book a free consultation when you are ready.
To learn more about anxiety, you can also explore our other blog posts on anxiety.