5 signs of a silent anxiety attack

An anxiety attack is a feeling of intense fear that comes on suddenly. According to Health Insurance, a person who experiences an anxiety attack may have “the impression of no longer being in control of the situation at all”.

The duration of an attack varies, from a few minutes to more than an hour and can manifest as nausea, tremors, dizziness, chest pain or even heart palpitations. Unlike these explicit signs, the crisis sometimes manifests itself through more discreet symptoms.

Psychologist Amélia Lobbé, specializing in anxiety, well-being and depression, reveals the signs of a silent anxiety attack in an Instagram post. According to her: “You can appear calm and smiling, but have a silent anxiety attack, which manifests itself as strong inner tension.” Doctissimo shares these signs with you!

1) You seem disconnected from reality

The first sign that you may be experiencing an anxiety attack is that you feel detached and disconnected from reality. This can go as far as depersonalization. According to the psychologist: “the body is there, sometimes with a smile on the face, but the mind is elsewhere. You feel like you’re outside of yourself“. The expert also compares this to a symptom of dissociation.

On the other hand, your perception of reality is incorrect and the world may seem unreal to you. Shapes and colors are altered, your vision is blurred and your environment may seem cottony, dark or even threatening. The sounds around you may also seem muffled.

2) You have intrusive and redundant thoughts

Another sign of a silent anxiety attack is that you are overcome by intrusive, negative thoughts. Psychologist Amélia Lobbé describes them as “of a frightening, morbid or self-deprecating nature”. These are thoughts that you would not normally have.

In addition, you never stop rehashing these negative thoughts that are going around in circles in your head!

3) You have difficulty reasoning

With the accumulation of these negative thoughts, thinking during an anxiety attack becomes very complicated and confusing.

According to the psychologist, stress and anxiety cause “an inhibition of thought”. This makes it difficult to process and sort the information clearly and correctly. Everything that goes through your mind becomes cloudy. Rationalizing your thoughts becomes a heavy task.

4) You appear paranoid and become overly vigilant

When you have an anxiety attack, it is possible to have the feeling of being observed in an exaggerated way. In this case, victims of these crises develop a paranoid attitude and feel very uncomfortable in everyday life. According to the psychology expert: “We overinterpret the attitudes and thoughts of others: this is a creation of anxiety.”

Furthermore, the idea of ​​having an anxiety attack unpredictably may frighten you more and increase your feeling of paranoia. Indeed, an individual suffering from regular anxiety attacks may have difficulty being in public and will become excessively vigilant about their environment.

5) You have the constant feeling of being in danger

A final telltale sign of an anxiety attack is the feeling of being in danger all the time. The specialist adds that this feeling occurs “without knowing why and without the situation really justifying it”.

The person who feels this danger therefore monitors their environment excessively; the expert describes this as “hypervigilance”.

At the end of her post, the psychologist specifies that “anxiety is treatable” and reminds that it is important to consult a psychologist if necessary.

Slide: 10 tips to calm an anxiety attack