7 Hidden Signs Of An Anxiety Disorder

Researchers have identified that people suffering from chronic anxiety are far more likely than the general population to struggle with:
- Sensory sensitivities
- Binge eating
- Freezing
- People pleasing
- Over apologizing
- Perfectionism
- Picky eating
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Disclaimer: This content is not intended to be a replacement for receiving treatment. It is purely educational in nature. My relationship with you is that of presenter and audience, not therapist and client. But I do care.

[@BubblGrl]

“Constantly being assaulted by the world” - this is exactly why I retreat to my quiet dark room at the end of my 16 hr days. I feel so validated by this statement.

[@world_still_spins]

I wish I had a safe quiet room to go to, but I lack the mental energy to move away from my current landlord who is a creepy narcissist old gnome with a santa fetish (to put it politely).

[@sixtoomanycats9769]

Yes me too and sometimes I have to escape to a forest where it's silent except for birds singing.

[@teresaedwards4688]

🙋‍♀️in freeze mode

[@grahamlangley4856]

The dishes 🫣

[@Pharagill]

Almost all these hit home. I primarily have social anxiety, and canNOT relax when other people are around me - even family members. It's that sensory overload of people's noise and movement, plus the frantic people pleasing response. It just feels like other people are always watching me, judging and evaluating, or finding humor in my flaws.

[@marieke.80]

This! It's exhausting 🙁

[@Cassie-pt7mt]

Perfectionism can also result in becoming a chronically frozen, hyper- self-critical underachiever.

[@Mgt44411]

This is by far the best presentation of information regarding anxiety I have ever found! I can't thank you enough for the work you are doing, and your willingness to share it! You are making a true difference!

[@DrScottEilers]

Thank you so much!

[@gloriavis]

Wow so grateful u put this in words. Life gets so difficult u can't survive.

[@gloriavis]

What do u think about medication?

[@HouseMouse01]

This is me in a nutshell. I suffer from all of these symptoms. I have gained alot of weight, I people please, I suffer from freezing, noises annoy me, I am overwhelmed by simple things and decisions are a nightmare to me.

[@EleanorWeldon]

Me too. I can keep going with help. I hope you recover and feel better.

[@thepollenhater]

The binge eating explanation makes sooo much sense I’m shook

[@LG-nn4tr]

Wow, this practical information is SO helpful. It’s so helpful to know more specifics about how this stuff manifests. How are sensory sensitivities from anxiety different from autism sensory sensitivities? What are social consequences of anxiety, depression and c-ptsd for the individual and within a group whether that’s at work or with friends.

[@DrScottEilers]

Excellent question! You can’t necessarily differentiate anxiety vs ASD by sensory sensitivities alone because they can be indistinguishable. You want to look at the cluster of symptoms surrounding them to get the big picture of which diagnosis fits better ❤️

[@pesiuber]

Wow, yeah human sounds make me furious sometimes and clock ticking

[@DrScottEilers]

I get it

[@Chloe7270]

I had a stroke four months ago and have been doing what I've always wanted to do since then - being alone! I didn't socialize in rehab and I definitely don't socialize now. However, being alone doesn't bother me at all. I've literally been outside maybe four times since the stroke, and that doesn't bother me, either. I just enjoy being in my room without any other people. This is the only way I feel like I don't have to act happy when I don't feel happy. I have all of the symptoms, too. I've always had depression but didn't know I had anxiety, too. Thanks for these videos. It will make it a lot easier to let people know how I feel without actually having to TALK to them!

[@dk5755]

This has created an AHA moment for me! I knew I had anxiety and all of these other sensory sensitivities, but I didn’t know the connection! I wish my doctors and therapists could have recognized this. I was addressing all of these as separate issues. Thank you.

