Anxiety vs. Stress

At times, everyone feels angry, irritated, nervous or sad, but when do these feelings require professional treatment? Any of these feelings could be normal responses to events in your life, but they could also be signs of diagnosable, treatable mental illnesses such as anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder.

Having these feelings shouldn’t be cause for concern, but why you feel them and how they affect you could be. For example, stress is a natural response to external factors, such as deadlines at work. If these deadlines pass and you feel better, you’re probably fine.

Anxiety, however, continues after stress triggers are gone. The National Institutes of Health says more than 18 percent of American adults suffer from an anxiety disorder, making this category of disorders the most common mental illness in the country.

You may be able to deal with these feelings yourself if:

• feelings of distress are reasonable and not intense
• something good makes you feel better, at least temporarily
• they begin to go away after a few hours or days
• you can identify a clear cause

However, consider seeking professional help if negative feelings:

• are unrelenting
• don’t have a clear cause
• impact your daily routine or your loved ones
• last more than a few days

There are a variety of treatments for mental health conditions, including directed therapy, group support and medications. Anytime negative feelings become so intense or pervasive that they begin to affect your overall quality of life, it’s time to get help.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 6 million men in the United States suffer from depression, though creating an accurate estimate is difficult because men are often reluctant to seek help for mental health.

Many men were raised to believe feelings of depression or anxiety are common, which is correct, yet see an inability to cope with them as a sign of weakness, not a medical condition. As a result of this stigma, they keep their feelings of distress bottled up, which makes it harder for them to know when normal feelings end and a mental illness begins.

It’s important to be able to identify the signs of these concerns in those around you. Persistent anger, anxiety, irritability, loss of energy or loss of interest in activities could be signs that require professional attention.

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