Anxiety disorder symptoms are probably the first thing that makes you begin to wonder if you are suffering from some kind of anxiety or panic  disorder.  These anxiety disorder symptoms can range from mild feelings to pounding and frightening terrors leading you to think that you are having a heart attack or about to die.

Mild Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

• You feel restless, often irritable, on edge, fidgety, or keyed up.
• You get tired easily.
• Your muscles feel tense, especially in your back, neck, or shoulders.
• You have difficulty concentrating,  falling asleep, or staying asleep.

These mild anxiety disorder symptoms  are pervasive to the anxiety disorder experience  and are a major indicator of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), often called the ‘common cold’ of anxiety.  These anxiety disorder symptoms are not severe in themselves, except they never let up. They are there in morning and still with you when you climb into bed; they never let up and this is what is so difficult about having to deal with these anxiety symptoms

Severe Anxiety Disorder Symptoms

• An irregular, rapid, or pounding heartbeat
• Perspiring
• A sense of choking, suffocation, or shortness of breath
• Vertigo or light-headedness
• Pain or other discomfort  in the chest
• A feeling that events are unreal or a sense of detachment
• Numbness or tingling
• Hot or cold flashes
• A fear of impending death, though without basis in fact
• Nausea or stomach upsets
• Thoughts of going insane or completely losing control

These are the anxiety disorder symptoms that characterize Panic Attacks, which if left unchecked and continue unabated can lead eventually to a full Panic Disorder.

Anxiety Disorder Symptoms As A Continuum

Anxiety disorder symptoms can be viewed along a continuum; starting as a form or set of stress or pressure, leading onto anxiety and finally into a terror experience. First real anxiety symptoms are  in a mild form and then they can be of a more severe nature and finally a real  terror form. Anxiety Disorders place themselves along this continuum of anxiety symptoms – mild, severe and terror. Don’t think of an Anxiety Disorders as a progression along this stress-terror continuum; starting with mild symptoms and progressively escalating in level until some particular level of panic symptoms is reached and then an Anxiety Disorder is manifested and recognized.  Each  Anxiety Disorder has its own set of symptoms and difficulties inherent in its management and treatment and comprises a mix of symptoms along this continuum. It’s not only the panic attack symptoms, which are more like terror symptoms, that require treatment.  The milder symptoms of GAD can be more difficult in the long-term to deal with because they never let up, pervade every situation and moment and can make sleeping very difficult. A fuller description of  anxiety disorder symptoms that suggest a particular type of anxiety disorder are described  in  Types of Anxiety on this website.

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