Anxiety, although a familiar word, is a condition that’s often overlooked in a high functioning introvert. Especially for black women introverts.
These women have an intersectionality of factors that make them more likely to have anxiety but also more likely not to realize it. As a result, many are walking around with high-functioning anxiety.
What is High-Functioning Anxiety
Most people have some amount of anxiety, which is normal. Anxiety becomes a mental health condition when it’s excessive or ongoing for a long period of time. Or, when it starts to interfere with your daily activities.
It’s actually quite common. Anxiety disorders affect millions of people every day.
High-functioning anxiety is when a person exhibits anxiety but in a high-functioning way. These are people who you might see as go-getters or overachievers.
They tend to be the ones working late all the time or always having their hand up to volunteer, and they try to do everything perfectly.
Basically, they be doing the most. đ
However, even though on the outside they may seem to be winning at everything, they may be struggling inside. And they’re usually very good at covering this up.
It’s important to note high functioning anxiety is not a diagnosis in and of itself. It’s a subset of general anxiety disorder which, again, is very common. Around 6.8 million adults in the US are diagnosed with general anxiety disorder.Â
Introvert Petal
Anxiety and introversion are not the same thing. People often conflate social anxiety with introversion but they are not the same.
Hear me clearly, wallflowers. Introversion is a personality trait associated with a preference for low-stimulus environments. Contrarily, anxiety is more about an adverse reaction to normal daily stimuli.
High Functioning Anxiety and Black Women Introverts
Women are diagnosed with general anxiety disorder twice as much as men. Additionally, anxiety is more severe for African American women compared to white women. And black women are only half as likely to seek help.
A recent study focused on black women using mobile tools to seek mental health services cited general anxiety disorder as one of the most common mental health conditions for black women in the US.
Couple this with the personas that are projected onto black women and you have the perfect conditions to produce high-functioning anxiety.Â
These personas include the belief that black women have to be like superwomen or stronger than what’s expected of most other women.
Black women face cultural and societal attribution of these traits â being extraordinarily strong, independent, and resilient â while also navigating the expectation of being a caregiver to all those around them.
In addition to these expectations, black women generally have more limited access to resources. The problem with this onslaught of expectations is that it leaves no room for vulnerability or self-care.
It’s no wonder many black women experience high-functioning anxiety, and it gets worse for a high-functioning introvert. The challenge of living up to this persona while also caring for yourself especially as an introvert can be overwhelming.
If you’re one of my fellow black women introverts, you may be reading this and wondering, could this be me? So let’s look at a few signs of high-functioning anxiety.
10 Signs of High Functioning Anxiety
1. Fear of not being enough
People with high-functioning anxiety often work really hard to learn how society and others around them define success. They then put a lot of pressure on themselves to achieve those things whether it’s realistic for them or not.
Chasing after unrealistic goals produces a fear of not being enough and it becomes a constant concern for them. This is where the overachieving part comes in for a high-performance introvert and it often leads to burnout.
And this isnât just at work. Their personal relationships can suffer as well because of their need to be âthe bestâ and because their fear of not being enough makes accepting criticism difficult.
2. Waiting for the bad
Having an unshakable feeling that something bad is going to happen is another way that high-functioning anxiety shows up. It’s an excessive fear that some impending doom is on the horizon.
This could be completely unfounded but it doesn’t take away from the anxiety it produces.
3. Headaches
Headaches are the product of many of the other signs compounded. Especially for high-functioning introverts who live in their heads most of the time.
For an anxious introvert, particularly, the storm of never-ending thoughts and worries can easily be headache-inducing.
4. Muscle tension
Similarly, muscle tension is often a physical response to many of the things that are happening inside. It’s amazing how much of our internal struggles are held in our muscles. When Iâm feeling worried or stressed, I tend to hold my body in very tense postures without even recognizing it.
5. Poor sleep
Any number of things can affect your sleep. Particularly when youâre feeling worried or anxious about things, it can become very hard to settle your mind enough for a good rest.
This is often a normal struggle for introverts â calming the many thoughts we have in our minds at any given time. It gets exponentially worse when those thoughts include worries or fears that can’t seem to be turned off.
6. Worrying, worrying, and worrying some more
Everyone worries about something from time to time. However, excessively worrying about things for 6 months or more could be a sign of high-functioning anxiety.
Many times these are things that have been amplified in someoneâs mind making them bigger than they actually are â which only produces more worry.
