What's the difference between anxiety and stress?
35 Answers
Last Updated: 06/10/2019 at 4:14am
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Tracy-Kate Teleke, PsyD, M.A., LMFT
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Stress can cause anxiety, and anxiety can cause stress. The difference, I suppose, in how we deal with it and how it affects us. Stress can cause us to work harder and improve in small quantities, but even small amounts of anxiety can render us helpless, and that's one of the scariest differences, I think.
Anxiety is the physical symptoms that stress can cause after a long period of time. Stress over time can cause anxiety to build.
Stress and anxiety are different because stress is something that can be used as a great motivating power. Stress is your mind being preoccupied with situations in your life, job, family, etc. Anxiety becomes a form of stress that can be unhealthy: for me it's often a precursor to panic attacks. Anxiety leaves me feeling very overwhelmed, nervous, or tired. Stress just makes me preoccupied.
Stress occurs with everyone, and happens when there is a problem or something interrupting or affecting your life. Such as a test, a lot of homework, or fighting with friends or family. Anxiety is more on a regular basis and is individualized depending on what makes you anxious.
Anonymous
November 7th, 2014 9:02pm
Difference between stress and anxiety is that, while stress is a response to a specific stressor, anxiety has no identifiable root.
Great question! According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, "stress is a response to a threat in a situation. Anxiety is a reaction to the stress". Basically, that means stress is how you feel when things aren't going well, where anxiety is the worry that things might not go well.
Anxiety is the foreboding feeling of dread before a situation, whereas Stress is the feeling you have within a situation.
Anxiety is a consistent persistent feeling that reacts to stress. Stress is what happens when you live.
Anonymous
May 24th, 2016 11:09pm
Anxiety occurs more often and is caused my multiple things in your life. Stress is for a short period of time and is caused by only one or two things.
Anonymous
May 9th, 2017 12:47pm
Stress is for example, when you are at a very busy work place and there is a lot going on. But anxiety is if you are, for example, in a room filled with strangers and you feel like they are all staring at you and your heart starts racing. Very similar to being nervous.
Stress is generally produced by one's circumstances in life. Anxiety can happen with no trigger, and can also be triggered by basically anything. Stress is usually not, or need not be, chronic, as anxiety unfortunately often is.
Anonymous
May 4th, 2015 12:03am
Stress is usually directly caused by an idea or event, like feeling like you have too much work to do. It can have physical effects like headaches, fatigue, and overall grumpy-ness. Anxiety has very different physical symptoms than stress; anxiety attacks, hyperventilation, pacing, feeling jittery, nauseated, etc. Anxiety is worrying about what could happen, and often times becoming very fixated on only the negative outcomes. This means that anxiety feels a lot more like fear, while stress often just wears you out.
Anonymous
October 4th, 2016 1:45pm
Stress comes from the pressures we feel in life, as we are pushed by work or any other task that puts undue pressure on our minds and body, adrenaline is released, extended stay of the hormone causes depression, a rise in the blood pressure and other negative changes and effects.
One of these negative effects is anxiety. With anxiety, fear overcomes all emotions accompanied by worry and apprehension, making a person a recluse and a bagful of jitters. Other symptoms are chest pains, dizziness, and shortness of breath and panic.
Stress is a natural reaction to difficult situations; it tends to last as long as the trigger does. Anxiety is ongoing and often without cause.
Anonymous
November 3rd, 2014 12:38am
Anxiety is a racing feeling, as if you're desperately trying to escape;stress is a nagging pressure.
Now I'm not saying everyone doesn't get anxiety at some time or another, but anxiety is usually a diagnosed "mental condition", although I like to refer to is as something that makes one more unique. But lets look at this as an equation type thing.. stress usually leads to anxiety, so stress+stress+stress=anxiety attack. In my experience anxiety attacks happen from either a trigger or just loads of stress you can't get rid of.