[@NexViolentus]

Yeah that people pleasing thing is definitely something I relate to. I believe that people wont like me if they know who i really am and I do have some undesirable personality traits that i need to keep hidden no cap. I feel like I have to tone down or censor my personality and deny my own needs or preferences. This created a lot of problems when I tried dating. Also Im afraid to reach out and ask for help because people will think I'm a burden and get annoyed with me since i always need help. With the overachieving thing I've always wanted to to be that person and i would hate myself for giving it 100% and not even getting halfway while getting in trouble for not meeting expectations. I feel like im drowning when I have much less to do than others but I can't keep up.

[@DrScottEilers]

I think many more of us feel this way than you might realize

[@melidacartagena8355]

Hey 🙋 find a way out. Make your own reality, your perfect world 🙏. Don’t fight yourself, BE with yourself. I LOVE to drive in silence 🙏 I LOVE the quite🙏 In the dark I found myself 🙏

[@JIm-w1b]

Nice to see a young man nowadays, without tattoos all up and down his arms hands and neck.

[@RealBradMiller]

Honestly, who cares? Of someone had vitiligo it would be no more distracting as the tattoos. What does someone having experiences and art on themselves have anything to do with you or your well-being?

[@mikesmith6594]

I have anxiety, depression,racing heart ,ptsd , feel like I'm constantly being watched,keep dealing with gaslighters , people that play mind games with me .

[@rob_e_g8723]

Just described me, now I know this,not sure what to do about it.

[@bhavyakjain]

True that

[@melidacartagena8355]

What I do when I go outside, is mimic people’s energy. That way I get “along “ with everyone my its extremely exhausting. I can feel my battery going down 🪫 then I know its my time to retreat and be with myself to recharge👀. That’s my secret 🤫 no one knows…

[@MarianneMcVeigh-xz2yv]

Thank you Dr Scott. I have terrible anxiety. You're describing all my symptoms to a tee. I hear my neighbour's loud chimes night and day, drives me crazy. I am definitely hypersensitive to stimuli. I am an over-thinker too. I used to be a perfectionist but when my Dad passed I no longer needed to be perfect to win his unattainable love. Mediocre is fine nowadays. I had high achievement in education and career. Now I'm happy just to be average.

[@killuafanboy3812]

I have sensitivity to sounds but not nessisarily repetitive ones. Mainly loud noises. Weather that be dogs barking, or a car alarm suddenly going off, or even something like just a fork dropping on the ground.

[@gtwhome]

Thankyou so much for posting this, Scott - it's pure gold ! In all the years I've been consuming KZbin content, never have a encountered such a cathartic video. Truly a revelation ! I guess we understand that most eating is not about refuelling and nourishment - it's comfort eating ... either from the stress of anxiety or the stress of boredom/understimulation. And for the chronically anxious, I guess after too long in a state of hyper-arousal - there are long-term adaptations of the psycho-neuro-endocrinological system that change baseline arousal states ... to the point that things like the amygdala's threat-perception threshold falls so low that just about everything in the environment sets off the alert (I'm looking at you, Misophonia) and floods the system with flight-or-fight stress hormones.

[@richardb7495]

Is there a specific sensitivity to loud talking? Being around noise such as loud people causes me a draining effect and frustrates me. But mostly loud talking!

[@ja398]

You make things make sense. Thank you. Thank you.

[@michelekurlan2580]

And sometimes people mistake thirst for hunger.

[@ttf4now]

My son was a picky eater and we tried the “Eat what I made or go hungry” bit. He seriously went on a hunger strike at 3 years old! We had to leave his “safe” foods on hand so he wouldn’t starve.

[@j.r.1823]

Thanks for sharing this! My son is a very picky eater too since he was small and people gave us the advice not to cater to his needs- which didn't work for us either. He is 16 now and in treatment for depression, anxiety and OCD. So I believe now that his brain works differently and he has some extra sensitivities that are just hard to understand for others. Being "tough" around someone with such mental issues is usually not the appropriate reaction/ solution.