7. Restlessness
Restlessness is feeling like you can’t get settled or you always have to be doing something. It can also be related to a fear of what might happen if you don’t keep moving.
8. Hard to focus
Being anxious about a lot of things can often make it difficult to focus on any one thing. That’s why difficulty concentrating is a sign of high-functioning anxiety.
Sometimes high functioning introverts feel like they have to keep so many balls in the air that it’s hard for them to stay focused on just one at a time.
9. Getting tired easily
I’m sure by now youâre probably thinking all the signs listed so far could easily wear a person out. đ Fatigue is also something that people experience normally, especially when they’re very busy or active.
However, people with high-functioning anxiety can often feel tired much easier than normal. A lot of this has to do with the internal energy they require to manage their anxiety and the other symptoms of it.
10. Grouchy
Lastly, but certainly not least to their friends and family, people with high-functioning anxiety can sometimes be a little bit of a grouch.
Irritability can be a natural response to any number of the signs listed such as difficulty receiving criticism, fear of not being enough, poor sleep, and muscle tension. It may even be hard for them to understand why theyâre feeling irritable until they put all the pieces together.
Admittedly, this is not a happy list to read through. However, as someone who watches her introvert best friend live with high-functioning anxiety every day, there is hope. Once you’re aware of it, there are ways to manage high-functioning anxiety and get ahead of some of these signs.
Managing High Functioning Anxiety
1. Therapy
This one is a biggie! If you feel like you’re living with abnormally high levels of anxiety (or you just want to be sure nothing else is going on) please, please, please speak with a mental health professional.
Therapy is a great way to work through what you’re experiencing and find coping tools that work for you. It was a total game-changer for my friend.
3. Meditation and Mindfulness
I’m sure there are plenty of folks who would love to explain the differences between meditation and mindfulness. But for me, the way I practice them, I find them to be quite similar.
At the core, it means taking quiet, focused time to reflect on yourself, your feelings, and where you are in the moment. Practicing this helps keep you grounded and centered.
Especially with high-functioning anxiety. When things seem to feel out of control, taking time to center yourself, your thoughts and feelings can help manage stressors and put things in perspective.
4. Energy Balance
Energy balance is important for all introverts, especially high functioning introverts. Get to know yourself and learn to tell when you have energy to spare, and when it’s time for you to recharge.
Youâre usually at your worst when you’re low on energy. That’s when many of these signs will start to intensify. So take rest when you need it, wallflower, and don’t be ashamed to do so.
5. Healthy Boundaries
Accordingly, maintaining energy balance means creating healthy boundaries for yourself. Creating healthy boundaries means knowing when to say yes, and when to say no to social situations.
This is a struggle for people with high-functioning anxiety because they tend to believe they can and need to do it all.
However, knowing your limits and lovingly enforcing them is exceptionally important for managing high-functioning anxiety and life in general. Let your close friends and family know sometimes you may need to say no but it’s nothing personal.
6. Clarify Priorities
People with high-functioning anxiety focus on societal definitions of success and spend a lot of energy chasing that. One effective way to manage anxiety is to focus on whatâs important to you.
Stop comparing yourself to others and create your own realistic, achievable goals and priorities. Doing this makes goal setting much more likely to bring you joy and peace rather than anxiety and stress.
7. Support Network
Too much time solely in our own company, without someone else to balance our thoughts, can intensify the nervous energy anxious people grapple with. Building a support network is a protective factor for so many things in life.
For high functioning introverts, having someone to talk to and help you manage the signs of a high-functioning introvert is invaluable.
To that point, friendships help us not to feel alone and give us a stronger sense of well-being. This remains true throughout our entire lives.
Black women, who are already navigating societal perceptions of who they are or who they should be, find a lot of support in friendships with other black women especially.
I read an article that illustrated my thoughts on how these friendships have helped in my own life:
- creating safe spaces to share emotions and negative experiences including those of discrimination
- affirming similar characteristics that are often stigmatized by broader society and
- generally helping to feel seen and understood
These are all things friendships provide that help mitigate the day-to-day stressors that add to high-functioning anxiety. And since the power of introverts shines brightest in small groups, start with 1 – 3 friends who you feel comfortable talking to.
Closing Thoughts
High-functioning anxiety is more common than youâd think. Especially for black women introverts. Too many of us suffer from secret anxiety. Don’t let that be you.
If you see yourself while reading this I encourage you to talk with a therapist or other mental health professional to learn more. Either way, we should love living our introvert life.