It’s common for for someone struggling at work, school or home to worry and experience anxiety. But are stress, worry and anxiety the same thing? Many people use the terms interchangeably. The fact is, though, that anxiety, worry and stress, while related, are different. And understanding the difference can help a lot.
Stress
Stress is a natural safety response or response to a challenge. Changes in brain chemistry make our heart pump faster, muscles tense and sweat as we get ready to act. Stress can:
- Make us feel nervous, angry, and frustrated.
- Have a positive effect. For example, it can encourage you to study for a test.
- Feel overwhelming and physically exhausting.
Not all stress is bad and can help us to work hard, hold ourselves accountable and grow. Stress in high amounts or stress over long periods of time, however can be unhealthy. Even toxic.
Worry
Worry is a cognitive experience. It’s the thoughts we think about something we have concern for now or in the future. Common worry thoughts appear as thoughts of:
- “What if…”.
- That something could go wrong.
- Making a mistake.
Everyone experiences worry and it’s a natural protective response to parenting, wanting to do our best and even social navigation. But worry can easily become unhealthy, triggering the stress response or anxiety.
Anxiety
Anxiety is different. It’s a reaction to stress or worry. Stress tends to be physical and worry tends to be cognitive. Anxiety, on the other hand, is physical, cognitive and emotional. Another difference is that stress and worry tend to come and go, while anxiety seems to stick around and impact your ability to enjoy or even function in life.
Here are some common aspects of anxiety:
- Hypervigilance- overly focused on negative outcomes, stress or fears.
- Difficulty concentrating, racing thoughts or unwanted thoughts.
- Fatigue, insomnia, heart palpitations or trembling.
The bad feelings associated with anxiety can come from something specific, like work or school. Anxiety can also be more of a general sense of dis-ease, impacting many areas of life.
Anxiety in Childhood
Anxiety shows up differently in children and teens. Below are some of the different symptoms of anxiety that could show up in your child.
- Complaints of headaches or tummy aches.
- Refusing to eat or use the restroom at school.
- Restless or fidgety beyond expected.
- Trouble sleeping.
- Cries a lot or is highly sensitive.
- Afraid of making even small mistakes.
- Refusing to go to school.
- Says “I can’t do it” with no real reason.
- Tantrums or behavioral outbursts.
- Saying “What if..” or excessively fearing things in the future
- Starts withdrawing from activities
It can be hard to know if your child’s level of anxiety is typical or something to be concerned about. Something that can help is to keep a journal about behaviors and symptoms. This can help you put things in perspective and look for patterns.
When to Seek Help
When anxiety stops you or your child from enjoying life, it can be a sign of an anxiety problem. It can be hard to know when it’s time to get help, but if you’re concerned with how anxiety is interfering with everyday life, you may want to consider professional help. With the right treatment and support anxiety disorders can get better.
At Georgetown Child & Family Counseling, we work with children, teens and adults on issues like stress, worry, anxiety and a myriad of other issues that impact people during the family years.
If you’d like to learn more, or to schedule a session, please contact our office directly. We want to make getting help easy, so scheduling is very simple. To get started, contact us directly.
We care and are here to help.
Jenna
Jenna Fleming, LPC, NCC, is a Georgetown, TX therapist. She is also the owner at Georgetown Child & Family Counseling, where it is their mission to help people thrive through Christ-centered counseling.