[@emaarredondo-librarian]

Were it not for anxious people, there wouldn't be caution, prevention, quality control, safety rules. We overthink, so humankind can go in its merry way without thinking.

[@diegoandres2322]

Wow, I didn't know that being selective with food could be an anxiety related issue. I always want to know exactly what the food has, I feel very uncomfortable if not. If someone offers me something to eat and they don't tell me exactly what is has I tell them, no, thanks. I usually don't try new kind of food trying to avoid a displeasant flavour.

[@bhavyakjain]

Explains why I always tend to have others dictate what we order in restaurant and even times order in at home

[@hannahmoran-macdonald2839]

woww, this is spot on, i learned so much. This is basically free therapy!! I relate to the overeating/picky eating, perfectionism, people pleasing, and insecurities. Can't believe this is all probably my systemic anxiety that i'm barely discovering

[@zentai4324]

Hi Dr.Scott, In the part where you speak about perfectionism, I understood what you said, and i'm at the "and suddenly everything collapses" stage for over a year now. It makes alot of sense now why and how I got to that point and what keeps me stuck. could you make another video about the topic of perfectionism as a cope and how it creates\affects anxiety, more specifically how to change that belief and demand less from yourself? I now understand that I use that as a cope, but I feel resistance to change that in my mind and body, honestly i don't even know how to begin changing that.. It does not feel authentic not believing this and telling myself that i don't care about perfectionism anymore... I would love to know more about this :)

[@user-kn4vi9mt7b]

Oh man I love coming on here listening to you - wow some sounds drive me insane - I’m so hyper vigilant . Can generalized anxiety turn in to severe anxiety ? Is shake my leg A LOT. Throughout my days when I get stressed . thanks for Sharing this

[@DrScottEilers]

Check my video on misophonia with regard to the sounds ❤️

[@diegoandres2322]

Also as people pleasing, I tend to mesure my words very often, I'm very careful about what I say, the way I say, the tone, if in talking too loud or if I don't talk enough and the rejection sensitive dysphoria againts criticism kicks in. Relationships are too complicated this way.

[@louisecampbell2628]

OMG you've just described me. How lovely it would be to have a nice relaxed conversation with someone without the anxiety and worry about how you come across. I'm also hypervigilant about the fact I may not sound interesting or intelligent.

[@sixtoomanycats9769]

The things no one ever tells you about, Dr Scott comes through. I thought I was just an asshole person because I can't deal with construction noises, screaming kids, barking dogs, unnecessary noises, lawn mowers, people talking, car horns, squeaky wheels, dripping faucets, people chewing, rattling chip bags, the refrigerator and microwave door opening and closing... The list goes on and on and I get enraged and you have to leave to go somewhere silent like the forest before I blow a gasket and meltdown. Thank you for making this make sense.

[@ptilt2023]

Signs of anxiety: 1) sensory sensitivities 2) overeating or binge eating 3) freeze response 4) perfectionism/ high achievement 5) picky eating; fear of new experiences 6) over apologizing/ people pleasing/ insecurities 7) ?

[@adrianavanleeuwen7981]

That last section hit like a truck, I'm not sure I've ever been called out on the people-pleasing quite so directly before. I did want to note, though, that at least for me, it felt more fundamental than wanting to be liked or even loved: I feared that if I didn't earn my place in society, I wouldn't be /welcome/ anymore, wouldn't be /cared for/ if I needed it. I figured I could work on being liked and loved once I was valuable enough to not be EXPENDABLE. I use the past tense because I've come a long way on this, but it really felt like something at the very base of the hierarchy of needs, life if I'm valued or death if I'm discarded, and I'm still not 100% convinced I was wrong about that. Society /does/ discard people all the time; I meet a lot of them at my job, and they're my equals, fine people, outcast because they were slightly inconvenient at some point. If they could be discarded, so could I, at the slightest excuse. Nobody is ever truly safe -- we are all going to die even if everything goes perfectly up to that point -- and I think it's really, really difficult to restore a sense of safety once you fully grok that. You know that safety and security are illusory, and you can't unknow that. So you kind of have to settle for teaching your mind and body to be okay with "not in imminent danger, probably", and they're noooot generally inclined to call that good enough. I'm not sure any of us are neurologically equipped yet to deal with a world in which there are so many abstracted threats and so much time to think about them, haha.

