Emotional Exhaustion and Anxiety

Causes

There are many ways anxiety can cause emotional exhaustion. Here are some of the most common:

1. Anxiety-Activated Stress Response

Anxious behavior, such as worry, activates the stress response, causing many body-wide changes that prepare the body for immediate action. This survival reaction is often referred to as the fight or flight response [1][2].

Visit our “Stress Response” article for more information about the many physical, psychological, and emotional changes.

Several stress response changes can cause emotional exhaustion. For instance:

• Stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing nervous system activity to be more sensitive and reactive to danger. A stimulated nervous system can negatively affect emotions, causing emotions to feel exhausted.

• Heightens most of the body’s senses to be more aware of danger. Sensory stimulation can overwhelm our emotions, making us feel emotionally exhausted.

• Increases activity in the amygdala (the brain’s fear center) and decreases activity in the prefrontal cortex (the rationalization area of the brain) so that our attention is focused on the threat and away from thoughts that could be distracting. Since the amygdala is a part of the Limbic System, primarily responsible for emotion responsiveness, increased fear reactivity by the amygdala can flatten our emotions, making it feel like we can’t take any more.

The higher the degree of stress response, the more dramatic the stress response changes.

Moreover, since fear can be traumatic, some people dissociate from traumatic experiences to protect themselves psychologically and emotionally. Dissociation can flatten emotions, making it seem like our emotions are exhausted. Visit the “Dissociation” anxiety symptom for more information.

Any combination of these factors can cause emotional exhaustion, especially when stress responses occur in the high and very high-degree ranges.

An active stress response is a common cause of acute emotional exhaustion.

2. Hyperstimulation

When stress responses occur infrequently, the body recovers relatively quickly from its changes. However, frequently activated stress responses, such as from overly anxious behavior, can prevent the body from completely recovering. Incomplete recovery can leave the body in a state of semi-stress-response-readiness, which we call “stress-response hyperstimulation” since stress hormones are powerful stimulants.

Hyperstimulation is also often referred to as “hyperarousal,” “HPA axis dysfunction,” or “nervous system dysregulation.”[3][4][5]

Visit our “Hyperstimulation” article for more information about the many ways hyperstimulation can affect the body and how we feel.

Hyperstimulation can cause the changes of an active stress response even though a stress response hasn’t been activated.

Just as an active stress response can cause acute emotional exhaustion, hyperstimulation can cause chronic emotional exhaustion.

Chronic emotional exhaustion is a common symptom of hyperstimulation.

Hyperstimulation can cause all kinds of emotional symptoms, including emotional exhaustion. Here are some reasons why:

The Limbic System

The limbic system, which includes the amygdala, supports many functions, such as adrenaline flow, behavior, long-term memory, motivation, and emotional life [6].

The limbic system is stimulated by stress [6]. As the degree of stress increases, so does limbic system activity.

When the limbic system becomes chronically stressed (hyperstimulated), our emotions can become overly stimulated, leading to exhaustion. Feeling like you can’t take anything more emotionally is a common indication of an overly stimulated limbic system.

Stress hormones affect other hormones

Hormones, such as serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphins, often referred to as our “feel good” hormones, play an important role in our emotional well-being.

Since stress hormones affect other hormones, including causing a reduction in our “feel good” hormones, chronic stress can cause many emotional symptoms [7], including emotional exhaustion.

Chronic stress (hyperstimulation) is a common cause of feeling emotionally exhausted.

Cortisol insensitivity

Cortisol is a powerful stress hormone stimulant that can create energized, focused, and emotionally upbeat feelings.

However, chronic activation of the stress response can reduce cortisol sensitivity [8], causing feelings of lethargy, muddled thinking, and emotional numbness.

Chronic stress is a common cause of cortisol insensitivity and feeling emotionally exhausted.

Fatigue

Stress quickly drains the body’s energy. Chronic stress (hyperstimulation) can tax the body so much that it becomes exhausted.

