Is this Anxiety? Am I Going Insane? Am I Bipolar or Schizophrenic?

 Anxiety has an unbelievable ability to make you feel like you're losing your mind or going crazy. It can create huge mood swings, depressive episodes, and make you feel empty and emotionless. With this, you can begin to worry that you might be going insane, or have a mental illness such as being bipolar or schizophrenic. This is a common fear so let’s discuss it to make sure you can have confidence that you're addressing the right issue going forward. 

 Alright, I understand how easy it is to convince yourself that your symptoms are something more serious than anxiety. I’ve been there, and it’s really a terrifying place to be. Anxiety can create such intense sensations and bizarre thoughts and mood swings that you can seriously begin worrying that you may be bipolar or even schizophrenic. So here’s what I want to do. But before we jump in, if you have any worries that you are going insane, I want to assure you that you’re not going insane. Anxiety can make you feel like you’re bound for a straight jacket and a spot at the psychiatric ward. But I promise that’s not the case. Here’s a quote that I like to tell my clients, although I’m not certain who it’s attributed to, and the quote is “If you have the presence of mind to worry about going insane, it means you are still firmly grounded right here in reality." In other words, if you have the wherewithal to worry about going insane, you’re not going insane. 

Alright, let’s break down the differences between anxiety, bipolar, and schizophrenia, so you can remove any fear that you might have regarding these mental disorders.

Let’s begin with anxiety. When you are experiencing prolonged severe anxiety, you are experiencing symptoms that can be grouped into two categories. First, you have the physical effects on your body. These are things like abundant nervous energy, panic attacks, heart palpitations, and lightheadedness. Second, are the mental effects. These are things like intrusive negative thoughts, harmful or bizarre thoughts, constant worry, and derealization. So, what happens is you have both the physical and mental symptoms going on at once. This is what makes anxiety so unique because the physical symptoms can make you feel like there’s something physically wrong with you, while the mental symptoms can make it feel like there is something wrong with you mentally. 

Both the physical and mental effects are caused by an overactive fight or flight response that is flooding your body with adrenaline and stress hormones. But here’s what I want you to understand: the reason you can begin worrying about being bipolar and schizophrenic is because an overactive fight or flight response leads you to have what I call catastrophic thinking. This means you are constantly worrying about the worst-case scenario. So, when anxiety can cause sensations and thoughts that feel incredibly intense and out of control, you start thinking worst-case scenario of “What if this isn’t just anxiety? What if it’s something more? What if I’m becoming bipolar or schizophrenic?” These are all questions you can begin asking yourself. But it’s crucial to understand that anxiety and panic attacks, while extremely distressing, are very different from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. 

Bipolar disorder involves extreme mood swings, including emotional highs like mania or hypomania and lows like depression. These mood changes can be quite severe and typically last for weeks or even months, not just a few hours or days like when you're suffering from prolonged anxiety. 

Schizophrenia, on the other hand, is characterized by symptoms such as actual hallucinations or your having delusions, which are not real common side-effects of anxiety.

Another difference is that anxiety can develop fairly quickly and many times – but not always –  follows a triggering event or a period of high stress. On the other hand, mental illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia tend to develop more gradually. Their symptoms often become noticeable over a much longer period and are felt more consistently.

I also want to note that anxiety and panic attacks do not lead to these mental disorders. You don’t need to worry that your anxiety will somehow transform into bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. That’s not going to happen. These are separate conditions with different causes and symptoms.

But like you, there were many days when I, myself, doubted my diagnosis. I had doctors and therapists assure me that it was just anxiety, but my mind would still wander to those dark places. I would think, “What if they’re wrong? What if I’m developing something worse?” But the reason I was having these thoughts was because my anxiety was making me hyper-aware and overly cautious about my mental health. It was like my brain was on high alert, looking for any sign of danger. Once I understood that this was just a part of my anxiety, and I got on the path to recovery, it became so much easier to dismiss these thoughts and have confidence that what I was suffering from was simply anxiety.

OK, so what should you do if you’re worried that your anxiety might be something more? The first step is to get a proper diagnosis from a mental health professional. They are very good and distinguishing between anxiety and other mental health conditions. If you’ve already been diagnosed with anxiety, you need to trust that diagnosis and begin the recovery process outlined in the link below.