Stress is caused by specific situations all together at the same time, anxiety is an emotion of the human brain.
Anxiety will rip you apart slowly and kill every happy thought you have ever had, push away the people you love and leave you alone. Stress will eat you up from the inside and make you lash out at the people closest to you but it eventually goes away.
Stress is a response to a threat in any given situation. It can be positive or negative. If you have difficulty managing stress and it impedes your ability to carry out your normal daily activities (like getting to work on time), talk therapy can help. Anxiety, on the other hand, is a sustained mental health disorder that can be triggered by stress. Anxiety doesn’t fade into the distance once the threat is mediated. Anxiety hangs around for the long haul, and can cause significant impairment in social, occupational, and other important areas of functioning. When stress no longer feels manageable and symptoms of anxiety interfere with your daily living, it’s time to seek an evaluation from a licensed mental health practitioner.
Anxiety is how you're too nervous to do a certain thing. You may break out into a swear, panic, or freeze. Stress means you have lots on your plate, and that you are afraid you won't be able to finish the thing.
Anxiety is a quickness in mind and body where as stress is the crushing of the mind and thoughts. Stress can create anxiety though.
Anxiety can lead to stress and stress can lead to anxiety but that doesn't mean everyone will feel both. Stress feels like you have this weight on you, it keeps you awake and feeling like you are almost always behind or still have so far to go. Anxiety feels like a small explosion went off in your mind. All of your thoughts are jumbled together and racing through, your stomach feels like it has crawled up to your throat or tied itself up in a thousand knots. Anxiety is never fun to deal with but some people thrive under stress.
Anonymous
November 14th, 2017 11:08pm
Stress is a natural reaction we humans have to certain situations. Stress in the early stages can be helped through taking time out to unwind and striking a healthy work/life balance. Anxiety is a condition which can affect how we perceive certain situations, for example causing us to believe there is something to be afraid of in an otherwise perfectly normal situation. Both are very common, and there is help available for both stress and anxiety,
Stress goes away and is easily manageable. Anxiety is uncontrollable and takes a lot of work to manage and lasts for longer than stress ever will. Neither defines who you are as a person.
Anonymous
May 28th, 2018 5:44am
There’s many differences between anxiety and stress, in my own opinion. Anxiety for me seems to be something that is unavoidable and happens more frequently, and usually occurs in social situations. When I have anxiety, I feel more worried. However, when I’m stressed, it’s usually about things that aren’t social (ex. A big paper due). I also have noticed that rather than being worried when I’m stressed, I tend to take it out in a more angry way.
Anonymous
September 19th, 2016 10:54pm
Anxiety is a clinical disorder while stress is experienced by everyone at least once in their life. Anxiety and stress both have characteristics of physical and psychological components, but anxiety disorders get in the way of your life and lead to people avoiding things or not being able to live a full life. Anxiety is often uncontrollable and illogical. Stress is usually based upon something logical, like worrying about getting homework done, and is controllable without the help of a therapist or anti depressants.
Anonymous
August 30th, 2016 11:57pm
Everyone experiences both stress and anxiety. The difference is that stress is a response to specific situations, where anxiety is reaction to that stress
Anxiety is a condition and feeling, and stress is usually just a feeling. Anxiety can come in many forms such as PTSD, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and OCD. Anxiety usually comes with a feeling of dread, and can affect your behavior a lot more than just stess would.
Anxiety and stress are 2 very different things, that are often mistaken for each other because their symptoms are very similar. Anxiety is commonly caused by fear within your mind, while stress is commonly caused by external activities such as work or school
Anonymous
February 16th, 2016 3:56am
Everyone goes through stress throughout your life. I think many would say every goes through anxiety, but anxiety is diagnosable and more specific. Anxiety is more of an uncontrollable worry, nervousness, and unease. Stress is emotional or mental strain resulting from difficult or demanding circumstances. They are very similar, most people, especially that don't experience them do not understand the difference.
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