Visual Clipping and Anxiety
Visual clipping is a lesser-known but unsettling symptom of anxiety that causes vision to feel jumpy, fragmented, or delayed, like watching a video that skips frames or freezes momentarily. It can feel as though your brain is lagging behind your eyes, resulting in disjointed perception.
Although visual clipping can be alarming, it’s harmless and fully reversible.
This article explains the relationship between anxiety and visual clipping symptoms.
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Visual Clipping Common Anxiety Symptom Descriptions
- Your vision appears to “stutter,” “skip,” or “lag.”
- Turning your head can cause a choppy or delayed visual update.
- Your environment seems to update in broken increments, not fluid motion.
- Movements and motion, especially fast ones, feel fragmented or hard to follow.
- Visual scenes feel unreal or disconnected, sometimes accompanied by derealization.
- Your peripheral vision may feel cut off or like it’s not registering clearly.
- Your vision can feel like an old movie with a slow frame rate, feeling jagged or stuttered.
Visual clipping can:
- Occur occasionally, frequently, or persistently.
- Occur any time, day or night, including the middle of the night.
- Precede, accompany, or follow an escalation of other anxiety symptoms or occur by itself.
- Precede, accompany, or follow a period of nervousness, anxiety, fear, and stress, or occur "out of the blue" for no reason.
- Range in intensity from mild, to moderate, to severe.
- Come in waves where it’s strong one moment and eases off the next.
- Occur for a while, subside, and then return for no reason.
- Change from day to day or moment to moment.
These visual distortions can last only a few seconds during panic attacks or linger longer during chronic anxiety episodes. Many people report the sensation is strongest in visually stimulating environments, such as with screens or in crowded spaces.
Visual clipping can be more common when fatigued.
All the above combinations and variations are common.
To see if anxiety might be playing a role in your symptoms, rate your level of anxiety using our free one-minute instant results Anxiety Test, Anxiety Disorder Test, or Hyperstimulation Test.
The higher the rating, the more likely anxiety could be contributing to or causing your anxiety symptoms, including feeling like impending doom symptoms.
Causes
Medical Advisory
Talk to your doctor about all new, changing, persistent, and returning symptoms as some medical conditions and medications can cause anxiety-like symptoms.
Anxiety can cause visual clipping in many ways. For example:
1. Anxiety-caused Stress Response
Anxious behavior, such as worry, activates the stress response, which secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream, where they travel to specific locations to immediately prepare the body for emergency action – to fight or flee. This instinctual survival reaction is often referred to as the Fight or Flight Response [1][2].
Visit the “The Stress Response” article to learn how it can affect the body.
Some of the stress response changes include:
- Quickly converts the body’s energy reserves into “fuel” (blood sugar) to instantly boost energy.
- Increases heart rate, respiration, and metabolism due to the boost in energy, increasing blood pressure.
- Stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing nervous system activity to be more sensitive and reactive to danger.
- Heightens most of the body’s senses to be more aware of and reactive to danger, including pain sensitivity (stress-induced hyperalgesia).
- Creates a sense of urgency to take action to fight or flee from the perceived threat.
- Masks pain and discomfort so our attention isn’t diverted away from fighting or fleeing.
- 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.
To name a few.
The stress response also affects vision:
- Dilates pupils to take in more visual information to heighten our awareness of threats.
- Narrows peripheral vision and deprioritizes fine detail processing to keep our focus on the main threat.
These emergency response changes can disrupt normal visual processing, leading to visual disruptions, such as clipping.
The degree of stress response is proportional to the degree of anxiety. The more anxious you are, the more dramatic the stress response changes, and the more impactful the symptoms.
Anxious behavior is a common cause of acute visual clipping.
As long as a stress response is active, it can cause acute anxiety symptoms, including this one.
An active stress response is a common cause of visual clipping symptoms.
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][6].
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 visual symptoms, including visual clipping, hyperstimulation can cause chronic visual symptoms, including visual clipping.
Furthermore, a hyperstimulated brain might truncate visual input to conserve energy, resulting in skipped or fragmented visual perception, causing visual clipping.
As long as the body is hyperstimulated, it can exhibit frequent and chronic symptoms, including visual clipping at any time of day or night.
Hyperstimulation is a common cause of chronic visual symptoms, including visual clipping.
