What It Means to Be Paralyzed With Anxiety
What Is Anxiety Paralysis?
Anxiety paralysis is an intense, overwhelming type of anxiety that makes you feel emotionally, physically, or cognitively frozen.
Often, paralyzing anxiety is caused by severe stress and fear, and it adversely affects your well-being.
Anxiety paralysis can happen in different ways. The ways anxiety paralysis affects a person include the following:
- Physical paralysis: When this form of paralysis occurs, you will experience a temporary inability to move or speak, even though you are fully aware of what’s going on around you. You feel stuck or frozen.
- Emotional Paralysis: If you feel overwhelmed by your emotions and are unable to process or tell others how you feel, you’re experiencing emotional paralysis. The inability to process your feelings can lead to detachment, numbness, or a failure to respond to situations as you usually would.
- Cognitive paralysis: The inability to think, concentrate on tasks, or make decisions is called cognitive paralysis. For example, if you decide you want to buy a specific car, you can go online and search for it. However, options can become overwhelming to process. You may want to take a break from your search.
What Is the Difference Between Anxiety and Paralysis?
Anxiety is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder. It is defined as “apprehension, tension, or uneasiness that stems from the anticipation of danger, which may be internal or external.”
Stress and anxiety affect stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline). These stress hormones are linked to your fight-or-flight-or-freeze response.
Several symptoms of anxiety affect your mental and physical health. Anxiety can also affect your behavior. Some of the numerous symptoms of anxiety include:
- Rapid heart rate
- Headaches
- Breathlessness
- Intrusive traumatic memories (post-traumatic stress disorder)
- Racing thoughts
- Fearing the worst
- Compulsive behavior
Some types of anxiety disorders include:
- Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD): When you have excessive worry about everyday issues like family, money, or your health.
- Panic disorder: If you are diagnosed with a panic disorder, you have panic attacks. Panic attacks are unexpected, repetitive episodes of intense fear or worry when there isn’t any danger or reason to worry.
- Phobias: Phobias are an intense fear of a particular thing that is little to no threat to them or their loved ones.
Anxiety paralysis is a symptom of anxiety that is marked by an inability to process thoughts, move, or speak. It, unlike many anxiety disorders, is not continuous.
How Long Does an Episode Typically Last?
Anxiety paralysis is a temporary response that can last for several minutes to hours. The duration is different for everyone and is affected by the severity of a person’s anxiety, underlying cause, and co-occurring mental or physical health issues.
Causes of Anxiety Paralysis
What Are Some Stress and Overwhelm Triggers?
Stress, anxiety disorders, and trauma are causes of anxiety paralysis. Understanding anxiety paralysis is essential for you to manage your symptoms.
Your body can become overwhelmed by traumatic experiences, life changes such as moving, and prolonged stressful situations. These triggers can lead to the development of anxiety, severe anxiety, and anxiety paralysis.
What Are Some Underlying Mental Health Conditions?
Mental health conditions can also increase the risk of having anxiety paralysis. A few mental health conditions that can lead to paralyzing anxiety are panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other anxiety disorders.
Do Genetic Predispositions Play a Factor?
Personality traits and genetics can increase your risk of developing anxiety paralysis. Specific personality types can have an increased chance of having anxiety disorders.
This increased risk of anxiety disorders can lead to anxiety paralysis. Studies show that your personality is linked to your genetics. If your family history includes family members with anxiety disorders, you have a higher chance of developing anxiety paralysis.
What Are Some Environmental Triggers and Life Events That Cause Anxiety Paralysis?
Where you live and who you socialize with can have an impact on your mental health.
A positive or negative environment can be a reason you develop one or more anxiety disorders. For example, if you live in a stressful or emotionally traumatic situation, you can experience PTSD. Such an environment and traumatic events can trigger anxiety, paralysis, and higher anxiety levels.
There are distinct environmental triggers connected to anxiety paralysis, including:
- Social gatherings
- Speaking in public or other situations linked with social anxiety
- Stress associated with daily life
- Uncertainty about finances, work, or your future
Major life events like moving or the death of a loved one can overwhelm your stress hormones and increase the risk of anxiety. For example, if a loved one dies, you may excessively and constantly worry that something bad will happen to you or someone you care about, despite a lack of evidence or potential causes.
Physical Impact of Anxiety Paralysis
What are Some Signs of Being Physically Paralyzed With Anxiety?
Your body is affected by its response to anxiety. You may lose your ability to react and instead experience the following:
- Muscle tension
- Feeling stuck in a spot or finding it challenging to move
- Inability to communicate with others
The fight-flight-or-freeze response to threats triggers physical paralysis from anxiety. You may experience:
- Heart palpitations
- Hyperventilation
Can Anxiety Cause High Blood Pressure?
