What is the difference between stress, anxiety and burnout?
The rundown from an online anxiety therapist
It may shock you to know that anxiety is the number one mental health issue. It is the most common presenting mental health concern in the health system and will effect 1 in 2 people in their lifetime.
Sadly, it’s almost become that anxiety is an acceptable state of being nowadays - which is also why levels of stress and burnout are also so high.
Let’s get to answering the question about-
What is the difference between anxiety, stress and burnout?
The most simple way to understand this is this, stress is worry about something that is real, anxiety is worry about “what if’s” and effects functioning, and burnout is the result of behavioural actions from living life from an anxious headspace.
In a concrete example, stress is the worry and preparation before your performance review at work; anxiety is the thoughts of “what if I lose my job”, “what if I become homeless because I can’t pay the bills because I get reduced hours or fired”; and burnout is the physiological effect of those anxious thoughts over the longer term - pushing yourself too hard.
What are the different symptoms of stress, anxiety and burnout?
Stress is a natural and needed psychological phenomenon. Human beings need some stress to get out of bed in the morning, to feed themselves, to work etc. Stress symptoms include increase focus, heart rate and an exhilarated feeling. As noted in the graph below stress has an optimal zone until it becomes too much. Unlike anxiety, stress is in relation to something real- like taking an exam, waiting for results, performance stress etc.
Anxiety is a mix of psychological, social and physical symptoms when stress becomes more chronic and entrenched. Symptoms can include sleep issues, eating issues, social withdrawal, thinking errors, overthinking, increased heart rate, increased sweating, difficulty focusing and more.
In our practice at Savasana Collective, as a practice that specialises with anxiety, other symptoms we often see from people who have high anxiety include skin issues such as eczema, irritable bowel syndrome, difficulty with vision, kidney, lung or liver issues, irregular heart beat, difficulty with relationships and being vulnerable, issues with addictions including alcohol and food for managing anxiety.
Psychological symptoms of anxiety is the overthinking and thinking styles associated that eventually effect daily function. Everyone feels stressed and anxious at different moments of life - however anxiety is a longer term habit of this (the DSM criteria is feeling it more days than not, for minimum 6 months). Anxiety is the spiralling and ruminating thoughts that get in the way of joy, of socialising, or getting close to others, of distrust of others and the world.
Burnout is the result of experiencing stress and anxiety and is often related to taking on too much either at work, in parenting, or life in general. Symptoms include frequent sickness, anger and irritability, unable to function without caffeine or stimulation, isolation, exhaustion, and a want to escape or despair of current situation.
What can help manage stress, anxiety and burnout symptoms?
This varies between person to person. Stress and anxiety can have many effects in our lives in our psychological health, physical health and in our social relationships.
We always recommend that you see a anxiety specialist for management as there are many ways to treat stress, anxiety and burnout and it presents differently between people depending on how long they have had symptoms and what their trauma and attachment history may be like.
Every person will benefit greatly from the human basics of getting good sleep, good nutrition, good sunlight, hydration and social interaction’- however if you’re struggling with anxiety or burnout and want a personalised treatment plan we recommend booking in with our services, seeing a GP and checking out our podcast. We also recommend that you make your own informed decision about medication. We can help give some information about the pros and cons of medication but always, ALWAYS trust your gut, ask yourself what feels right and check in with a health professional you TRUST. If you are already on medication and are having symptoms, it can be helpful to ask yourself if you have addressed the core of your anxiety development.
At Savasana Collective, we have seen so many people grow and manage symptoms of anxiety, stress and burnout through our holistic psychology and social work services - we believe in you and know you can too.