There are other factors, as well:
3. Dissociation or Derealization
In high-degree anxiety and hyperstimulation, the brain may “disconnect” to protect itself, and visual clipping can be part of this detachment from the environment.
4. Hyperventilation and Blood Flow Changes
Fast, shallow breathing during anxiety and hyperstimulation changes blood chemistry (CO2 levels), which can temporarily affect the brain’s visual processing areas.
5. Fatigue and Sensory Strain
Poor sleep and nervous system exhaustion impair how the brain integrates sensory information, especially after prolonged exposure to screens, bright lights, or stress, causing various visual symptoms, including clipping.
6. Other Factors
Other factors can create stress and cause anxiety-like symptoms, as well as aggravate existing anxiety symptoms, including:
- Medication
- Recreational drugs
- Stimulants
- Low blood sugar
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Dehydration
- Hormone changes
- Pain
Select the relevant link for more information.
Treatment
When other factors cause or aggravate visual clipping, addressing the specific cause can reduce and eliminate this symptom.
When an active stress response causes visual clipping, ending the active stress response will cause this acute anxiety symptom to subside.
Keep in mind that it can take up to 20 minutes or more for the body to recover from a major stress response. But this is normal and needn’t be a cause for concern.
When hyperstimulation (chronic stress) causes visual clipping, eliminating hyperstimulation will end this anxiety symptom.
You can eliminate hyperstimulation by:
- Reducing stress.
- Containing anxious behavior (since anxiety creates stress).
- Regular deep relaxation.
- Avoiding stimulants.
- Regular light to moderate exercise.
- Eating a healthy diet of whole and natural foods.
- Passively accepting your symptoms until they subside.
- Being patient as your body recovers.
Visit our “60 Natural Ways To Reduce Stress” article for more ways to reduce stress.
Recovery Support members can view chapters 5, 6, 7, 14 and more for more detailed information about recovering from hyperstimulation and anxiety disorder.
As the body recovers from hyperstimulation, it stops sending symptoms, including this one.
Symptoms of chronic stress subside as the body regains its normal, non-hyperstimulated health.
However, eliminating hyperstimulation can take much longer than most people think, causing symptoms to linger longer than expected.
As long as the body is even slightly hyperstimulated, it can present symptoms of any type, number, intensity, duration, frequency, and at any time, including this one.
Even so, since visual clipping is a common symptom of stress, including anxiety-caused stress, it's harmless and needn't be a cause for concern. It will subside when unhealthy stress has been eliminated and the body has had sufficient time to recover. Therefore, there is no reason to worry about it.
Anxiety symptoms often linger because:
- The body is still being stressed (from stressful circumstances or anxious behavior).
- Your stress hasn't diminished enough or for long enough.
- Your body hasn't completed its recovery work.
Addressing the reason for lingering symptoms will allow the body to recover.
Keep in mind that it can take a long time for the body to recover from hyperstimulation. It's best to faithfully work at your recovery despite the lack of apparent progress.
However, if you persevere with your recovery work, you will succeed.
You also have to do your recovery work FIRST before your body can recover. The cumulative effects of your recovery work will produce results down the road. And the body's stimulation has to diminish before symptoms can subside.
- Reducing stress.
- Increasing rest.
- Faithfully practicing your recovery strategies.
- Passively accepting your symptoms.
- Containing anxious behavior.
- Being patient.
These will bring results in time.
When you do the right work, the body has to recover!
Short-term strategies
Even though eliminating hyperstimulation will eliminate chronic anxiety symptoms, including visual clipping, some people have found the following strategies helpful.
However, keep in mind that each person can have a unique symptom experience since each person is somewhat physically, chemically, psychologically, and emotionally unique. What might work for one person might not for another.
- Reduce stress – Since all anxiety symptoms are stress-related, reducing stress can alleviate visual clipping. There are many ways to reduce stress. Recovery Support members can read about many natural stress reduction strategies in Chapter 14.
- Regular good sleep – Getting good sleep each night (6.5 to 8 hours per night) can significantly reduce stress, which can improve all anxiety symptoms, including visual clipping.
- Regular deep relaxation – Regular deep relaxation is a great way to reduce stress and overall stimulation. As stress and stimulation diminish, so will anxiety symptoms, including this one.
