Many people don't know that they suffer from anxiety or anxiety disorders. That's because anxiety involves a rather wide range of symptoms. Each individual can suffer from a subset of these symptoms and your specific subject determines the kind of anxiety disorder you have.

Many of the signs of anxiety manifest themselves in the form of thoughts, beliefs, bodily sensations, behaviors, all of the above, or a mix and match of all the above.

If you are thinking anxiously then you can show some of these symptoms:

• Worrying a great deal about what others think of you
• Living in the future and predicting the worse
• Magnifying the importance of negative events
• Poor concentration and focusing skills
• Racing thoughts

Physical manifestations of anxiety can occur in the form of:

• accelerated heartbeat
• high blood pressure
• dizziness
• tiredness
• stomach aches
• bodily aches and pains
• muscle tension
• sweating

The behavior side of anxiety can be described as the act of avoidance. People with anxiety almost always attempt to avoid from the things that make them anxious or worried. Whether it's groups of people, driving, paying bills or reminders of bad times, the anxiety sufferer will always find a way out of their situation.

In the short term you might think avoidance can help lower anxiety and may make you feel better but in the long run, avoidance maintains and actually heightens anxiety to worst levels.