RESTLESSNESS

Patients visit doctors with various complaints. Some of them are easier to describe (e.g., chest pain or a burning sensation in the esophagus), while other symptoms are much less specific and the patient may have some difficulty explaining to the medical specialist what they are really suffering from. The second of the situations described may occur in the case of a problem such as a feeling of inner anxiety. It is difficult to define this phenomenon clearly—different people may experience different kinds of anxiety. However, it is not associated with familiar problems such as burning, itching, or pain.

Inner restlessness may be felt generally—without a specific location of this condition—and it is also possible for the patient to experience this problem in a particular place in the body. The most common complaints include a feeling of inner restlessness in the chest or a feeling of inner restlessness in and around the abdomen. This problem may be either temporary and quickly passing, and it is also possible for patients to experience chronic inner restlessness. In fact, anyone—a child, a young woman, or a retired man—may feel non-specific inner restlessness. In theory, it may seem that such a condition is essentially harmless, but in reality the feeling of anxiety may result from the presence of even serious conditions affecting the patient’s health. So how can you get rid of feelings of inner restlessness, and what are the causes and symptoms of restlessness?

Causes

Restlessness is mainly associated with one of the most common psychiatric problems, namely anxiety disorders (neurotic disorders). The feeling mentioned above may occur in various conditions belonging to this group, but the most typical is a feeling of inner restlessness in generalized anxiety disorder (also called generalized anxiety syndrome). Another possible reason for a feeling of restlessness is other mental disorders, namely affective (mood) disorders—the feeling described may occur especially in various forms of depressive disorders.
It is not the case that every person who feels inner anxiety suffers from anxiety disorders or mood disorders. Temporary inner anxiety may occur in many different situations that anyone may face. We are talking about overwork, encountering a new stress-inducing situation (for example, changing jobs or changing place of residence).

The feeling of inner anxiety arises on the basis of pathological anxiety, which manifests itself in various ways:

• We may experience panic attacks that have nothing to do with a real threat, but are exaggerated by our imagination.
• Pathological anxiety may suggest to us that something terrible will happen soon, although it is difficult to say exactly what. Such obsessive-compulsive thoughts are paralyzing and prevent normal functioning.
• Symptoms also include various phobias, meaning anxiety felt in response to phenomena or things that are objectively not dangerous.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from traumatic experiences that return again and again, triggering a renewed panic response of fear.
• The feeling of inner anxiety is caused by stress.
• Inner anxiety may be a symptom of neurosis.
• Excessive anxiety is sometimes associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Symptoms

Inner anxiety can be troubling, especially when it occurs alongside other complaints; constant, excessive worry, a feeling of constant fear, and somatic problems such as sweating, dizziness, and a rapid heartbeat, combined with attention and concentration difficulties and irritability, may result from the patient’s neurotic disorders. If inner anxiety is accompanied by a clear lowering of mood, combined with loss of energy, sleep and appetite disorders, as well as apathy and anhedonia, then there is a high probability that the patient is struggling with affective disorders.

HOW TO COPE WITH IT?

People whose feelings of inner anxiety occur as a result of a mental disorder should, in a sense, see a specialist. This may be a psychiatrist, psychologist, or psychotherapist. The exact type of therapy depends on what is causing the inner anxiety; however, in the case of both neurotic disorders and mood disorders, both psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are used. If the patient is indeed suffering from one of these conditions, appropriate treatment will allow them to get rid of feelings of inner restlessness.