Signs You Have High-Functioning Anxiety (Even If You Seem Fine)
Organized. Detail-oriented. Hardworking. Helpful. Perfectionist. Sounds like the beginning of a solid resume, doesn’t it? Yet, these qualities also happen to be key indicators that someone may have high-functioning anxiety.
What is High-Functioning Anxiety?
High-functioning anxiety isn’t a clinical diagnosis. However, it’s something many successful people experience. While seemingly productive, calm, and collected on the outside, this person may be internally experiencing overwhelm, self-doubt, a fear of failure, self-critism, and difficulty relaxing. It can be exhausting and confusing.
The Signs of High-Functioning Anxiety
Overthinking or racing thoughts. This may look like running through every possible scenario in your mind and dwelling on the “what if” scenarios. While it seems like problem-solving, getting stuck in a mental loop usually ends in analysis paralysis and many times poor sleep. (Ever try to be your best self on lack of sleep? Yeah, it doesn’t go too well.) Overthinking can also feel like being trapped in your head, causing a disconnection from present-day self, relationships, and experiences.
Perfectionism. Making a gazillion to-do lists, double checking everything, planning every detail so nothing goes wrong - perfectionism can be a beast. It helps us get straight A’s, be the best vacation planner, and always be organized. However, underneath perfectionism is a fear of failure, self-criticism, and/or a tendency to compare oneself to others. Unconscious thoughts like, “If I don’t do this perfectly, I’m worthless” fuel it, making perfectionism hard to stop.
Avoidance or procrastination. Sometimes the fear of failure or self-criticism presents as avoidance or procrastination rather than perfectionism. Why try so hard on something just to fail? Other beliefs behind avoidance and procrastination can be avoiding uncomfortable feelings or wanting to avoid the end result. For example, starting a job search just to be rejected everywhere you apply or having a tough conversation with your spouse just to have it end in an argument. Procrastination allows us to avoid the feared end result by not even starting to go down that path.
People-pleasing. A fear of judgement, rejection, and/or disapproval many times fuels people-pleasing. Having boundaries and saying no can be especially hard for a people-pleaser. They want to be a good friend, partner, employee, family member - and by doing so, they put themselves on the back burner. Self-neglect is the result of people-pleasing. While making everyone around them happy, they’ve forgotten to take care of themselves.
Difficulty relaxing. High-functioning anxiety comes with high levels of stress. With this comes physical symptoms. Headaches, muscle tension, mental and physical fatigue, trouble sleeping, nervous habits (playing with your hair, cracking knuckles, biting your lip), and shallow breathing are all signs someone’s body is stuck in go-mode. Over time, this can lead to burnout and chronic health conditions.
Why This Kind of Anxiety Is So Easy to Miss
High-functioning anxiety looks different. Think of characters we’d describe as being anxious - Piglet from Winnie the Pooh, Marlin from Finding Nemo, Elsa from Frozen. These presentations of anxiety show awkwardness, panic attacks, and difficulties with everyday tasks. Anxiety is supposed to be debilitating, right? So when someone is productive, successful, and has lots of friends, the struggles become invisible and go unnoticed.
Society says it’s ok. American society thrives on productivity, reliability, and conscientiousness. The person with high-functioning anxiety gets promoted, gets straight As, and is praised for being an overachiever. Again, the anxiety becomes invisible. Capitalist consumerism cares about someone’s outputs and contributions more than their personal well-being. For these reasons even people with high-functioning anxiety might not know they have it.
When Is It Time to Talk to Someone?
High-functioning anxiety slowly erodes away at our well-being, leading to burnout, disconnection from self and others, and chronic health issues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is high-functioning anxiety a real diagnosis?
No, but the diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder can still be met. Either way, treatment and healing is possible - even without a clinical diagnosis.
Can you have high-functioning anxiety and not know it?
Definitely. Anxiety can look and feel different than expected. For many with high-functioning anxiety, it may have been modeled by a caregiver or overachieving was a value in their household. In either case, the traits of this type of anxiety were normalized and therefore not seen as anxiety at all.
