Table of contents:
- What is anxiety?
- Anxiety: symptoms
- What is stress?
- Stress: symptoms
- Emotional symptoms of stress
- Cognitive symptoms of stress
- Behavioral symptoms of stress
- 10 differences between stress and anxiety
- 1. Origin
- 2. Triggers
- 3. Emotions presented
- 4. Moment of appearance
- 5. Duration
- 6. Remission of symptoms
- 7. Objective intensity
- 8. Anxiety is underlying stress
- 9. Severity
- 10. Treatment
- Differences between stress and anxiety: summary
With the speed at which our society advances and with the amount of things we have to do in our day to day life, it is normal for responses of stress or anxiety to appear. Generally, these two terms tend to be understood as the same concept, and it is not surprising, since they are closely associated with each other. Certain anxiety or stress responses are healthy and adaptive, however, the presence of these two responses in abundance can lead to serious health problems or psychological disorders. If you are interested in understanding these two phenomena so frequent in our lives and understanding those elements that differentiate them, keep reading this Psychology-Online article: 10 differences between stress and anxiety.
You may also be interested in: 10 types of anxiety: symptoms and differences Index- What is anxiety?
- Anxiety: symptoms
- What is stress?
- Stress: symptoms
- 10 differences between stress and anxiety
- Differences between stress and anxiety: summary
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a response that leads our body to activate and reproduce defense mechanisms in the face of a certain circumstance. Faced with this set of situations that generate anxiety, an emotional response is aroused, which will vary depending on the stimulus that produces the anxiety. This emotional response can be associated with feelings of restlessness, fear, nervousness and can lead to the appearance of excessive worries.
Anxiety: symptoms
Symptoms of anxiety can vary depending on the anxiety disorder that is present. However, they all share a set of symptomatic manifestations that can be classified into different groups. In general, anxiety symptoms can be classified into the following groups: physical, psychological, behavioral, cognitive and social, although the specific symptoms of each category are different in the different disorders. Therefore, anxiety symptoms can be the following:
- Psychological: fear of losing control, fear of dying, feeling of threat, desire to flee from the situation that is associated with danger, uncertainty or insecurity.
- Behavioral: people with anxiety disorders are constantly on alert or hypervigilance. On the other hand, impulsivity, motor agitation or hyperactivity may occur. In addition, in anxiety disorders a change in body expressiveness or body language may appear, presenting rigid postures, changes in voice, imprecise movements, etc.
- Cognitive: in anxiety disorders tend to have problems with attention, concentration or memory. On the other hand, excessive worries and negative and irrational cognitions appear.
- Social: anxiety can limit social circumstances, being able to present irritability, speech blocks, a tendency to isolation or difficulty expressing one's opinion.
What is stress?
Stress appears when the person does not have the adaptive capacity to adapt to the demands of the circumstances, that is, the person in these situations feels overcome and stress responses appear. The stress response can lead to psychological and biological alterations, which can generate certain diseases over time, since stress has effects on the body.
Stress: symptoms
The presence of stress can lead to symptoms on an emotional, cognitive or behavioral level. The most common signs of stress and symptoms are as follows:
Emotional symptoms of stress
- Loss of energy on a physical or psychological level
- Low mood
- Pessimism
- Fear of being sick
- Anxiety
- Lowers self-esteem
- Emotional lability
- Instability or restlessness
- Tension
Cognitive symptoms of stress
- Difficulty making decisions
- Mental block
- Difficulty in accepting criticism
- Confusion
- Ease of distraction
- Frequency of forgetfulness
Behavioral symptoms of stress
- Stuttering
- Behaviors like heavy drinking or smoking
- Nervous laugh
- Nail biting or hair pulling
- Use of drugs, such as tranquilizers
- Increased physical activity
- Bad eating habits
10 differences between stress and anxiety
Although stress and anxiety responses are conceived as synonyms, they are two different response processes. They may be related but they have several aspects that differentiate them. The top 10 differences between stress and anxiety are as follows:
1. Origin
Stress maintains a clearly identifiable origin, as we have previously indicated, in the face of certain situations that the person must face and feel that they do not have the necessary resources to be able to address it, they feel overcome, causing the origin of stressful responses.