[@teresaedwards4688]

My son has misophonia … I’ve tried explaining this to his doctor but they don’t know what I’m talking about … my son also has many other developmental issues… are there some people that just cannot be diagnosed completely ???

[@c_rhynehardt]

All of your videos have been helpful to me and I just purchased your book. 😊

[@juliemaitland1176]

A lot of what you have said parallels my ME (or chronic fatigue syndrome). Certainly I suffer with anxiety but I never considered that that brings its own symptoms to contend with. ME is not well researched but more is being done. Originally it was considered a “mental” disorder with CBT and GET being NICE guidelines for treatment. Now it has been found that neither are helpful and indeed, are positively harmful. Don’t quote me on this but I think now it is being treated as a neurological disease not psychological. I now am slightly confused because I do have a lot of the anxiety problems you have described in this video and other symptoms from some of your other videos. I am beginning to wonder whether I have ME (since 1996) and as a result of life changing experiences, I have sleepwalked into the realms of mental health as well. I have an appointment to see someone in 3 week’s time so it will be interesting to see what her take is on it. Oddly, they have decided to do a CT head scan and I do not know why - it is all very concerning. On top of everything else, I am not coping well with the passing of my mum at the end of June. Too much has been going on and I’m feeling overwhelmed. I spend half the day taking naps to get through and then stay up half the night - why I don’t know. I am retired so have no commitments except looking after my much loved elderly cat which, of course, is no hardship. However, I have no proper routines for sleeping, eating etc and am beginning to feel very unwell most of the time. I dabble in art and colouring for mindfulness but I have all the books and the materials I keep buying but haven’t actually coloured anything yet! I’m hoping after this video I can persuade myself to try. I could go on but I’ve already used up too much space. I’m gradually finding more of your videos and look forward to another premiere next week. You are now my go to when I struggle to cope. Thank you for giving your time and infinite knowledge so freely - you really make a difference❤

[@Aeiouaaaaaaaaa]

Hi, I hope you were able to start that colouring book of yours! Art really helps take my mind off of the weight of anxiety as well, so I definitely understand what you mean. It sounds like you’re dealing with a lot and I really hope you’re feeling better lately.

[@katherineprice96]

Wow! This is so comforting to hear this explanation.

[@GoldenGoddessss]

Thanks doc! Can you make a video on healing these symptoms?

[@megangunter2061]

Thank you for taking your time to help people understand. You have helped me.

[@DrScottEilers]

Glad to help

[@CAM-fq8lv]

Thanks for the explanation. Sounds as communication. Makes sense.

[@alanajones109]

Your videos on anxiety and shutdown (freeze) are SAVING ME ❤

[@QueSarahSarah72]

I have all 7 of these. I could write an essay here describing all my experiences. You'd think after all this time I'd get better and find some healing. I've almost given up trying. I often feel like saying, "I'm too old to fight this battle." Yeah, anxiety and chronic depression are the banes of my existence.

[@EmyKhl]

I think i have all of these symptoms can u talk more about eating disorder please ?

[@JimHiebert-k2y]

you seem to think angxiety must be talked to death

[@snow-wlkr7xplorer494]

I love peace and quiet, but I have a neighbor who comes outside whistling like an oldies saturday cartoon character. I hate her. Lol. Then one day she had on some bright pink clogs. Reminded me of Daisy Duck, so I had to laugh 😂

[@pamlucas7694]

I m a mess chonic illness , high anxiety, and now sleeping issues i can never relax wish some would give me a sedative

[@TT-fn1xb]

I mean, I knew I was a bit of an anxious person but so many of these things resonate with me especially the sound, visual and smell sensitivities as well as the picky eater thing. Thank you for this video. That said, I’m not afraid of conflict and don’t feel the need to please people but I do feel the need to express gratitude to those who are kind to me.

