High-Functioning Anxiety: Why Successful People Still Feel Like They’re Failing
High-functioning anxiety affects many successful people who appear confident but struggle with self-doubt and perfectionism. Here are the signs, causes, and some coping strategies.
They are self-confident, successful, and self-assured on the surface. They are punctual, award-winning, promote, and cope with their duties without difficulties. However, on the inside, a lot of high achievers live in fear and self-doubt and the fear of not being good enough. This is commonly known as high-functioning anxiety, a stress secret under a success.
Even though high-functioning anxiety is not a clinical diagnosis that is registered in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychologists are gradually acknowledging it as an indicator in which anxiety inspires performance and not paralysis. High-functioning anxiety, however, can be disguised as ambition and perfectionism unlike generalized anxiety disorder, which can disrupt normal functioning.
What Is High-Functioning Anxiety?
High-functioning anxiety is observed in people who look successful and calm on the surface and feel anxious, constantly stress, and fear of failure internally. They can repeat the same discussions repeatedly, take their own actions too seriously, or find it difficult to unwind despite the significant milestones that they attain.
These persons have been hailed as being reliable, thorough and motivated. They are often driven by fear, the fear of letting down, losing face or revealing themselves as incompetent.
Symptoms Of Having High-Functioning Anxiety
Some common traits include:
- Over-preparing for tasks
- Difficulty saying no
- The feeling of continuous reassurance.
- Difficulties in sleeping because of mind racing.
- Conscience and fear of criticism.
- Sensation of being fake even with success.
A lot of individuals who undergo this are also associated with imposter syndrome, a term popularized by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes who first defined the term in high achievers women.
Reason Why Successful People Are Vulnerable
- Anxiety can be strengthened by success, ironically. In cases where success is motivated by fear, the nervous nature is justified by the good results. Indicatively, a person can reason that since they had not been worried, they would have failed. This is a vicious circle where one feels like using anxiety to perform well.
- This is further enhanced by the social media and comparison culture. Exposure to the best of Instagram feeds of other people may evoke self-depreciation and unrealism, particularly among young professionals.
- Anxiety is frequently rewarded in the work places that are competitive.
- Working late, checking the same work three times, and always making efforts to do more are all considered as dedication, and not distress. In the long term, however, this chronic stress may result in burnout, exhaustion and emotional fatigue.
How To Cope With High Functioning Anxiety
Although productivity can go up in the short run, anxiety in the long term affects mental and physical health. It may be the cause of headaches, digestive problems, muscle spasms, and compromised immunity. In emotional terms, it can decrease happiness, put pressure on relationships, and leave the process of relaxation unattainable.
Probably the biggest expense is the inability to enjoy success. Success is short lived, as the mind is stuck on the next concern at once.
Psychologists recommend:
- Being self-compassing rather than self-critical.
- Establishing sensible performance goals.
- Planning downtime purposely.
- Restricting comparative stimuli.
- Consulting a therapist or counsellor when anxiety is too much.
Overall, Cognitive-behavioural therapies will help in refuting distortive thought patterns and decreasing the process of productivity being driven by fear. Peace does not necessarily have to be sacrificed in favour of success. The acknowledgement of high-functioning anxiety is just the beginning of a process of establishing a healthier relationship with achievement, less fueled by some phobia of failure and more by passion.
Disclaimer: Dear readers, this article provides general information and advice only. It is not at all professional medical advice. Therefore, always consult your doctor or a healthcare specialist for more information. TheHealthSite.com does not claim responsibility for this information.
