It is simple to mix up the two. Anxiety and worry are used by the DSM 5 (the manual used by many mental health practitioners for diagnosis) to characterize anxiety disorders. Therefore, this can mislead even experts.

However, there are some significant variations in how we encounter these psychological states that are worth noting.

Firstly what is “Worries”?

Everybody worries occasionally, and it is common for worry to escalate in the presence of issues or hazards as well as when a person is confronted with something novel or uncharted.The most frequent sources of worry are issues with family, relationships, work or school, health, and money. Normal worry can just suddenly appear, but it is typically brought on by a reminder in the surroundings that is connected to the region of worry. Normal worry typically has little impact on day-to-day activities since the person can usually stop it. However, the frequency of worry and the extent of anxiety it causes is different for everyone.

Worry can become distressing in and of itself (i.e., worry is more of a problem than the dreaded occurrence) and can impair daily activities like focus or sleep, especially in stressful situations.

What is “Anxiety”?

A sensation of tension, anxious thoughts, and physical changes like elevated blood pressure are all characteristics of anxiety. Typically, intrusive thoughts or worries repeat throughout the lives of those with anxiety disorders. They could stay away from specific circumstances out of fear. They may also have physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, dizziness, or a rapid heartbeat.

Although they are not the same thing, fear and anxiety are frequently used interchangeably. Fear is a proper, in-the-moment reaction to a clearly recognized and precise threat, but anxiety is a long-lasting, broadly focused, future-oriented response to a diffuse threat.

10 Differences between Worry and Anxiety

1. We frequently feel anxious in our bodies and worry in our minds.
Anxiety is more visceral in that we experience it physically throughout our body, whereas worry tends to be more focused on concepts in our heads.

2. Anxiety is more diffuse than worry, which tends to be more focused.
We are concerned about making it to the airport on time (a specific hazard), but we are also concerned about traveling generally.

3. While anxiety comprises both verbal thoughts and mental images, worry is verbally focused.
This distinction is significant because, in contrast to emotional verbal ideas, emotional mental images, such as those connected to anxiety, cause a far larger cardiovascular response (such as those associated with worry). We also experience anxiousness throughout the body for this reason.

4. Worry often triggers problem solving but anxiety does not.
Worry might inspire us to consider remedies and plans of action for a particular circumstance. Anxiety is more like a hamster wheel that spins us around but doesn’t lead us to productive solutions. In fact, worry is less conducive to problem solving due to its dispersed character.

5. Worry creates mild emotional distress, anxiety can create severe emotional distress.
Anxiety is simply a much more powerful and hence, disruptive and problematic psychological state than worry.

6. Worry is caused by more realistic concerns than anxiety.
If you’re concerned about getting fired because you did really poorly on a project, you’re worried. If you’re concerned about getting fired because your boss didn’t ask about your child’s piano recital, you’re anxious.

When we deal with the problem causing us anxiety, our worry goes away. Anxiety can linger for a long time and even shift its attention from one thing to another (e.g., one week we feel anxious about work, then about our health, then about our kids…).

7. Worry tends to be controllable, anxiety much less so.
We can significantly lessen our worry by thinking through solutions to problems and developing plans for addressing its root causes. Because it is more difficult to “talk ourselves out of it,” we have considerably less control over our worry.

8. Worry tends to be a temporary state but anxiety can linger

Once we reolve the issue worrying us, our worry diminishes and disappears. Anxiety can linger for long periods of time and even jump from one focus to another (e.g. one week we feel anxious about work, then about our health, then about our kids.)

9. Worry doesn’t impact our professional and personal functioning; anxiety does.
Nobody uses a sick day to sit in concern about their adolescent’s exam performance. However, worry can leave us feeling so agitated, uneasy, and unable to focus that we could actually feel too upset to work.

10. Worry is considered a normative psychological state while anxiety is not.
Anxiety is regarded as a true mental disorder in certain intensities and for specific lengths of time, necessitating medical and/or psychological care.