Job causing anxiety (Why)
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OptimistMinds
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The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Each article is written by a team member with exposure to and experience in the subject matter. The article then gets reviewed by a more senior editorial member. This is someone with extensive knowledge of the subject matter and highly cited published material.
Job causing anxiety – a complete guide to understanding how a person can develop anxiety at work
In this guide, we will discuss how a person deals with a job causing anxiety and how to get over it
Job causing anxiety
Work is one of the places where people spend a great deal of time, they even spend time in offices than in their own home.
Many people who work try every day to give their best because they want to see better results, recognition and growth within the company or industry.
Many times productivity can be marred by several factors such as gossip, long work hours, meeting delivery dates, problems at home and economic; that is, internal and external factors to the office can greatly affect the performance of a person, leading to a state where the person can find itself in a job causing anxiety.
A job causing anxiety can be defined as a place where the person works under a high level of anxiety.
The person feels nervous, have excessive concern about what it may be asked to do at work, it is being afraid of being fired or not performing with the expected requirements.
This anxiety takes the person to a point where it cannot perform its daily functions and seeing that it cannot do so generates more anxiety.
However, there are some options you may discard immediately if you suffer from anxiety but try to give it a chance. Sometimes the obsession for perfectionism can cause anxiety, check the Best Jobs for Perfectionists.
A person who has a job causing anxiety manifests a series of symptoms that can interfere negatively with their functions:
- Tense muscles: the person who is dealing with a work causing anxiety presents many muscular discomforts. The way he reacts to work demands translates into muscular tension.
- Obsession for perfectionism: not only the fear of not fulfilling an assignment at work causes anxiety, but there is also the extreme in which the person develops anxiety for wanting everything to go as he wishes. Not only can the person develop anxiety about wanting everything to be perfect, but this behaviour can affect their collaborators. The best jobs for perfectionists with anxiety are listed below.
- Personal insecurity: when the person feels that it cannot meet all the requirements, it begins to give itself a negative assessment. Believes it is unable to do what he is asked at work.
- Work insecurity: when the person feels that at any time it can lose its job. Someone who has great economic responsibilities is afraid that at some point it will be called to be fired. Listening to some correction made about the practice may lead the person to think that this would be grounds for dismissal.
The person who has a job causing anxiety can manifest some or all of the symptoms mentioned above.
When this anxiety is not treated at work, it can lead to a series of consequences that can affect the mental and physical health of the person and interrupt their work.
The consequences that can generate a job that causes anxiety are fatigue or exhaustion, maintenance of anxiety, slowness, no disconnection with the workplace.
Anxiety symptoms manifested at work can interfere with other aspects of people’s lives.
A job causing anxiety is part of anxiety disorders. A person can generate excessive worry about a situation that it feels it cannot control.
The importance of knowing about anxiety disorders will help the person know if they are in a job causing anxiety.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is an adaptive mechanism that allows people who are in a state of alertness to certain events.
Anxiety at low levels is positive for human beings because it allows it to be cautious in situations of alertness and as motivation to do something.
When a person has high levels of anxiety, it can have negative effects on their health.
When a person has anxiety, it feels in a state of permanent anguish, develops an excessive concern for everything and does not know what to do.
Anxiety becomes classified as an anxiety disorder because of its duration and when it interrupts negatively as the person works with their daily activities.
Anxiety symptoms
The symptoms that a person with anxiety can present can vary according to the situation or fact that generates anxiety in the person.
While it is true that normal levels of anxiety are positive and one of these symptoms is present, when 4 or more of these occur, the person may be developing an anxiety crisis.
- Palpitations or tachycardia
- Chest tightness
- Fear or panic
- Choking sensation, with rapid breathing
- Tremors
- Sweat or chills
- Dizziness
- Feeling numb
- Nausea or abdominal discomfort
- Feeling of unreality
At the time that a person begins to present several of these symptoms, it is important to consult a doctor so that it can rule out if the symptoms that the person is presenting are due to anxiety or another disease.
The knowledge about anxiety and everything that it encompasses helps the person to know more about it and recognize the symptoms at the time the anxiety is generated.
