While educating yourself about anxiety and panic, you will likely find that many sources include brief lists rather than having chronic anxiety symptoms explained fully.
Unfortunately, these bullet-point style lists of concerns and complaints don’t often provide enough opportunity to fully describe some of the more complicated symptoms that one may experience.
This article will take a more in-depth look at few of the most difficult to understand chronic anxiety symptoms that are generally associated with panic attacks: derealization, depersonalization, and intrusive thoughts.
Derealization
Simply stated, derealization is an anxiety symptom that alters a sufferer’s perception in a way that the external world seems unreal. Sometimes it is described as an almost dream-like state. Those experiencing derealization may feel as if there is a veil or fog between themselves and the world. It is common for the person to experience feelings of déjà vu or jamais vu. He or she may also find that the world looks less vivid visually or has even lost some color. Vision isn’t necessarily the only sense affected, either. Hearing, taste, and small may also be altered during derealization.
It is likely that this particular anxiety symptom influences another common experience during panic attacks: the feeling that one is losing his mind or going crazy. When you are unable to recognize surroundings that are familiar to you (jamais vu) or feel like you are not a part of the world around you, it can certainly seem like sanity is an issue.
Depersonalization
Depersonalization also has a link to an “unreal” feeling. In this case, however, sufferers feel as if they are watching themselves, almost as if they are outside of their own bodies. Again, the world can seem very dreamlike, and those experiencing depersonalization have explained that it feels as if they have no control over a situation. It is most common in people who have experienced a severe trauma or prolonged stress.
Although the individual can likely feel physical sensations and emotions, the perception is that they belong to another person. Someone already experiencing enough stress to suffer from this type of anxiety symptom may find that it actually compounds the anxiety, taking it to an even higher level. Derealization and depersonalization can happen to the same person within the same attack, adding to a sense of detachment and increasing one’s already significant fear levels.
Intrusive Thoughts
When anxiety symptoms are explained thoroughly, one of the most important to cover is the concept of “intrusive thoughts.” Intrusive thoughts are not only distressing but can come along with significant other problems such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, ADHD, depression, PTSD, eating disorders, psychosis, and more. The thoughts themselves are negative or “bad” thoughts that seem to come from nowhere and are associated with behaviors one wishes not to experience. The thoughts are typically of things that are “inappropriate” and most often include aggression, sexual activity, or blasphemy.
Many, if not most, people experience intrusive thoughts at inappropriate times, but they are able to let the thought go and move on. In high-anxiety situations, however, the sufferer may become very distressed or unable to stop focusing on the thought. In the case of those with OCD, rituals may be created as a way of lessening the discomfort caused by the intrusive thought. These then become compulsions that affect the person’s life in significant ways.
While the individual may fear acting on the intrusive thought, this very rarely happens. Still he or she may feel extreme shame or anxiety over having the thought in the first place. This is a good sign, and a person should feel more concerned if the “bad” thoughts are pleasurable or don’t cause a negative reaction. Rather than dealing with intrusive thoughts of things that might happen, PTSD sufferers often experience thoughts related to things that actually did happen. Those with depression are likely to have very intense intrusive thoughts. This particular anxiety symptom may act to convince them they are worthless or that they don’t deserve to live.
To get a better understanding of what the various resources are telling you regarding anxiety disorders, it is a good idea to delve a little deeper into your research. Rather than just basing your knowledge on a bullet-point list, look up the items included so you can have chronic anxiety symptoms explained more fully and in terms that everyone can understand.
