Clinical psychologist Nicole Pensak, Ph.D., tells mbg that your desire to succeed is likely due to sophisticated compensatory strategies designed to repress your anxiety and persistent feelings of dread. “High-functioning anxiety is when you’re suffering a great deal internally, but you’re still able to perform exceedingly well at your job and in other domains,” she says. Pensak says sufferers of high-functioning anxiety endure debilitating rumination and panic attacks but work overtime to hide visible symptoms. “Internally, it drives you to perform at high levels to avoid failure, rejection, or disappointing others, which is hidden by perfectionistic tendencies.” “Anxiety is helpful when it’s experienced in moderation, for example, meeting deadlines or completing obligations,” she adds. “Too little anxiety and it may lead to a lack of motivation to meet the demands of your life. Too much, and you feel overwhelmed and incapacitated.” Therein lies the main difference: People with lower-functioning anxiety usually find it difficult to juggle many responsibilities. In their day-to-day life, their anxiety is clearly disruptive. But high-functioning anxiety people respond to the same stressors by exceeding expectations. They work harder and pack their schedules to push away their inner turmoil. Being overwhelmed is a preferred emotional state that distracts them from their true feelings. If you have traditionally identified as a high achiever at school or work, you might be prone to developing high-functioning anxiety. To detect anxious patterns and emotional changes easier, it might be useful to pay attention to your inner world and place less weight on performance-based metrics or external success. Pensak and Deibler list some signs of high-functioning anxiety: “Burnout is typically a response to chronic stress at the workplace [and] is classified by exhaustion, lack of meaning and drive, and loss of interest at work,” Pensak points out. “It has more overlap with depression rather than anxiety.” If you’re experiencing burnout, you’ll likely find yourself making more mistakes, pushing back deadlines, and calling off work often. On the other hand, high-functioning symptoms show up differently in the workplace. You might wake up with anxiety, but for the most part, you go to work with a smile on your face and can perform your job to optimal ability. “You may be able to function very well in a stressful environment and maintain high levels of achievement despite the stress because you tend to power through and ignore your own needs in lieu of success,” she says. Here are some tips to ease your anxiety and take better care of yourself: Pensak agrees that practicing mindfulness will help reduce overall levels of stress and anxiety, which contributes to a drop in cortisol levels. By creating space to feel your feelings without shame, you’re able to delve into your anxiety and what might be causing it without getting swept away in its intensity. A part of self-care is community care, so don’t forget to talk with your loved ones as well. People may not expect you to need help since you seem happy, but opening up about your fears will go a long way. “Social support from friends and family is an important part of stress management, so take time to spend social time with others,” she says. High-functioning anxiety is fueled by wanting to prove yourself, so move to the opposite reaction by embracing imperfection. Approach your creativity from a place of pure creation so it doesn’t feel results-driven. “Speaking to a therapist that practices CBT can help provide insight into the root of the anxiety and provide strategies to treat the maladaptive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to high-functioning anxiety,” she adds. Start small by safely exposing yourself to uncomfortable feelings that you can manage, for example, not preparing for a low-stakes work presentation and being OK with the possibility of stumbling over your speech. Then keep working your way up. Pensak says the more you do this, the more you’ll realize that making mistakes won’t cause your world to crash around you. Sitting with the humanness of failure and rejection will help you put less pressure on yourself.
