Why Anxiety is Often Missed
in Older Adults

Anxiety can affect anyone at any time in their lives. Symptoms of anxiety can include overwhelming worry, difficulty relaxing, irritability, appetite changes, sleep disturbance, muscle tension and difficulty focusing. It can impact your ability to be present in your daily life and cause problems in your relationships. Many of these symptoms sound as if they would be obvious and hard to miss, however, these symptoms are often missed and can be attributed to other conditions. Unfortunately, anxiety is often missed in older adults for a variety of reasons.

Reasons Anxiety Can Be Overlooked

  • Seniors can often be hesitant to report their symptoms. Due to this, recognition of symptoms is challenging. Many people may deny that they have anxiety. This could be because you have been independent for so long and you are not used to needing help. Seeing others with serious physical diseases can discourage being open about something you think you can work through on your own.
  • Usually, the onset of anxiety has occurred earlier. In many cases, anxiety symptoms are first experienced when individuals are younger, and they can resurface because of another disorder. This can cause anxiety to be written off as something that has happened before and went away before, so why address it now?
  • The symptoms can be physical in nature. It has been noted that seniors with anxiety often experience physical symptoms, rather than emotional. Anxiety does have many symptoms that are experienced physically, even more so for older adults. This makes it difficult to recognize and diagnose, often being written off as being part of a physical condition rather than something else entirely.
  • Medication side effects. Sometimes anxiety can be written off as being a side effect of medications. This is also easier to accept for most. If anxiety can be attributed to medications the “fix” is often seen as being simpler, making this a more attractive cause.

Recapturing Life with Counseling

If untreated anxiety can lead to a lot of other unwanted complications. These can include depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia and even substance abuse as a means of coping. Fortunately, anxiety can be treated and it’s good to know you have options. Seeking therapy can be the answer you’ve been looking for to resolve your symptoms of anxiety. Know that you aren’t alone. If you are ready to start treating your anxiety, call Carolina Counseling Services – Pinehurst, NC.

Your senior years can be the productive, exciting, and gratifying time you deserve. If anxiety has recently affected you to the extent that it has prevented you from pursuing the kind of life you desire or from enjoying more meaningful relationships, or you’re just ready to ease this pain, then now is the time to take action. Alleviate the symptoms of your anxiety and enjoy your life again by enlisting the expertise of an experienced professional therapist independently contracted with Carolina Counseling Services – Cameron, NC. Call today to get started.


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