Most people picture anxiety as someone visibly panicking, shaking, or unable to leave the house. But anxiety rarely announces itself so clearly. The answer to can you have anxiety without knowing it is: yes, absolutely — and it is far more common than you might think.
Many people live with anxiety for years, attributing their symptoms to personality quirks, bad habits, or physical health problems, never realising there is a name for what they are experiencing.
What Anxiety Actually Looks Like Day to Day
- Perpetual busyness: You keep yourself constantly occupied because slowing down feels uncomfortable or even threatening.
- Chronic overthinking: You replay conversations, plan for every possible outcome, and rehearse worst-case scenarios — because your mind will not stop.
- Digestive problems: Frequent stomach aches, IBS-like symptoms, nausea before events. The gut and brain are deeply connected, and anxiety often shows up in the body first.
- Perfectionism and procrastination: These are opposite responses to the same fear of failure. Anxiety drives both.
- Difficulty sleeping: You get into bed and your mind activates. You cannot stop thinking about tomorrow, last week, or a conversation from six months ago.
- Irritability: Anxiety raises the baseline level of tension in your nervous system. Small frustrations feel disproportionately large.
- Muscle tension and headaches: Jaw clenching, shoulder tightness, tension headaches. Your body holds the stress your mind has not processed.
- Needing frequent reassurance: You often seek confirmation from others that things are okay. The reassurance provides temporary relief before the anxiety returns.
Why Anxiety Goes Unrecognised in India
In India, emotional experiences are often medicalised as physical symptoms. A person with anxiety frequently visits a gastroenterologist for stomach issues, a cardiologist for palpitations, or a neurologist for headaches — when the root cause is anxiety-driven. Cultural factors amplify this: talking about “stress” is socially acceptable; talking about “anxiety as a disorder” is not.
High-Functioning Anxiety: The Most Invisible Kind
High-functioning anxiety describes people who appear composed, successful, and driven on the outside while experiencing a relentless internal state of worry and tension. They meet deadlines, show up, and look fine. Inside, they are exhausted by the constant effort of managing their fear.
If you consistently outperform while feeling like you are barely holding it together, this might be you.
What to Do If You Recognise Yourself Here
- Take the RewiredMinds EQ Assessment to get a clearer read on your emotional state.
- Speak to a therapist or psychologist — having a name and understanding for what you experience changes how you relate to it.
- Track your physical symptoms against stressful events for two weeks. Patterns often become visible quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can anxiety cause physical symptoms with no apparent cause?
Yes. Anxiety frequently manifests as physical symptoms — chest tightness, stomach upset, dizziness, fatigue — in the absence of any physical illness. This is called somatisation.
Is it possible to have anxiety and not feel worried?
Yes. Some people experience anxiety predominantly as physical symptoms or behavioural patterns without the classic sense of worry or dread.
What is the difference between everyday stress and an anxiety disorder?
Stress is typically triggered by an external cause and lifts when the cause resolves. An anxiety disorder persists beyond the triggering event and significantly affects daily functioning.
Should I self-diagnose anxiety based on this article?
No — self-awareness is valuable, but diagnosis should come from a qualified mental health professional. Use this article as a prompt to seek a proper evaluation if you recognise the patterns described.