A few weeks ago, I noticed that I was approaching the point of being burnt out. I was working a lot of hours, my daughter was sick, which later turned into me getting sick. I wasn’t sleeping well I’d been tracking my ‘sleep debt’ throughout the week and knew my energy levels were worsening.
Without going into granular detail, my week continued to spiral. At some point, on a Saturday morning, I became consciously aware that I was being snappy with my husband and children. I knew my anxiety levels were very high due to this illness, lack of sleep, and stress at work. But, it wasn’t until later that morning that I realized that I was irritable, and it was related to my anxiety.
According to VeryWellMind, irritability is “involves feelings of anger or frustration that often arise over even the smallest of things.”
When most people think of anxiety, they immediately think of stress, worry, fear, or overall anxiousness. But, anxiety can be much more than this. For some people, heart palpitations are a sign of anxiety. For others, it may be overactive thoughts, replaying past conversations or situations, chest pain, moodiness, or isolation. Finally, anxiety can also present itself as anger and irritability. So, today, we will talk about the connection between irritability, anger, and anxiety.
According to Medical News Today, “many factors can cause or contribute to irritability, including life stress, a lack of sleep, low blood sugar, and hormonal changes.” Other things that may cause irritability but aren’t necessarily associated with illness, but more so imbalance, include having too many responsibilities, competing priorities, parenting (repeating yourself), etc.
A few of the most noticeable signs of irritability include but are not limited to the following:
One important thing to highlight is that people who are feeling irritable won’t necessarily experience all of these symptoms or feel symptoms all of the time. They might feel fine in one moment, but a minor annoyance might be the catalyst to set them off unintentionally.
For starters, although anxiety-related irritability can make you act like a ‘jerk’ sometimes, you must remember that you are not a jerk. The short-fuse you may have periodically can be managed with the proper work and support. There is also no one-size-fits-all approach to managing irritability. We must choose which coping mechanism best suits our life circumstances and personality.
It is also important to note that if you experience feelings of irritability that are persistent, pervasive, or distressing, please schedule some time to discuss this with your doctor. Persistent or distressing irritability can become excessive and interfere with your daily life, making it challenging to accomplish your everyday tasks and disrupting your relationships with others.
For irritability caused by a mental health condition, treatment may include psychotherapy, medication, or a combination of the two. A few other coping strategies that you can experiment with include but are not limited to the following:
I encourage you to not only be honest with yourself about your irritability, but please also openly communicate with your family, friends, and, if needed, your colleagues. Of course, you will want to make sure that you’re only sharing with people who will be supportive and help you through it, but communicating what you are feeling will go quite a long way. I’ve found that when I begin to feel the ‘snappiness’ that I described earlier, I can give my family and friends the warning that my stress or anxiety levels are high, I’m feeling irritable, and I may need some time by myself to process my feelings and to try to recover from it. My family and closest friends can also help me gauge whether my responses to situations that I’m encountering are normal feelings or if I’m being too sensitive and overreacting. Being honest with you can be a massive ask of your friends and family, so please be ready to hear the truth, even when you don’t want to and even if you may not be ready to accept it. And remember, they’re only trying to help you and support you through those difficult times, so you have to be sure you don’t push them away.
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References
It can be very challenging if you're a parent supporting a child with a mental illness, but you can do it. Place your expectations aside, and ask your child what they need you to do to support them or make them feel better. You also don't want to always make yourself a part of the solution; otherwise, your child/teen will grow a dependence on you. Create a balance between what you do for them and what you teach them how to do for themselves.
Are you a busy professional, entrepreneur, parent, caregiver, or student who often feels irritable, exhausted, unmotivated, and burnt out because you constantly try to balance work and your personal life?
Do you feel that there is never enough time to do anything for yourself between your responsibilities at work, school, and home?
Let's take a look at a few self-care activities can you do, even those who are extremely busy, that will help you breathe a sigh of relief:
Sometimes it may not be noticeable to you if your child may be suffering, and that is okay too. You do not need to pretend to be a mental health professional. While it's inevitable that some children with mental illnesses will exhibit unpleasant traits, parents, guardians, and educators should take special care to support instead of condemning the child. As adults, we are responsible for being kind and empathetic with the children we are blessed to raise, support, educate, and uplift them in empowering ways.