 Hey, Psych2Goers, welcome back to our channel. Thank you so much for all the love that you've given us. Your ongoing support has helped us make psychology and mental health more accessible to everyone. Now, let's continue. What do you think about when you hear the word anxiety? According to the American Psychological Association, anxiety is defined as a future-oriented fear that leads people to avoid certain situations that may trigger or worsen their distress. The National Institute of Mental Health reports that approximately 40 million people all over the globe suffer from anxiety and more are emerging each year. And this makes it the most widespread mental illness in the world. But you still might not know that you even have anxiety because it can take the shape of everyday habits. Before we begin, it's important to note that while this list is by no means meant to substitute a medical diagnosis from a trained mental health care professional, being able to recognize your anxiety as early as possible can make a positive difference in getting the help you need to overcome it. With that said, here are eight things you might not realize are related to anxiety. Number one, you have a high bar of perfectionism. While perfectionism, in and of itself, isn't a clear signal of anxiety. It's another thing entirely when your rigid demands for yourself start to border on obsessive behavior. Do you feel driven to always be the very best at everything you do or to do everything perfectly all the time, even on your first few tries? Do you feel like a failure whenever you fall short of your unrealistically high expectations? Thinking you need to be perfect at everything just to avoid the judgment of others could be a serious sign that you're struggling with anxiety. Number two, you're very self-critical. Do you often judge yourself much more harshly than you do others? Do you struggle with strong feelings of unwarranted guilt, shame, and inferiority? Anxiety can make it hard for you to feel good about yourself by taking all of your insecurities and the things you dislike about yourself and putting it under a microscope. Once you start to believe in all the self-criticism your anxiety brings up, it traps you in a vicious cycle of negative self-talk and self-defeating behaviors that make you feel like you'll never be good enough for anyone, especially not for yourself. Number three, you tend to feel self-conscious. Have you ever entered a room full of people and suddenly felt like you forgot how to walk? Or have you had to talk in front of a crowd and felt strangely aware of every little physical sensation, like the way you're standing or the texture of your hands or the sound of your own voice? You can feel overly self-conscious because you feel like everyone is secretly judging you. You feel anxious and on edge because you're worried about the way you look, talk, act, and how you come across to other people. Number four, you feel constantly restless. When you start to feel anxious, you often feel the need to keep yourself busy, doing things that distract you from your emotional turmoil. If you find that you can't seem to sit still or relax when there's nothing left for you to do, this may be the reason why. Living with anxiety can feel a lot like having a busy mind, but most of the time, you don't even have a lot to show for it. You occupy yourself with lots of tasks but never get any important work done. Number five, you have catastrophic thoughts. This is a term coined by the renowned psychotherapist, Aaron Beck. Catastrophizing or catastrophic thinking is a cognitive distortion that happens when we overthink things and make them out to be much worse than they actually are. Simply put, if you're a pessimist who's always quick to jump to conclusions and find the downside to every situation, then this is catastrophizing. And if this is something you do a lot, then it could be a very serious sign that you might be dealing with a lot of anxiety. Number six, you're irritable and struggle with emotional volatility. Do you often find yourself getting upset or stressing out about even the tiniest of inconveniences? Do you have a temper that's quick to flare up the moment something doesn't go the way you want it to? Though we can all be guilty of letting our emotions get the better of us from time to time, it's certainly worth noting that this kind of irritability and emotional volatility could be a sign of pent up, unrecognized anxiety. Studies show that frequent mood swings, temper tantrums, and difficulty controlling your emotions are all to be expected when you're feeling overly anxious. Number seven, you're extremely indecisive. Extreme indecisiveness and being unable to make up your own mind can be seen as a manifestation of hidden anxiety, especially if you feel like whatever choice you make, it'll be the wrong one. When you're anxious and indecisive, you have a strong fear of failure and a deep rooted distrust in yourself, which leads you to overthink every little choice you make. You need to think long and hard about every decision because you're always so anxious about making the wrong one. And number eight, you have unexplainable physical symptoms. Last but certainly not least is the experience of unexplained physical symptoms. This can happen when your anxiety is so deeply repressed that your mind has no choice but to manifest it into something physical. This is because feelings of anxiety trick the brain into believing that we're being threatened and it responds by putting us on high alert for any signs of trouble. The most commonly associated physical symptoms include an erratic heartbeat, chest palpitations, muscle tension, chronic pain, shaky hands, profuse sweating, nausea, and an upset stomach. So do you relate to any of these more subtle signs of anxiety? Do you think you could be suffering from anxiety without even realizing it? Making an effort to know more about anxiety can make a positive difference in the lives of those suffering from it and perhaps even help you overcome it if you're struggling with it yourself. So please like and share this video if it helped you and you think it could help someone else too. The studies and references used are listed in the description below. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button and notification bell icon for more Psych2Go videos. Thanks for watching and we will see you next time.