Anxiety Disorder Symptoms
Anxiety disorder symptoms vary significantly from person to person, with much of their manifestation depending on the type of anxiety. Symptoms can also increase and decrease throughout the day, making it difficult to pinpoint when someone will experience a panic attack or other symptoms. However, there are some general signs that might indicate someone has anxiety disorder:
- Difficulty sleeping or falling asleep at night.
- Difficulty concentrating.
- Increased unexplained fear or worry about personal health problems such as heart palpitations or chest pain with no cause beyond stress and overthinking it every time these occur. - Excessive sweating for no reason (night sweats).
- Loss of appetite, weight loss, or not being able to eat normally.
- Excessive feelings of tiredness or fatigue.
- Irritability and poor motivation.
- Trouble walking, trembling, dizziness during the day. - Panic attacks.
- Waking up from sleep with heart palpitations and chest pain with no cause beyond stress and overthinking it every time these occur (palpitations) . - Fear that another person or trouble from afar is going to harm him/herself or someone he/she cares about (panic disorder symptoms).
- Frequently thinking about certain topics in great detail even when there is nothing new to learn about them (obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms).
- Tingling or numbness in the hands or feet (peripheral neuropathy symptoms).
- Red, irritated eyes.
- A feeling of always being on edge or easily startled.
- Feeling a slowing of mental processes and scattered thoughts.
- Body pain (headaches, joint pain) for no clear reason (medically unexplained symptoms).
- Depression that is so persistent it prevents someone from doing normal activities (depression symptoms). - Changes in eating habits such as binge eating or avoiding certain healthy foods in favor of junk food and carbohydrates. - Extreme sensitivity to light and sounds (light sensitivity symptoms). - Reoccurrence of tics that have been dormant for many years. - Fatigue or weakness in the body that requires a lot of sleep every day. - Surprise attacks of extreme fear or panic for no clear reason (panic disorder symptoms). - Trouble falling asleep when it is time to go to bed, but falling asleep just fine in the middle of the day when it is not time to go to bed.
- Seeing lights that don't exist around someone he/she loves or cares about (hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations).
- Feeling extremely sensitive and feeling everything is too bright during the day and too dark at night (hypersensitivity symptoms).
- Having obsessive thoughts that can't be shaken off no matter how hard he/she tries.
- Blind spots in the vision or seeing bright spots or flashes of light for no clear reason (vision symptoms). - Fear that he/she has a physical illness when there is no medical basis for this fear (hypochondria symptoms).
- A feeling of despair that comes on suddenly and lasts up to a few hours (panic disorder symptoms).
- Constant anxiety and worry with no identifiable cause. - Numb arms or legs due to reduced blood flow (peripheral neuropathy symptoms). - Seeing shadows out of the corner of his/her eye when there is nothing there.
- Unexplained feelings of sadness, crying, or longing for no clear reason.
- Feeling like the world is spinning around him/her (vertigo symptoms).
- Constant feeling of being overwhelmed. - Hearing sounds that no one else hears when there is nothing there to make those sounds (tinnitus symptoms). - Losing interest in activities he/she used to enjoy doing.
- Feeling extremely sensitive to lights and sounds during the day so much that anything can seem too bright or loud. - Feelings of hatred towards a person who doesn't deserve it or feeling extremely attached to someone she/he shouldn't be attached to because of how strongly she/he feels towards them (attachment disorder). - Intense and unreasonable anger that can't be controlled or reason with.
- Acting out of character. - Avoiding certain situations or places for no clear reason for a long period of time (avoidant behavior symptoms). - Having trouble concentrating on tasks and feeling like he/she is not paying attention when he/she is paying attention.
- A loss of interest in the usual subject matter of his/her life, leading him/her to avoid certain topics that used to be interesting to him/her (recessive behaviors).
- Anxious about unknown persons, places, objects and things. - Constantly worrying about every little thing even when there is no way for these worries to be justified.
- Having a hard time understanding things such as confusion, feeling like his/her brain is "foggy" and having trouble concentrating.
- An excessive fear of loud sounds during the day that startle him/her out of nowhere (startle disease symptoms).
- Unexplained pain in certain parts of the body during the day or at night that can be severe enough to keep him/her awake at night (medically unexplained symptoms). - Feelings of being watched when he/she is alone, especially when he/she is laying down. - A hard time controlling his/her anger and can become violent for no reason.
- An experience of hearing or seeing something very terrifying for no clear reason (hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations).
- Unexplained weight gain or loss even if he/she isn't eating differently than he/she normally does. - Having a severe case of feeling constantly overheated or chilled, being either hot and sweaty in the middle of winter while everyone else is cold and shivering, or being freezing cold in the summer with a fan blowing on him/her. - Feelings of fear during the day that are so strong they keep him/her from doing daily tasks such as taking a shower in the morning or going to work.
- Nightmares that last for several hours and are so realistic and detailed that the person wakes up shaking.
- Loss of sexual desire for a long period of time (sexual dysfunction symptoms). - A feeling of being disconnected from reality. - An inability to concentrate on tasks, reading or doing schoolwork.
- A sudden onset of a severe illness with no known cause. - Having difficulty understanding desires, needs, or emotions that he/she used to understand easily in the past (perceptual disturbance symptoms).
- Frequently experiencing convulsions when he/she tries to sleep (unexplained, unexplained convulsions). - Having a hard time doing things such as writing or making speeches. - Unexplained changes in weight or appetite.
- Being in a place where there are no sounds that should be heard.
- Feeling confused when he/she tries to find the right word or behavior pattern (intellectual disturbance symptoms).
- Being careful and conservative about what he/she says even when it is completely irrelevant, for no clear reason (conversational disturbance symptoms).
- Having trouble remembering things that happened only a couple of days ago and making up stories about them (memory disturbance symptoms). - Having an inexplicable feeling of being watched all the time even when he/she is alone in his/her home.
Conclusion:
The trauma caused by verbal abuse may not appear to be as severe as physical or sexual abuse but it is also important to recognize the symptoms of verbal abuse and signs of verbal abuse in a relationship. Verbal abuse is a form of emotional trauma that will lead to several different symptoms and create several different problems for the victim. Verbal abuse can cause victims to hear voices, see images, feel detached from reality, feel constant confusion, and lead victims in believing that they are going crazy because of their own mind. Knowledge about the effects of verbal abuse on mental health is essential for family members, friends and co-workers who want to help someone who has been traumatized by it.