Most often, people suffering from anxiety believe they only have a character flaw, not a mental disorder.

For anxiety sufferers, the labels of moody and paranoid are often attached to them. Stressful situations become difficult to deal with and they are seen as blowing things out of proportion.

Psychological Symptoms

Anxiety is defined as having overwhelming thoughts of fear and worries that continue for six months or longer. There are many other symptoms connected with anxiety disorders and these often vary from person to person depending on the type and severity of the disorder.

Someone with anxiety is usually short tempered, impatient and irritable. In addition, the sufferer may also be restless, have trouble concentrating or have the inability to complete tasks and goals. Furthermore, they may experience forgetfulness, become easily confused and be absent minded. The inability to express thoughts coherently as well as complaints of their minds going blank are additional symptoms.

Anxiety puts the body in a hyper sense of alertness. The anxious person is constantly on the lookout for danger and tends to anticipate the worst. Others around them will find the person to be pessimistic or a wet blanket.

Some people with anxiety may also experience agoraphobia, or fear of public spaces. This is especially the case of people with obsessive-compulsive disorders, although other anxiety disorder sufferers are prone to this problem as well, though likely to a lesser degree.

If the anxiety disorder is severe, he person may experience depression and hallucinations. In these cases, thoughts of suicide are often present.

Excessive thoughts of worry, fear, irrationality and negative feelings are persistent in those suffering from anxiety.

Physical Symptoms

Anxiety is a psychological condition, but it can be physically taxing on the body. It has a tendency to manifest itself into several symptoms that can further affect a persons day to day functioning.

Physical symptoms include rapid heartbeat, dizziness, headaches and high blood pressure. In addition, sufferers may experience the inability to inhale a deep breath often leading to frequent spells of hyperventilation. The body can also suffer fatigue, insomnia and hyperactivity.

Since a person with anxiety has excess adrenaline, the body can experience muscle tension and body aches/ In addition, the excess adrenaline also accounts for the alteration in moods.

And when the mind spends so much time in a state of worry, other bodily functions are compromised. This leads to a loss of appetite or nausea, diarrhea, or frequent urination, and constantly being thirsty. Many anxiety sufferers even complain about a reduced sex drive.

Other Anxiety Symptoms

Everyones symptoms are not the same. Some anxiety sufferers experience symptoms that are the exact opposite of the ones mentioned earlier. These symptoms are often brought to fruition by extreme levels of anxiety such as someone suffering from SAD finding themselves in the middle of a group of strangers.

One of these symptoms is low blood pressure (levels below 90/60) and this can reduce the amount of oxygen and nutrients that reach the brain.

Another symptom reported during high levels of anxiety is a heightened degree of sex drive.

Still others with chronic anxiety report having food cravings. Often the craving is for sugar, and this may be due to the fact that blood pressure is at times chronically low in cases of severe anxiety

Funmi Salami is a featured writer on Clivir.com. She loves to share her knowledge and do so by contributing articles about Anxiety Attack Symptoms and Anxiety Symptoms Benzodiazepines Cure.