High Functioning Anxiety
What is high functioning anxiety?
High functioning anxiety has evolved as a catch-all term used to describe people who live with anxiety, but who are not impaired in their day to day functioned to the extent that a clinical diagnosis is warranted. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about 40 million adults deal with an anxiety disorder at any given time. Of this approximately 18 percent of the population, some fall into the category of “high functioning”, essentially silent anxiety hidden behind a smile.
Does This Sound Familiar?
Do you feel distressed about a multitude of things but still operate normally in your every day life? Do your worries about potential problems in the future propel you to plan and act now? Are you afraid of disappointing others? Do you fear failure? Do you frequently overthink things or replay situations in your head? Do you procrastinate tasks that need to be completed followed by long periods of crunch-time work? Do your thoughts often feel like they are racing?
On the surface, someone with high functioning anxiety has it all together, they are the picture of success. They are driven in their careers, impeccably dressed, always on time, and their social schedule seems pleasantly full. Someone who struggles with high functioning anxiety would never tell you that, just beneath the surface, they are fighting a constant feeling of anxious uneasiness, nervous energy, fear of failure... they have convinced everyone around them that they are just fine. They spend a significant time of emotional energy presenting a false persona to the world, keeping all of their feelings bottled up inside with a plan to deal with them later. Unfortunately, later never comes.
Time to Seek Help?
Seeking help for anxiety, especially high functioning anxiety, can be daunting. You may think that your anxiety isn’t severe enough to warrant counseling or seeking professional help. After all, you are one of “those” people who struggle who anxiety, who can’t work, can’t eat, who can’t maintain relationships of any kind. You might even convince yourself that the way you think is “normal”… you are just list-maker, a workaholic, a planner, disciplined, don’t need very much sleep and so on and so on. Your life doesn’t have to revolve around rigorously planning for every possible scenario, feeling obligated to go the extra mile in every area of your life, and feeling so fatigued from all of your efforts to control your environment and maintain your facade of having it all together that you no longer have energy to simply enjoy life! Learning more about yourself through the counseling process can help you process your anxiety and develop ways of living a more authentic life, free from day-to-day pressures of anxiety.