 Are you an anxious person? Does the word anxiety fill you with immediate dread? According to Merriam-Webster, anxiety is classified as apprehensive uneasiness or nervousness, usually over an impending or anticipated ill. While the word describes a general feeling of uneasiness, the experience of anxiety may be different for everyone. After all, it can manifest itself in many different forms and in varying decrees of intensity. So, to learn more about this, here are five stages of anxiety. 1. Minimal Anxiety Let's start with minimal anxiety. At this stage, you are able to function with very limited interruptions. Your ability to focus on daily tasks is likely not hindered, and you will probably feel productive for most if not the entirety of your day. Having zero anxiety at all would definitely be optimal, of course, but with minimal levels of anxiety you can thankfully function overall, especially since there are very few physical symptoms at this stage. Sometimes you may even not notice this anxious period, since it will likely affect a very small part of your day. 2. Mild Anxiety Do you find yourself feeling anxious in social situations? Are you the kind of person who shyly stands in the corner at a party? At the mild or subclinical level of anxiety, you may experience some form of muscle tension or stomach ache, but these sensations are often relatively minor. Mild anxiety may be experienced from childhood into adulthood, and is considered to be at the more manageable side of the scale. This means you're likely still able to get most things done on your daily to-do list without much problem. So don't feel bad if you find it difficult to open up or engage with others. If anything, you can be proud of yourself that you got out there in the first place. 3. Moderate Anxiety Is your sleep schedule very inconsistent? Are you struggling with a particular loss of appetite? If your anxiety is at this third level, it may affect your sleep schedule to a relatively noticeable but still functional degree. This can cause you to become less hungry throughout the day, or cause you to experience more frequent, aggressive headaches. Due to these factors, you may also experience a more regulated, panicky state of being, making you feel unedged a lot of the time. 4. Severe Anxiety Do you often experience a constant tightness in your chest? Does your stomach have a really tough time digesting food? Where the moderate level isn't necessarily a daily and disruptive force, severe anxiety is a consistent feeling throughout. The physical symptoms are much more aggressive at this fourth level. For instance, you may also feel out of breath and have trouble eating food even if it's a particularly favorite meal of yours. Because of this, you may also end up avoiding friends and family, choosing to remain on your own most of the time. The severity of this level of anxiety has also proven to be connected to major depression as well. So while you can still technically function, you may barely have any energy or motivation to do so. 5. Debilitating Anxiety Do you deal with near-constant panic attacks? Are you so incapacitated by your stress that it has become a real struggle to even leave your home? Debilitating anxiety is the worst and most aggressive form of anxiety. Symptoms of this may include sweating, muscle twitching, tremors, fatigue, and insomnia. Just name a few. You may experience an extreme sense of dread at this simplest of everyday tasks. And because of it, avoid ever leaving your safe space. But while you may sometimes feel like you're all alone and how you feel, remember that you're not. There are people out there who really do care about you and your well-being. So which level do you believe that your anxiety is at? Is it at a specific spot with one of these five levels, or is it somewhere more in the middle between two different points? Let us know in the comments below. If you found this video helpful, be sure to like, subscribe, and share it with those who might benefit from it. And don't forget to hit the notification bell icon to get notified whenever Psych2Go posts a new video. The references and studies used in this video are added in the description below. Thanks for watching, and see you next time.