Anxiety in Women: Symptoms, Causes, & Treatments

Most Common Symptoms of Anxiety in Women

Women with anxiety may experience physical and emotional symptoms like worry, irritability, or sleep difficulties, that cause distress and interfere with their ability to fully enjoy their lives. In small doses, anxiety can be beneficial and can motivate you to take action. However, chronic and severe anxiety that interferes with your life can be detrimental and a sign that you may be suffering from an anxiety disorder.

Common symptoms of anxiety in women include:^1,2

• Excessive fear or worry
• Irritability
• Changes in behavior, such as avoiding things that cause anxiety
• Difficulty focusing or making decisions
• Feeling restless or on edge
• Muscle tension
• Shortness of breath
• Increased heart rate
• Upset stomach and nausea
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Hot flashes
• Difficulty falling or staying asleep
• Dry mouth caused by anxiety

Almost everyone experiences symptoms of anxiety at some point. Brief or mild anxiety in response to a stressful event that does not interfere with your life is not necessarily a sign of an anxiety disorder. To have an anxiety disorder, your anxiety must cause you distress, interfere with your ability to function in different areas (e.g. work, school, relationships), and last at least six months.²

Anxiety isn’t all bad. The potential hidden benefits of anxiety include avoiding potential dangerous situations, increased productivity, and an ability to predict outcomes.

The Type of Anxiety Disorder Can Impact Symptoms

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental health condition in the United States.¹ There are several different types of anxiety disorders that women may experience. Some anxiety disorders may develop after exposure to a stressful or traumatic event, while others may develop with no known cause. Your specific symptoms will determine which disorder you have.

Common types of anxiety disorders include:²

• Adjustment disorder with anxiety, which can develop after a person experiences a stressful event, like the death of a loved one or job loss. If a person’s symptoms continue for more than six months after the stressor is over, then this is a sign of another anxiety disorder.
• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), an anxiety disorder that involves excessive worry about several different things that lasts for at least six months. In addition to worry, a person also experiences symptoms like irritability, fatigue, restlessness, muscle aches, and problems with concentration and sleep.
• Panic disorder, which involves episodes of intense worry and fear along with physical symptoms like dizziness, chest pain, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, nausea, shaking, sweating, and numbness. People with panic disorder also fear having a future panic attack and may avoid situations that could trigger one.
• Social anxiety disorder, a type of anxiety where a person feels anxious and overwhelmed in certain social settings, such as events with large crowds or fear of public speaking. People with social anxiety either tend to avoid social situations altogether or endure them with significant discomfort.
• Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a condition that involves obsessions, which are intrusive and unwanted thoughts that cause anxiety, and compulsions, which are repetitive behaviors that help alleviate the anxiety caused by the obsessions. People with OCD find that their obsessions and compulsions cause considerable distress and are difficult to control.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition that can develop after a person experiences a traumatic event. Symptoms of PTSD include intrusive thoughts or memories, avoidance of reminders of the event, negative mood, and changes in a person’s level of arousal and reactivity.
• Phobias, intense fear reactions to something that poses no danger, such as a fear of heights, animals, or needles. People with phobias may experience excessive anxiety and panic symptoms when exposed to or thinking about the feared object.
• Noise Sensitivity Anxiety, a condition where certain noises trigger anxiety symptoms ranging from irritability, the urge to escape the noise source, to anger.

Types of Anxiety Unique to Women

Anxiety is a common mental health condition among both men and women. Despite this, women face unique experiences throughout their lifetimes that can cause or worsen anxiety.³ Women experience significant hormonal changes during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause that can put them at greater risk for anxiety during these times. It’s also common for women to experience increased anxiety before a period due to fluctuating hormones. Anxiety during pregnancy or the postpartum period is referred to as perinatal anxiety.

Types of Anxiety unique to women include:

• Anxiety during puberty: Puberty is a time in a young woman’s life marked by significant hormonal changes and stress.³ Before puberty, boys and girls tend to experience similar rates of anxiety, but when puberty hits, adolescent girls are more likely than their male counterparts to develop anxiety.
• Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD): Involves depressed mood and anxiety during the week before and the first few days of menstruation.^2,4 Women may also feel overwhelmed and experience difficulty concentrating, fatigue, changes in sleep and appetite, physical symptoms like temporary weight gain, breast soreness and swelling, and muscle or joint pain.
• Prenatal anxiety: Approximately 6% of women experience anxiety during pregnancy, which is a time marked by significant hormonal changes.⁵ The stress of preparing for motherhood and childbirth can also contribute to anxiety during pregnancy.
• Postpartum anxiety: Around 10% of postpartum women experience anxiety during the first year after giving birth.⁵ Postpartum anxiety may occur along with depression or on its own.
• Anxiety during menopause: Similar to puberty, menopause is another time period that involves significant hormonal changes that can put women at risk of developing anxiety.³ Women who experience physical symptoms like hot flashes and insomnia are more likely to develop anxiety during menopause. In some cases, hormone therapy may help alleviate symptoms.

Is Anxiety More Common in Women Than Men? 

Anxiety is more common among women than men. In fact, women are more than twice as likely to experience anxiety at some point in their lifetimes compared to men.¹ Women are also more likely to suffer from more than one anxiety disorder at the same time or experience both depression and anxiety.

Women are more likely than men to suffer from the following anxiety disorders:⁶

• Generalized anxiety disorder
• Panic disorder
• Agoraphobia and other specific phobias
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Hormones are believed to play a role in why women are more vulnerable to anxiety than men.^1,3 Changes in estrogen levels during puberty, menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and menopause can explain why women are more likely to suffer from anxiety during these time periods. Women also typically have lower levels of testosterone than men, which is also believed to explain these gender differences.

Stress is another explanation for why women may be more likely to experience anxiety than men.³ Girls are more likely than boys to experience traumatic events during childhood, like sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and neglect. As adults, women experience similar rates of trauma, but much higher rates of sexual assault. In fact, women are 10 times more likely to experience sexual assault than men. These traumatic experiences can increase the risk of developing anxiety disorders, especially PTSD.

Causes & Risk Factors of Anxiety in Women

Anxiety is often caused by a combination of biological and environmental factors. In general, genetics, hormonal changes, and stress can explain why some women develop anxiety.¹ Like men, women who have a family history of anxiety or those who experience trauma or other stressful events are more likely to develop anxiety. Women are particularly vulnerable to experiencing anxiety during puberty, pregnancy, and menopause because these events involve significant hormonal changes.

Risk factors are those experiences that increase the likelihood that a person develops a condition. There are several different risk factors that can increase the chances that a woman experiences anxiety, including:^3,7,8

• Family history of anxiety
• Poor support system
• History of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse
• Diagnosis of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)
• An avoidant coping style (i.e. avoiding rather than facing negative emotions, such as not leaving the house for fear of having a panic attack)

Risk factors for anxiety during the perinatal period (i.e. pregnancy and postpartum) include:^9,10

• Low income
• Living with other extended family members
• Limited support system
• Having a poor relationship with one’s partner
• History of anxiety or another mental health condition
• Family history of mental health issues
• Experiencing sleeping problems
• Having a difficult pregnancy or birth, including a diagnosis of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)
• Giving birth to multiples (e.g. twins, triplets)

While certain risk factors can increase the likelihood of anxiety, protective factors can decrease a person’s risk.⁹ Having a more active coping style and a good support system of family and friends can reduce the likelihood that a person develops anxiety.