[@imkimberlya2478]

I’ve had anxiety for years, but recently got myself evaluated for adhd when what now sounds a lot like some of the same actions. Could have been same old anxiety all along? Hmmm, sounds for sure! People or animals eating, repetitive sounds, I have to have a drink to watch a movie or show with a lot of violence/suffering or s3x in it, then I’m fine. Perfectionism, over eating, over thinking, concentration, freezing, constant stimuli or shut down everything mentioned in fact. Your freaking brilliant in your ability to ease the thought process and give people the space in their head to possibly understand themselves. Thank you for pursuing your path, you have a gift to connect with and willingness to understand people.

[@shiner8375]

I knew something was not right with me. I eat same healthy bland meals daily. (Thought this was discipline). Think my way through conversation. (Then analyze all my mistakes in conversation). At 59 work out daily hard never satisfied. This is anxiety. Do healthy things but still screwed up. Life is hard.

[@suzannestevens8257]

So much of this relates to me and my family. So thank you. It's good to understand.

[@barbarakrall4331]

Natural, OTC, non-prescription, non-addicting aids to help take the edge off anxiety: 1. Bach Rescue Remedy 2. Hyland's Calms Forte 3. L-Theanine (extracted from green tea, produces calm and relaxation without drowsiness)

[@Justdessertsforme]

Oh my goodness...this is me ! In addition to these symptoms, I have developed Interstitial Cystitis which is aggrevated by stress. For me, stress equals anxiety. My Urologist said alot of patients with Interstitial Cystitis have a high startle response ! Thank you so much for your videos, you have really helped me tremendously.

[@catriona_drummond]

Interesting. There is a lot of criteria here that fit me. and boy the picky eating came out of nowhere. But being apologetic and people pleasing thing, nah, that doesn't affect me at all. Then I heard you explain it. Turns out, I do have the mechanism in me, but it doesn apply, because i trust noone and rely on noone. I made my own standards (perfectionism) the sole yardstick so that expectation or judgement of other people don't apply. Suppose I might be a people pleaser, if that vulnerability wasn't accidentally shielded by other maladaptive strategies like the obsession with absolute control.

[@christinekoester2050]

Thank you for this! Very helpful! Would love to hear more on overeating. So tired of the cycle: deprive-overeat-deprive-overeat.... Any insight? (Would love a video.) Thank you!

[@rhianndarroch4228]

I have gotten to the point I over apologise a lot I thought it was because of my borderline and not anxiety. My anxiety is so bad and chronic it’s really hard to live day to day😢on everything you mentioned. wow I’m blown away. With loud noises when in the hyper vigilant state I have to cover my ears because it pisses me off. Thanks for sharing this Dr Scott you a a rare gem ❤

[@olgapluzhnikova9437]

your last point "people pleasing" is definitely about me... thank you!

[@mcgragor1]

Great channel, I would like to suggest you look into health causes of anxiety like thyroid or parathyroid issues. Parathyroid can cause all kinds of issues and only surgery can fix it.

[@gloriavis]

Yeah should i get married or have a baby. My husband had to take .me kicking and screaming to do anything good for myself .

[@jenniferfullmer4783]

I wish I'd known this when my kids were little. Anxiety is passed down in my family, I am coming to realize.

[@hbbstn]

As an anxious person, that big caption in a balloon makes me anxious 😅

[@Over60sowhat]

Absolutely brilliant!!

[@rodterrell304]

I hate to hear chewing, yuck.

[@sitascott8446]

I can relate to all of this. Thank you.

[@Livefullydotnet]

Wow. Just wow.