Fatigue can flatten emotions, making it feel like we can’t take anything more emotionally.

As long as the body is exhausted, it can impact our emotional well-being.

Fatigue can also be caused by recovery. As your recovery efforts cause a reduction in hyperstimulation, circulating stress hormone levels diminish, which can cause fatigue.

Feeling exhausted and emotionally exhausted is a common indication of the later stages of recovery.

Fatigue is a common cause of feeling emotionally and physically exhausted.

Sleep deprivation

Chronic stress (hyperstimulation) is a common cause of sleep problems. A lack of regular good sleep can cause sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation affects the reasoning (prefrontal cortex) and emotional (amygdala) parts of the brain [9].

Research has shown the first signs of sleep deprivation are unstable and taxed emotions.

Sleep deprivation is a common cause of feeling emotionally exhausted.

These are just a few of the ways anxiety and hyperstimulation can affect our emotions, including causing emotional exhaustion.

There are other factors to consider, as well:

3. Medication

Medications, prescription and over-the-counter, can also affect mood because of how they affect brain function [10]. Side effects of medications are another common cause of feeling emotionally exhausted.

More specifically, SSRI antidepressants can cause emotional exhaustion as a side effect [11]. Many people taking SSRI antidepressants report feeling emotionally overwhelmed and exhausted.

4. Behavior

Research has shown a tight mind and body connection. Since our emotions are primarily caused by how we think, and the body's physical health can influence how we think, our emotions are caused by a complex combination of biological and psychological factors.

We mentioned some of the biological factors earlier.

Some psychological factors that influence our emotions include our beliefs, preferences, attitudes, how we behave (think and act), and habituated patterns of behavior.

Dr. David Burns coined the phrase, “We feel how we think,” meaning our thinking drives our emotions [12]. If we behave in anxious and depressed ways, that can affect our emotions, including creating feelings of being emotionally worn out.

For instance, feeling down and blue or trapped and helpless can elicit feeling of being emotionally burnt out.

Because the states of our physical and psychological health influence each other – our psychological well-being can influence our physiological well-being, and vice versa – many variables influence our emotions.

Nevertheless, when the body and mind are healthy, we typically experience emotions within the “normal” range of stability and predictability. But our emotions can suffer if the body, mind, or both become unhealthy.

5. Dissociation

As mentioned, some people dissociate when afraid – mentally and emotionally separate themselves from an experience – especially with threats in the high to very high degree range.

Dissociation can not only occur during a stress response, it can also become a behavioral issue – where a person regularly dissociates from certain thoughts and emotions that arose during a previous traumatic experience.

Chronic dissociation is another cause of feeling emotionally wasted.

Any combination of the above factors can cause and contribute to emotional exhaustion.

This symptom scared me (Jim Folk) when it first occurred. My emotions were so burnt out that I feared I was on the verge of a complete mental and emotional breakdown. As you know, fearing your symptoms and what you think they could do only makes things worse.

Unfortunately, this is a common scenario for many anxious people. In fact, many anxious people place a high value on how they feel emotionally (often referred to as “emotional reasoning”).

When a person worries about feeling emotionally exhausted, it doesn’t take long to become more symptomatic and concerned, fueling the entire anxiety disorder problem.

The good news is that while this symptom can be unsettling, it isn’t harmful and generally isn’t an indication of something more serious.

Feeling emotionally exhausted is another common symptom of anxious behavior, stress, and chronic stress (hyperstimulation).

Normal emotions return when you faithfully practice your recovery strategies and have given your body sufficient time to recover.

6. Other Factors

Other factors can create stress and cause anxiety-like symptoms, as well as aggravate existing anxiety symptoms, including:

• Recreational drugs
• Stimulants
• Hyper and hypoventilation
• Low blood sugar
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Dehydration
• Hormone changes
• Pain

Select the relevant link for more information.