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At first glance, it can be hard to tell the difference between anxiety and stress. Both emotions are generally similar in their effects, negative and triggering. The feelings of threat and lack of control in our environment that generally overwhelm us and cause us fatigue, discomfort and frustration.
But stress and anxiety are different medical conditions, and the distinction between them is important so that we can know what we are dealing with and thus help combat them. The main difference is that stress is generally a temporary problem, how our body handles specific moments of great demand, and anxiety is usually a long-lasting psychopathology.
If you suspect you have one of the two, but don’t know which one, these clues will help you tell them apart.
1. Stress usually responds to external factors
Stress is often a reaction to a problem, and anxiety is a reaction to the stress itself.
This difference is important because stress often occurs when many stressful events occur; stress is the cause.
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2. Anxiety continues when problems go away
The stress caused by a particular problem can cause anxiety, but in many cases when the problem is resolved or resolved, the stress goes away but the anxiety continues.
This reinforces the previous point. Anxiety should be treated as a separate disorder, not just a product of stress. Anxiety rarely goes away during vacations, spa visits, or massages.
We also know what worries people who suffer from stress, but for those who are anxious, stress is less of a problem than anxiety.
3. Anxiety includes unnecessary worries
Many symptoms of stress and anxiety are similar: sleep disturbances, upset stomach, irritability, decreased concentration… but there are certain symptoms that characterize anxiety only. All of the above.
Just as anxiety is often confused with stress, many people consider panic attacks to be much more common than they really are. Very specific physical experiences related to the development of fear and anxiety. Symptoms such as sweating, tremors, fast heartbeat, nausea, chest pain, choking, and chills.
If someone is having a panic attack, whether stressful or not, they are most likely anxious.
4. Difference in treatment between stress and anxiety
For all these reasons, it is concluded that stress and anxiety require very different treatments, and that solving one (usually the simplest is stress) does not necessarily end the other.
In the case of stress, it is usually enough to deal with the factors that cause it: work situation, duration of the test, difficult relationships with a partner… are factors that we cannot easily ignore (for example, most of us cannot do without a job). Therefore, it is necessary to develop strategies to deal with them and compensate them with activities that help you relax, such as going on vacations, learning yoga or learning to turn stress into a motivating feeling (this is called stress or positive stress, as if was a challenge).
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Anxiety, on the other hand, is a more serious and usually permanent psychopathology: people who suffer from anxiety do not have a single specific factor, so solving the causes that cause it requires more specific and personalized attention.
Anxiety treatment is based on medication and treatment if it becomes a limiting factor or reduces the patient’s quality of life. This does not mean that people with anxiety do not benefit from relaxing activities, exercise, or reducing the use of stimulants such as caffeine.