How can a person deal with a job causing anxiety?
A person who has a job causing anxiety feels in many cases that there are few options it has, but there are some things it can do to make anxiety levels lower.
Some actions it can perform are:
Organize the work every day
The person who has a job causing anxiety maybe because it does not have the things it has to do every day organized.
The best thing a person can do is, at the beginning of the workday, organize everything it needs to do during the day.
The order helps the person to know where to start and what actions to take to do their job well.
Practice exercise
Several studies have proven the benefits of practising some type of exercise or sport for physical and mental health.
The exercise helps the person to disconnect from the workplace and can focus its mind on other things while it is not there, since many times even the person being out of work has in its mind things to do.
Talk at work about anxiety
Talking about mental illnesses at work has been growing.
Companies are becoming aware of the emotional well-being of their employees.
A person can talk to the boss, supervisor or the person in charge, to understand what the person with anxiety is going through.
When a person is aware that another is going through a situation that afflicts their well-being, it is easier to provide help.
Seek professional help
The person who has a job causing anxiety can have anxiety levels so high that it will be difficult to cope with the symptoms himself.
The best thing that a person who has anxiety can do is to seek help from a health professional.
The health professional will help understand the reasons why the person has anxiety and look for the most appropriate techniques to reduce anxiety levels.
Various types of therapy such as cognitive-behavioural therapy have given good results to reduce anxiety levels.
Alternative therapies such as meditation help the person relax, focus on the here and now and free negative thoughts from its mind and block its work performance.
FAQs about job causing anxiety
How do I express to my boss that work is causing me anxiety?
The best way is to approach and speak honestly about the anxiety that work is causing you.
Have a passive attitude and try not to get angry so that the situation does not get out of control.
Isn’t it seen as a sign of weakness to say that work causes anxiety?
Having anxiety is not a sign of weakness. The conception that many people have about mental illness has changed.
Before a person was afraid to talk about whether it felt depressed or stressed, which over the years aggravated the disease since it did not seek help.
Many campaigns worldwide try every day to raise awareness among the human population about the importance of talking about mental health.
No one should be afraid to express how it feels.
Would it be appropriate to take a license at work due to anxiety?
Each country has its norms about sick leave and more in cases when it comes to mental illness.
In places like Europe, sick leave due to mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression can be generated.
It is important that, when requesting a work license, the person has a medical document that explains the reason why they need the work license.
Is it right to quit work if it causes me anxiety?
If the work takes the person to a state where every day it has more difficulties to do its work and interrupts negatively in his other activities, he could consider resignation.
Before a person decides to quit due to the anxiety caused by the job, it is appropriate that the person has taken other actions such as seeking professional help, talking in the workplace about the anxiety it generates, performing other activities As exercise and meditation.
These options have been shown to have a positive influence to reduce anxiety levels.
How can I calm my anxiety in the workplace?
For a person to calm their anxiety at work, the first thing to do is discover what causes them anxiety. You may not have your work in order, responsibility overload or wanting to be a perfectionist, are some of the behaviours that can lead a person to have anxiety.
Conclusion
Work, like any area or situation in life, can cause anxiety.
The person who is dealing with a job causing anxiety should be aware of those stressors that cause anxiety levels to increase.
When the person feels that work is generating negative anxiety, it must speak and express how he feels.
Seeking professional help will help the person to know a series of techniques that will help reduce anxiety levels.
Talking about the anxiety that a job produces does not mean that the person is weak or unable to perform their duties, it is to recognize that when something is not going well the person must speak to find a solution.
Mental health is everyone’s business, no organization should turn a blind eye and should raise awareness within its companies and industries of the importance of the mental health of its employees.
Recommended links
- Work Makes Me Nervous: Overcome Anxiety and Build the Confidence to Succeed
- Managing Anxiety at Work: Tips to beat stress, worry and panic
- Workplace Anxiety: How to Deal With Stress, Conflict, Toxic Coworkers and Bosses, and Fear of Losing Your Job
- Own It: Make Your Anxiety Work For You
Recommended videos
Take Control of Your Anxiety Today: Personalized Counseling with BetterHelp
