Looking ahead to the holidays fills us with excitement — or does it? On paper, this is the time we’re all supposed to put aside the daily stress and grind. Joy is the keyword. Traditional gatherings are where that joy is spread, right? Well, sometimes. For many folks, the holidays are when an anxiety disorder rears its ugly head. 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health conditions on the planet. It’s said that as many as 70 percent of visits to general practitioners are related to stress and anxiety. How many more folks are in this struggle but have not been diagnosed? This is possible because anxiety symptoms cover a lot of ground. They can be overlooked or blamed on other issues. 

Everyone can relate to feeling scatterbrained in times of stress. When anxiety is present, you may misplace your keys or forget where you parked your car. If scenarios like this are uncommon and have an obvious cause, they’re rarely cause for concern. However, people dealing with an anxiety disorder can struggle with chronic memory issues. 

Anxiety disorders are so common that it may feel invisible. After all, when so many people experience anxiety, it shifts our baseline expectations. People all over the world are struggling but do not even realize an anxiety disorder is the cause.

Anxiety feels bad at any time. It can be an all-consuming feeling of dread, worry, and fear. You may find yourself distracted from handling basic daily tasks and obligations. Your hands shake, your voice trembles, and your stomach feels like it’s been tied into a knot. As tricky as all this can be, nighttime anxiety can amplify stress in some frustrating ways. 

Anxiety is the most prevalent mental health issue on the planet. It takes many forms, can impact people of all ages, and has a tendency to escalate at night. Not for everyone, mind you, but for enough folks to make this a very relatable problem.

Codependency, on paper, may sound like you’ve found your soulmate. Meanwhile, it actually involves a marked decrease in independence as you gain more and more of your value from something external: your relationship. To keep this going, you must make unhealthy sacrifices and avoid analyzing your emotions. 

The concept of codependency was long associated with addiction but it covers a lot more ground than that. In fact, it is more often used today to explore the dynamics of dysfunctional, one-sided relationships. Such patterns usually involve boundary issues. A codependent couple is made up of two partners who seem to have lost track of the line that separates them. 

If we were to believe in pop culture, we’d trust that retirement is a stress-free paradise. In reality, like any of life’s major transitions, it is a mixed bag of obstacles and revelations. “Stress-free” is not a realistic appraisal of any period in our life. Someone who is about to retire may have genuine concerns about adjusting to “free time” and a loss of identity. 

Ask someone to describe anxiety symptoms. You’ll probably hear plenty about sweaty palms, shaky voices, and racing heartbeats. Probably the only aches that stand a chance of being mentioned is a headache. In reality, chronic pain is a common indicator of an anxiety disorder. It can range from unexplained tension and pain to diseases like fibromyalgia or arthritis.

You can’t be anxious. These are your golden years, right? Ideally, we’d treat all of our years as golden but retirement does have a unique status in modern society. You’ve paid your dues and now come the rewards. No more daily grind. You’ll have more time than ever before and with that, an opportunity to try out ideas, hobbies, and pursuits that were previously put on hold. So… why does it all feel so stressful? 

For a serious condition, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) remains tragically misunderstood. Often, it’s a punchline in a comedy movie or stand-up routine. If someone dares organize the books on their shelf in size order, they’ll get laughed at and called “OCD.”

Anxiety has a bad reputation. To most people, that word evokes images of stress, worry, fear, and dread. In reality, it’s a normal and inevitable emotion that can be mighty helpful. Anxiety is our body’s alarm system. It has the potential to warn and protect you. However, when you feel anxious too often — when danger is not present — it can turn into an unhealthy cycle.

Let’s get right to the first part of the title question. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) dovetails in a major way with anxiety disorders but is a separate diagnosis. For years, OCD was lumped under the umbrella of anxiety but the American Psychiatric Association reclassified it in 2013.

It should come as no surprise that a condition called Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves a cycle of obsessions and compulsions. The key word is “cycle.” Each of us, from time to time, has obsessive thoughts or compulsive behaviors. They can be unpleasant and feel intrusive. But, with OCD, they are disruptive. The obsessions and compulsions are extreme enough to hamper daily functioning.

Everyone knows what it’s like to hear that inner critic nagging at them. But imagine if that internal monologue was non-stop. You feel as if you never stop thinking about something in your appearance that you perceive as a flaw. You know it’s minor (at most) and that no one else notices it.

The first reaction to an anxiety diagnosis is often more anxiety. What does it mean? Am I always going to feel like this? Am I crazy?

All of us have moods, temperaments, and personalities. Each of these is subject to change — although making personality changes is a large undertaking. Beneath these individual trends lies something more fundamental. People may use words like “soul” or “heart” to describe it. It’s sort of an internal compass that shapes your thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors.

Obviously, “sensitive” is often in the eye of the beholder. Everyone has times when they feel more susceptible to the temperature, noise, textures, and general vibrations in their environment. This is frustrating but normal. Almost always, it passes rather quickly. However, the existence of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is also a psychological concept.

While anxiety disorders are not the most common cause of tics, there is definitely a connection. You may have experienced twitching in your eyes or in any muscle in your body. If it doesn’t last long, you may not give it much thought. But if the tics linger, anxiety could be the culprit.