High Functioning Anxiety- What is it and How to Cope

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a mental health disorder that impacts millions of people.

According to Mind, 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health each year in England alone.

Anxiety causes negative feelings and thoughts that can create physical and emotional symptoms in the body.

If you would like to know more about anxiety, click the following links:

What you need to know about anxiety

7 effective ways to cope with anxiety

One major difference is that high functioning anxiety is not an official diagnosis according to DSM 5 (manual for assessment and diagnosis of mental disorders); however, it still impacts many people.

What is High Functioning Anxiety?

Similarly to anxiety, high functioning anxiety is a mood disorder and may be difficult to group initially. Individuals who have high functioning anxiety can accomplish their work and succeed in many areas of life.

Instead of anxiety limiting what they can do (in some cases), having high functioning anxiety actually pushes people forward and propels them to get their work done.

From the outside looking in, one with high functioning anxiety may appear to have it all together; they may be a social butterfly and an overachiever. But on the inside, that may be experiencing many of the same symptoms recognized in anxiety disorder. These feelings may include both physical and psychological emotions.

Physical symptoms can include:

• Nausea, upset stomach, difficulty breathing, sweating and fatigue.

Psychological symptoms can include:

• Insomnia, overthinking, mental fatigue, negative thoughts, and nervous habits’ (nail-biting, hair-pulling).

In contrast, if you believe that you identify with high functioning anxiety others may see you as (or you may see yourself as):

• A people pleaser- You struggle to say no to the demands of others.
• Organized- You schedule everything to a t
• Overachiever- Whatever you do, academic and work-wise, you excel at it.
• Calm- In your mannerisms and how you conduct yourself.
• Reliable- People turn to you and depend on you because you are punctual and handle your responsibilities like a boss.
• Outgoing- You can pretty much talk to anyone and crack a few jokes while you are at it.
• In the words of Sir Kendrick Lamar- ‘Loyalty, loyalty, loyalty!’ You are loyal to the very end!

In all honesty, I only read up high functioning anxiety last year. Little did I know, that I believe that I am experiencing high functioning anxiety along with anxiety and depression. After some reflection, I realised that high functioning anxiety has shown up in my life many times:

Overthinking

At times our mind may be our worst enemy. I don’t know why I always think of the worst-case scenarios in a lot of situations. When I go to work, I dread it and always think that things won’t plan. Guess what? I now invited this into my environment (thoughts become things; law of attraction).

When I don’t hear from my boyfriend after a night out, I always think something bad happened.
Then he calls me, and I calm down a bit, but I still think about it as I didn’t hear anything for hours.

I appear to be calm but inside, I’m freaking out

I’ve been told by people, colleagues, and managers that I am so calm. Oh! Looks can be deceiving. I am practising deep breathing and trying to calm my nerves, all while looking calm and chill.

People pleaser

When I was younger, I just wanted to be the best at everything and to do that, that meant (to me) that I had to say yes to everyone else’s demands! It took me so long to build up the courage and create boundaries for myself while saying no! Boundaries are put in place to protect and honour our wellbeing.
If you would like to know more about boundaries and how to create them, click here!

Overachiever

I don’t even classify myself as an overachiever. In fact, I think that I could be doing so much more. At the age of 20, I moved to Canada by myself, which was cool. I stayed there for a year and learnt a lot about myself.

I studied BSc Business and Psychology, and recently I passed my master’s degree in psychological therapies: mental health. I’ve been volunteering for about 10 years and so on. But at the back of my mind, I feel like I could have accomplished a lot more if I wasn’t so impulsive and had a career plan. But am I comparing my credentials and ‘place in life’ to others? Very likely.

Struggling to relax

When I have downtime, I spend roughly 90% thinking, ‘man, I need to make use of this time, and the other 10% is me chilling feeling guilty for chilling. During lockdown, I felt that I should have done so much with my downtime. I’ve been learning Spanish, and I could have spent more time doing it.

I could have learnt new skills, i.e., learnt about coding, cryptocurrency as that seems to be taking off! I could have strengthened my relationships. In contrast, lockdown was really hard, and I need to cut myself some slack. I lost 2 jobs, and my mental health took a dive.

Alternatively, there is always a bright side. I was able to have several sessions of CBT (read on for my experience). I worked on my blog, and I started a YouTube channel. I started jogging, so I guess it’s not all bad!

People may struggle to gauge who you are as a person

I like to think I have a poker face. In many situations, especially in the workplace, I hold my cards very close to my chest. I tend to share certain information only that (can’t be used against me) and protect myself. Ok, so I have a guard up! I know! If I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve made many friends with the countless jobs that I’ve had.

1)I’m an introvert, and I struggle to open up. 2)Refer to number one as it’s my main excuse. I like to keep things strictly professional. We can make small talk (which I sometimes don’t even like, I appreciate quiet), or we cannot talk unless we have. Wow, I sound like the Grinch and scrooge all rolled up in one.

Using substances as a coping mechanism

Back in university, I was a wild child! They called me the turn-up queen! I would drink a lot, part a lot (I’m talking about a couple of times a week AT LEAST) and rest a little. One week, I was drunk every day. Yes, 7 days straight of booze. I would drink to become a social butterfly and distract myself from the feelings of anxiety slowly taking over.

Now, I am at the other end of the spectrum. I only drink socially and pre covid; I used driving as an excuse not to drink. Last weekend (16/4/21), I had my first cocktail of the year. Who am I?

If you can identify with some of what I referred to, talk to your doctor. I know it is easier said than done, but I would highly recommend it.

If you are building up the courage to talk to your doctor, which I had done for years, try to maintain a journal and write down events that may have occurred and how you feel.

It is helpful to keep track of this as you can refer back to it later.

If anxiety is really causing havoc in your life, there are helplines to contact.

Due to covid, there has been a surge in demand for mental health services, so do make use of it if you can.

Many services are conducting treatments online, so that is always an option.

If you have talked to someone and are weighing out options, that is great also.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is good for finding practical solutions to combat anxiety; however, in my opinion, counselling is as useful.
Both have their pros and cons, so research if you can.

With regards to focusing on the here and now, you can do the following. While you wait for a referral (if necessary):

• Finding coping mechanisms- Deep breathing is helpful as it helps to ease nerves.
• Find a way to let off some stream- Dance, write, blog; there can be something in this world to tickle your fancy.
• Try to analyse your thought patterns. Has anything happened in your past to make you doubt yourself?

Take Away

You are not alone.

There are many people who are experiencing this as well.

Talk to people around you.

I hope you have a support system to uplift you. Uplift yourself too!

Thanks for reading.

Take care and stay safe.

XO

Tagged dsm 5, high functioning anxiety, mental health