Anxiety is not a single mental health condition. Instead, it includes a wide range of diagnoses, such as:
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- And others
People experiencing anxiety are not weak-willed, dramatic, or “overthinking.” They are experiencing a legitimate medical condition.
In this section, we’ll explore what anxiety is, why it exists, and how it affects the body and mind.
What Causes Anxiety?
Anxiety is a physiological survival response to a real or perceived threat. For our ancestors, anxiety kept us alive. It helped us avoid predators, starvation, disease, environmental threats, and social exclusion.
Anxiety also helped maintain group belonging. Social pressure ensured that people followed group norms and shared resources so the community could survive. In this way, anxiety served an adaptive purpose.
Our brains never learned how to tell the difference between “bear in the woods” danger and modern-day stresses like job loss, public speaking, discrimination, or financial strain.
The same alarm system that once protected us from predators now activates during things like work stress, relationship tension, or life transitions.
If fear or worry continues long after the stressor ends or becomes so intense that it interferes with daily life for weeks or months a clinician may diagnose an anxiety disorder.
Common Symptoms of Anxiety
People with anxiety may experience:
- Nervousness or restlessness
- Irritability
- Hypervigilance
- Muscle tension or body aches
- Shortness of breath
- Fast heartbeat
- High blood pressure
- Sleep changes (difficulty falling or staying asleep)
- Appetite changes
- Trouble concentrating or remembering things
- Difficulty performing daily tasks
- Social withdrawal
These symptoms are not just emotional. They are physical, cognitive, and behavioral, affecting nearly every part of a person’s life.
How Common Is Anxiety?
According to the ADAA Factsheet on anxiety disorders:
- About 40 million adults — roughly 1 in 5 — experience an anxiety disorder each year.
- Anxiety and Depression frequently co-occur. Approximately 50% of people diagnosed with Depression also meet criteria for an anxiety disorder.
This means practitioners are extremely likely to work with clients experiencing symptoms of both. Visit the ADAA’s webpage linked above to learn more about the many forms of anxiety disorders.
Reflection Exercise
Take a moment to pause and check in with yourself. You can reflect quietly, write a few notes, or skip this section if now isn’t the right time.
- What messages have you heard about anxiety, whether helpful or unhelpful?
- How might those messages influence how clients talk about their fears, worries, or physical symptoms?
- Which of the symptoms described on this page tend to show up most often in your work?
There are no right or wrong answers here. This reflection is simply an opportunity to notice patterns, assumptions, or reactions that may shape how anxiety is understood or responded to.
Remember to notice what you’re thinking and learning. Take a break if you need one.
When you’re ready, continue to What is Panic?
Disability and Mental Distress 