How do I know if I have an anxiety disorder or if it's just stress?

Hello Judy,

You can get some great information here in the Anxiety overview. There is information about what it means to have anxiety, what the various different kinds of anxiety are, how you can check for symptoms, and what measures are used to treat anxiety.

Dr Kleiner has an article asking if it is anxiety or just stress here. With regard to Albert and Marshall, who is experiencing anxiety and who is just stressed? "Many practitioners believe that when it comes to anxiety an important part of treatment is to diagnose the underlying condition that the patient is experiencing. Is it chronic or episodic? Is it an issue of adjusting to misfortune or is the anxiety out of proportion to the presenting life stressors? Yet other treaters believe that diagnosis is less important than treating the symptoms. In other words, however they arrive at it, both men are experiencing similar stuff - namely uncertainty and anxiety."

Hope this helps somewhat! Stay in touch and let us know how you are doing!

Vicki M

Judy

There are a few articles on the site that deal with this specific issue. These might help to answer your question:

Stress and Anxiety

Stress vs. Anxiety

In addition, there are some tips on handling stress in your life:

Stress management

I hope this helps

Eileen

I go to sleep worried and anxious and I wake up worried what is this?