The anxiety It is a disorder that has an enormous emotional impact. It has a decisive influence on the appearance of guilt and is directly related to the social emotion of the shame.
Often, feelings of guilt, which lead a person to constantly feel guilty, are a consequence of anxiety.
In the case of feelings of shame, people with exacerbated fear of exposing their weaknesses, greater intensity has been found in people with anxiety.
On the other hand, these two emotions feed off anxiety, creating a vicious circle.
Feelings of guilt in anxiety disorders
It escapes the control of the individual and causes mental states of guilt that aggravate suffering.
This disorder can dominate the individual to a point where they distort reality. Thus, the person is convinced of doing everything wrong, of failing and disappointing others. He even tends to feel guilty about his own state of anxiety.
The self-blame caused by anxiety ends up enhancing the latter in a very harmful interrelation.
In fact, the feeling of guilt can generate anxiety, stress, social isolation… and affect general well-being.
Irrational guilt as a consequence of anxiety
There are feelings of guilt adjusted to specific events that are natural and that we all experience throughout life.
However, in many cases they appear irrational feelings of guilt which are the product of anxiety states and other psychological disorders (depression, etc.).
This irrational guilt linked to anxiety can cause states of psychological self-flagellation, whether due to one’s own behaviors, certain thoughts or feelings.
The loss of control in the face of fear causes guilt. Being aware that they worry others makes this feeling more intense for the people who suffer from it.
The relationship between anxiety disorders and feelings of guilt has been corroborated by some studies. This is the case of research carried out in 2013 by the Swedish Karolinska University. The object of his work was social anxiety disorder. This study also related shame as a component derived from the aforementioned disorder.
Shame and its relationship with anxiety
Although it differs from guilt, shame shares with it its expression as a product of the inability to control oneself and the consequent discomfort it causes.
It’s found associated with pathologies such as anxiety and social phobia.
Studies have determined that the feeling of shame is more harmful in people with anxiety than in those who do not suffer from this disorder.
This feeling of shame has an adaptive function, without negative consequences. But it can also reach pathological extremes and cause a lot of suffering, with withdrawal behaviors, undervaluation, low self-esteem, insecurity, fear of failure, etc.
In turn, shame carries implicit emotions such as fear and guilt. And in severe cases it can lead to the development of anxiety and depression.
That is, shame is more intense in cases of anxiety, but, at the same time, it is a factor that generates this disorder.
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