When you experience anxiety, there are short-term spikes in your blood pressure because stress hormones are released.
Stress hormones constrict your blood vessels while increasing your heart rate. The increase in your blood pressure is usually temporary; however, chronic anxiety can cause long-term hypertension.
How Chronic Anxiety Can Lead to Other Health Issues
Chronic anxiety affects your mental and physical wellness. Some of the short and long-term effects on your physical, behavioral, and emotional well-being include:
- Angry outbursts
- Lack of motivation
- Restlessness
- Fatigue
- Exercising less
Emotional Impact of Anxiety Paralysis
What Are Some Signs of the Emotional Impact Caused by Anxiety Paralysis?
When you’re emotionally impacted by anxiety paralysis, you may not be able to cope with your feelings.
The inability to cope with those feelings can harm relationships with family, friends, or co-workers.
Does Anxiety Paralysis Cause Emotional Distress and Frustration?
Because anxiety paralysis can negatively affect your emotions, you may not be able to respond to good or bad events that occur in your life.
Those around you may think you’re not interested in their lives. To avoid anxiety paralysis, you can form phobias or isolate yourself from situations or people that can trigger anxiety paralysis.
What Is The Impact of Anxiety Paralysis on Self-Esteem?
Anxiety paralysis can hurt how you view yourself. Sometimes anxiety paralysis contributes to negative thoughts or a mental health disorder like depression, which can overtake your self-esteem.
Does Anxiety Paralysis Cause Feelings of Isolation and Shame?
When you don’t know how to cope with anxiety paralysis, you can find it challenging to be around others. You may be afraid that you might become paralyzed in ht present moment, so you avoid or isolate yourself. Maybe you feel embarrassed or ashamed when you experience anxiety paralysis. These thought patterns, feelings, and behaviors can be treated.
How Anxiety Paralysis Affects Relationships
Can Anxiety Paralysis Cause Emotional Distance With Loved Ones?
Emotional anxiety paralysis makes it difficult to react, build, or maintain relationships.
Loved ones can misinterpret the symptoms of anxiety paralysis as not caring or wanting to be around them. Without an understanding of anxiety paralysis’s emotional symptoms, they may feel hurt.
The inability to speak, move, or show emotions can leave loved ones wondering if something is wrong with you. They may not understand why you struggle to express yourself, avoid being with them, or avoid participating in social activities. Some may think you’re overwhelming fear is disproportionate to the situation, distant, or overly preoccupied.
The combination of anxiety, paralysis, and their perceptions can strain your relationships.
Can It Become Difficult to Communicate Your Experience to Others?
The symptoms of anxiety paralysis limit how you share your thoughts and feelings. When you can’t effectively communicate with others, they may not know how to help you.
Ocean View offers coping strategies and life skills that enhance your ability to express your thoughts and feelings to others.
How Does Anxiety Paralysis Affect Loved Ones?
Loved ones may worry about you because they don’t understand the symptoms of anxiety paralysis. They may feel confused or hurt by the lack of reaction to them, or if you avoid social situations.
Daily Impact of Anxiety Paralysis
Can Anxiety Cause Task Paralysis?
A contributor to task paralysis is anxiety. Anxiety can make a task feel bigger or harder than it is, which leads to avoiding the task.
Someone experiencing task paralysis may struggle to start or complete a project or make decisions that impact the project.
What Are Some Common Challenges in Completing Daily Tasks?
During an episode of anxiety paralysis, you may not be able to perform daily or work-related tasks. In some cases, you may experience a loss of motivation or focus.
What Is the Impact on Work, School, and Social Activities?
The inability to start or complete a project can adversely affect your ability to function at work, school, or in social activities. Others can feel let down or frustrated, especially if they counted on you.
How to Manage Anxiety Paralysis
What Are Effective Techniques to Manage Anxiety Paralysis?
Effective interventions that manage anxiety paralysis include self-help and relaxation techniques that address severe anxious thoughts. These techniques include:
- Breathing exercises like deep breathing
- Grounding techniques like the 3-3-3 technique
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Lifestyle changes
These skills promote self-care.
How Can I Manage Anxiety Paralysis When It Prevents Me From Completing Tasks?
When anxiety paralysis prevents you from completing a task, try breaking it down into smaller, manageable tasks. You can also shift your focus by engaging in a smaller, fun task.
What Strategies Can Help Manage Anxiety Paralysis During Decision-Making?
Anxiety paralysis during decision-making can be frustrating. You can manage it by focusing on the present, acknowledging it, and using a coping skill like meditation to relax your mind.