In contrast, the origin of anxiety is more diffuse. The person may feel feelings of threat or fear, but without the need to know where it comes from, without being identifiable its origin. It is not necessary for an objective circumstance to present itself for anxiety responses to be aroused.
2. Triggers
Stress triggers are related to the external factors that surround the person, the circumstances that overwhelm him and cause this stress response.
Triggers for anxiety are more internal, tied to our cognitions, thoughts of a catastrophic nature or feelings of anguish and fear. It is based above all on subjective fear, regardless of what happens outside and there tends to be worry and anticipation of unlikely events.
3. Emotions presented
In stress, the predominant emotion is not fear, but concern about the stimulus that has contributed to the person's overflow. This concern triggers behaviors of irritability and feelings of sadness, as well as nervousness and feelings of frustration at not being able to overcome what is presented to them.
In anxiety, the predominant emotion is fear, the fear that something bad could happen, which leads to the person constantly anticipating the possible catastrophic or negative situations that can be triggered next.
4. Moment of appearance
Stress gets stuck in the present, causing the time in which the person is stressed to become endless, feeling that they will not be able to overcome this situation and without finding an alternative to face it. As we have previously commented, the temporal space in anxiety is situated in the future, in the anticipation characteristic of catastrophic thinking.
5. Duration
Stress, being related to external factors, ends when the stressor disappears or is overcome. The moment the stressful stimulus has disappeared, the physiological and psychological state of the person tends to return to normal.
Duration in anxiety is more complex to understand. First of all, because it is associated with an internal construction of its own, with irrational thoughts that the person has developed around an idea. Faced with this, anxiety can be prolonged without a fixed end, depending totally on the reconstruction of reality that the person executes so that said fear diminishes.
6. Remission of symptoms
Although the presentation of the symptoms may be similar and they share symptoms, the duration of the symptoms is very different. In stress, the symptoms appear only before the stressful stimulus, for example, in front of the exam period, and once the stressful circumstance has passed or has been overcome, the symptoms disappear and the person returns to their normal state. In contrast, in anxiety, being associated with internal factors and diffuse triggers, it tends to perpetuate itself over time. In the same previous exam, the person at the end of the exam period will leave thinking that they could have done much better, what their grades will be, they wonder how they will face another round of exams,… thus maintaining high levels of anxiety.
7. Objective intensity
In stress, the intensity of its presentation is more in line with the importance of the triggering factor, while in anxiety the intensity is more irrational, because there is a high intensity related to subjective factors that in other people would not cause such an intense response.
8. Anxiety is underlying stress
Anxiety is considered a manifestation of stress, being an emotional response to it, a symptom. This relationship does not happen in the opposite direction. That is, stress produces anxiety, but it is not occasional that anxiety produces stress.
9. Severity
Although both stress and anxiety are two adaptive, normal and healthy responses, when these are presented in excess they can cause major health problems. However, the severity of anxiety is greater, and can cause psychological disorders such as: generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks or phobias, among others. On the other hand, the severity of stress is not so intense and when faced with its excess it can influence or aggravate certain organic diseases.
10. Treatment
Treatment for both reactions differs greatly. Anxiety, being more persistent, requires treatment for its remission. In stress, if it does not subside, the person can start a psychotherapeutic treatment in order to adopt strategies to cope with stress, on the other hand, the treatment of anxiety tends to require a combined psychological and pharmacological treatment. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy or drug treatment for panic attacks.
Differences between stress and anxiety: summary
Here is a table as a visual summary of the most important differences between stress and anxiety.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to 10 differences between stress and anxiety, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical Psychology.
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