Can stress cause severe anxiety?

Video by Jenny, text by Dr. Carandang

Hi. It’s Jenny at AnxietyBoss.com. Our question today is from James in Pittsburgh. Can stress cause severe anxiety? Modern life is very demanding and stressful, but stress means different things to different people, and one person’s stress may be another person’s play. There are people with normal blood parameters for heart disease who are at risk for a heart attack simply because they deal with stress poorly.

Can stress cause severe anxiety? If stress is relentless, it can become harmful, and long-term stress can leave you with severe anxiety and depression with a churning stomach as well as nausea, diarrhea, heart palpitations, sweating, and tense muscles.

Examples of anxiety disorders include post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder social phobia, and specific phobias. A number of events and demands can cause us stress. The effects of severe anxiety can interfere with life in a negative way. It interferes with your ability to sleep and you want to avoid crowded places and being with friends because you have a fear of social scrutiny.

Severe anxiety overwhelms you. It can affect your speech patterns and give you a dry mouth, lump in the throat, and shaky voice, and these are big problems if you have to give a speech.

Coping strategies for severe anxiety can be learned. You can adopt simple techniques. By exercising, you can use up nervous energy and decrease anxiety. For temporary relief from severe anxiety symptoms, you can talk to a doctor about the possibility of medication, bearing in mind the side effects and that when you discontinue the medication, the anxiety symptoms usually return.

The second step involves learning to relax. You can learn about progressive muscle relaxation, which is effective for lowering stress levels. Another useful coping mechanism is calm breathing, which involves learning to take slow deep breaths.

These along with other innovative programs and therapies offer you hope.