Are There Therapies That Help With Anxiety Paralysis?
Traditional talk therapy can be combined with recreation-based and coping strategies to help with anxiety paralysis.
Will I Require Medications for My Anxiety Paralysis?
When you experience an acute psychiatric crisis caused by anxiety paralysis, your doctor or psychiatrist can prescribe a benzodiazepine (for example, Xanax) to help you calm your body and mind because they’re fast-acting.
However, the use of a benzodiazepine is temporary because of the high rate of addiction to these medications.
Long-term management of anxiety disorders and their symptoms, like anxiety paralysis, includes selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) like Effexor.
The medical doctor at Ocean View Psychiatric Health Facility will provide medication stabilization if needed.
Seeking Professional Support for Anxiety Paralysis
When Should I Seek Professional Support for My Anxiety Paralysis?
Seeking help from a secure, empathetic acute psychiatric health facility like Ocean View can help you manage your anxiety paralysis symptoms.
When the symptoms of anxiety paralysis have an adverse effect on your life by disrupting the quality of your life, personal relationships, or negatively impacting your social, educational, or professional life, you should seek help. You can start by contacting your healthcare provider. If the symptoms are severe and can endanger you or others, Ocean View Psychiatric Health Facility’s crisis stabilization unit provides safe, supportive care.
How Can a Professional Help With the Diagnosis of Anxiety Paralysis?
When the symptoms of anxiety paralysis are severe enough to disrupt your daily life or require acute psychiatric stabilization, mental health professionals can provide the necessary care.
Making an appointment with a licensed therapist is the first step to a diagnosis.
To diagnose an anxiety disorder, a mental health professional will provide a psychological evaluation that includes discussing your feelings, behaviors, and thoughts. A licensed therapist will determine your diagnosis by using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published by the American Psychiatric Association. The results of the evaluation will help determine a diagnosis and identify any complications associated with it.
Short-term treatment can include:
- Acute care for psychiatric needs
- Medication stabilization or management
- Learning coping and grounding techniques
Long-term treatment options for anxiety paralysis include:
- Talk therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)
- Medication and medication management
- Using coping and grounding techniques
Types of Mental Health Professionals Specializing in Anxiety
Several types of mental health professionals can help you with your anxiety disorder.
However, there is no single type of mental health professional. Mental health professionals who provide care for your anxiety symptoms include:
- Psychiatrists have a medical degree, and many have specialized training in a specific field of mental health. This degree allows them to prescribe medication, provide therapy, and diagnose a mental health disorder.
- Psychologists have a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, counseling, or education.
- Counselors, clinicians, and therapists have completed a Master’s degree in a mental health-related field (psychology, counseling psychology, or another type of therapy).
- Clinical social workers have training in evidence-based therapies and therapeutic techniques. They’re also trained in advocacy and case management.
- Licensed psychiatric nurses can also provide mental health services.
FAQs About Anxiety Paralysis
Can anxiety paralysis be cured?
Anxiety is a natural response to stressors or triggers.
Anxiety paralysis is an extreme type of anxiety that can’t be cured. However, with coping strategies and therapies like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), it is treatable and can be managed.
How is anxiety paralysis different from panic attacks?
Panic attacks and anxiety paralysis have common symptoms. Both include intense fear that overwhelms and disrupts their quality of life.
However, anxiety paralysis is a temporary feeling of being frozen, unable to process thoughts, and make decisions. These feelings can manifest as being unable to cope or react to a situation.
Panic attacks are sudden, extreme episodes of fear that can lead to physical symptoms like shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, feeling that something terrible will happen, and dizziness.
Is anxiety paralysis more common in certain age groups or populations?
Anxiety disorders do not occur in one age group more than another.
However, they can occur in various ways across different age groups and are more likely to be experienced or reported during specific life stages. Furthermore, because anxiety paralysis is a symptom of anxiety disorders, it can happen to anyone regardless of their age, race, gender, or environment.
What is the 3-3-3 rule of anxiety?
Anxiety can be treated with CBT and an easy-to-use coping strategy called the 3-3-3 rule. The 3-3-3 rule helps relax your mind while allowing you to regain control. To engage in the 3-3-3 rule, you must:
- Identify three things you can see
- Pinpoint three things you can hear
- Single out three healthy ways to move your body
Practicing the 3-3-3 rule when you’re not experiencing an anxiety paralysis episode helps you get used to using it when you need it.
Knowing what to look for when searching for an acute psychiatric health facility can be challenging. Ocean View Psychiatric Health Facility’s professionals provide help for anxiety paralysis. To learn more, contact us at (844) 562-1212 or outreach@ovphf.com.