High functioning anxiety is known as the “21st-century disease”. Anxious people wage wars against themselves – combat after combat, and in order to understand this disorder you need to be familiar with the modern way of life.

The rapid changes, the new way of communication, the media and technology, and many other issues make the children of these modern times suffer from anxiety once they reach adolescence.

As claimed by many scientists, children born in the ’90s, for example, are the “generation of anxiety”. The digital revolution and humanity’s development in the last two decades has had an enormous impact on these generations ‘ personality-building.

High functioning anxiety, however, can be manifested both physically and emotionally and is described as a state of mind and body. In this article, we are going to share some of the most common things that people with highly functioning anxiety do.

Anxiety can be expressed physically and emotionally – it’s noticeable

People suffering from high functioning anxiety are not hard to be recognized. You can still notice them shaking, trembling or sweating, not eating well, even when they’re used to their mental state. High functioning anxiety people always have sweaty hands. They can also be seen making constant small movements with their thumbs, hands or foot. While doing this, they unintentionally relieve their tension. Those who are anxious might also have breathing problems or even black out in a panic attack.

Irish goodbye

People that suffer from anxiety are used to leaving social gatherings, celebrations or crowded places. You may see anxious people just walking away from the place, with no explanation. Well, there is a huge reason for that and it is called anxiety. Do not criticize them, try to understand and accept their choice or try to make them feel more secure, at least.

Preoccupied

People with anxieties are often too distracted and preoccupied. They mostly concentrate on their everyday activities and work, they do everything they can to hold their minds concentrated on something else. Regular distractions are necessary for people with anxiety, they really need to get out of their minds. If you ever think that they’re obsessed with their work, don’t criticize them — they really need to feel appreciated and escape from their main issue in life as well.

People pleaser

If you happen to be an anxious person, there’s a high chance that you’ll always do your utmost to please those around you. Anxious people want to keep things under control and the easiest way to do that is to keep people happy in social interactions. That’s at least how they think.

Perfectionists

Those with high functioning anxiety have a tendency to be perfectionists.Just as we said before, their discomfort is greatly decreased if they have control over the situation. Mistakes cannot be accepted because they are the root of the problems – perfection is quite the contrary. Anxious people hate mistakes and always try to make no mistakes in the stuff they do. Their strong concentration and commitment help them achieve perfection in everything they do.

Bad habits

Each anxious person has some odd bad habits. Sure, anxious people are perfectionists and concentrate very strongly on one thing, but the other things, mainly some things they fail to find important because of their state, are often annoying the others and turn into a bad habit.

Isolation and small things

Social interaction – this is the thing that any anxious person hates to do. It’s a big weight because they can’t really concentrate on their social skills – the social connections are far above their reach – the progress of a certain relationship between two or more individuals is equally important to all sides. That is why people who are anxious dislike small things like phone conversations, social media contacts, celebrations, holidays, cheers, etc.

Thoughts

People that are anxious are always being bombarded with thoughts. They are really under strong pressure and are battling their own body and mind state. The tension of this inner struggle is immense and leads, of course, to many emotions, some of them even being a ‘’product‘’ of anxiety itself, making the situation even more complicated. Thoughts connected to anxiety are uncomfortable, and often terrifying.

Personal critic

If you struggle with anxiety, be sure that you are your own biggest critic. Anxious people are really giving themselves a hard time, they are punishing and even caring less about themselves. That is very bad and it’s not supposed to happen. That is why everyone that feels anxiety getting stronger and stronger, needs to see a therapist immediately, who will help them deal with their problem.