If you’re a high-achiever who’s under a lot of pressure to succeed — and you constantly feel the stress of living up to that image — welcome to the club.
“Many successful people with moderate to severe anxiety don’t know what it’s like to live without their anxiety,” says Kate Sheehan, LCSW, managing director of UCLA CARES, an anxiety awareness and prevention program. “So they might come to believe that their anxiety is a necessary part of their success. These people also expend a lot of effort to appear that everything they’re doing comes naturally and easily.”
What Sheehan is describing is what some are calling high-functioning anxiety. Due to increased recognition on social media platforms, it’s a term many are now using to describe their experience with anxiety.
What is high-functioning anxiety?
“High-functioning anxiety isn’t a clinical diagnosis, whereas generalized anxiety disorder is,” says Sheehan.
The term “high-functioning anxiety” is used mostly on social media and by people who aren’t necessarily receiving treatment for anxiety. “I see it as a good thing as far as helping to destigmatize anxiety and mental health challenges,” says Sheehan. “But it’s also a misunderstanding of what anxiety looks like. People with clinically diagnosed anxiety are quite often high functioning.”
Another term you might hear is “high-masking anxiety.” “This really speaks to the effort someone with anxiety is putting in to appear that everything is OK,” says Sheehan.
Symptoms of high-functioning anxiety
“In some severe cases, anxiety is debilitating,” says Sheehan. “But that’s not the norm, and there are a lot more people who are high functioning with anxiety.”
Anxiety can show up in a variety of ways that impact you physically and emotionally. Physical symptoms of anxiety include:
- Back, neck or shoulder pain
- Headache
- Increased heart rate
- Insomnia
- Shortness of breath
- Stomach upset
- Tension
Emotional and behavioral symptoms include:
- Avoidance or procrastination
- Catastrophizing (thinking the worst will happen)
- Chronic worrying
- Difficulty relaxing
- Fear of failure
- Irritability
- Racing thoughts
- Reassurance seeking
- Self-doubt
Strategies to relieve anxiety
There are self-care strategies you can use to help lessen the effects of anxiety on both your body and your brain. “Anxiety is a systemic response,” says Sheehan. “But there are many ways to counteract that.”
Options for helping alleviate anxiety include:
- Controlled breathing techniques
- Exercise
- Mediation
- Stretching/yoga
It’s also important to recognize and counteract the racing thoughts, worries and other mental challenges of anxiety. Sheehan suggests creating a “worry box” or log.
“Worries can get really loud at bedtime, so write your thoughts down in a notebook or on a piece of paper, put it in a box and close it,” she says. “It takes the thoughts out of your brain and helps lighten that cognitive load.”
People with anxiety might turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drugs or alcohol to make themselves feel better. “This type of self-medicating might help you feel more relaxed, but it’s only temporary and can have many negative consequences,” says Sheehan.
When to seek help for anxiety
If you’re worried about your anxiety (which can fuel even more anxiety), it’s important to seek help. “A professional can help you recognize what’s going on, identify how it’s hindering you and make a plan to reduce anxiety’s negative impacts,” she says.
Start by honestly assessing how often you feel anxious, how intense the feelings are and how much anxiety interferes with your goals and values. Getting treatment can help rebalance your life so that it no longer feels like anxiety is running the show.
You might seek out a cognitive behavioral therapist, psychiatrist or other mental health counselor. They can help you identify when anxiety is helpful, when it’s harmful and how to manage it.
“It can be lonely to feel like you have to constantly be perfect and high achieving,” says Sheehan. "The term 'high achieving anxiety' may offer some people a way to share with friends or loved ones what it’s like for them to live under constant pressure. Finding support and understanding from others could also help you realize that you can be high achieving without the anxiety, and that’s a more comfortable way to live."