- Regular light to moderate exercise – Regular exercise reduces stress and improves stress symptoms. However, we don’t recommend strenuous exercise since it stresses the body.
- Spend time in nature – Research shows that spending 15 minutes in nature dramatically reduces stress and cortisol. A reduction in stress and cortisol can cause a reduction in symptoms of stress, including visual clipping.
- Keep well hydrated – Dehydration is a common cause of stress-like symptoms, including visual symptoms. Keeping your body well-hydrated can prevent and reduce anxiety-like and anxiety symptoms. Some doctors recommend drinking 2 litres of water per day.
- Take screen breaks – Regular screen time breaks can prevent nervous system and visual overstimulation. Resting your eyes and brain can help alleviate visual symptoms, including clipping.
- Avoid stimulants – Stimulants stimulate the body by secreting stress hormones. We need to decrease stimulation, not increase, to reduce stress and symptoms.
- Don't react to this symptom – Reacting to this symptom with angst, frustration, anger, and bewilderment stresses the body, which can interfere with stress reduction and symptom elimination. Not reacting (such as via Containment) can help the nervous system disengage and relax, fostering recovery and symptom elimination. Recovery Support members can read more about Containment and its application in Chapter 6.
- Eat a healthy diet – An unhealthy diet of high sugar, high fat, and fast foods can fuel anxiety and hyperstimulation symptoms. Eating a healthy diet of whole and natural foods can help the body recover.
There are many other natural and practical ways to reduce stress and anxiety symptoms. Again, Recovery Support members can visit chapters 4 and 14 for more ideas.
Recovery Support
The Recovery Support area of our website contains thousands of pages of important self-help information to help individuals overcome anxiety disorder, hyperstimulation, and symptoms.
Due to the vast amount of information, including a private Discussion Forum, many of our Recovery Support members consider it their online recovery support group.
Therapy
Unidentified and unaddressed underlying factors cause issues with anxiety. As such, they are the primary reason why anxiety symptoms persist.
Addressing your underlying factors (Level Two recovery) is most important if you want lasting success.
Addressing Level Two recovery can help you:
- Contain anxious behavior.
- Become unafraid of anxiety symptoms and the strong feelings of anxiety.
- End anxiety symptoms.
- Successfully address the underlying factors that so often cause issues with anxiety.
- End what can feel like out-of-control worry.
All our recommended anxiety therapists have had anxiety disorder and overcame it. Their personal experience with anxiety disorder and their Master's Degree and above professional training give them insight other therapists don't have.
If you want to achieve lasting success over anxiety disorder, any one of our recommended therapists would be a good choice.
Working with an experienced anxiety disorder therapist is the most effective way to treat anxiety disorder, especially if you have persistent symptoms and difficulty containing anxious behavior, such as worry.[7][8][9]
In many cases, working with an experienced therapist is the only way to overcome stubborn anxiety.
Research has shown that therapy is the most effective treatment for anxiety disorder, and distance therapy (via phone or the Internet) is equally, if not more effective, than face-to-face in-person therapy.[10][11][12]
FAQ
Can visual clipping cause anxiety?
Yes, visual clipping can trigger anxiety—especially when it appears suddenly and without explanation. This unusual visual symptom can feel disorienting or even frightening, leading people to worry that something is seriously wrong with their eyes, brain, or body. For those unfamiliar with visual clipping, the experience may spark racing thoughts, panic, or health-related fears.
In reality, visual clipping is most often caused by anxiety and nervous system hyperstimulation—not the other way around. However, the symptom itself can become part of the anxiety cycle. When someone becomes afraid of the symptom, their fear and stress can intensify, which in turn worsens visual clipping. This creates a feedback loop: visual clipping increases anxiety, and anxiety increases visual clipping.
The key to breaking this loop is education and reassurance. Once you understand that visual clipping is a common and harmless anxiety symptom, it becomes far less scary. With time, nervous system recovery, and proper anxiety management, both the symptom and the anxiety it causes typically fade.
If you’re experiencing visual clipping, know this: it’s not a sign of something dangerous—it’s your body’s way of saying it’s overwhelmed. With the right support, you can calm your system and feel clear and confident again.
Is visual clipping a sign of a serious brain or eye condition?
No, visual clipping is not usually a sign of a serious brain or eye condition. It’s most often a harmless symptom of anxiety and nervous system hyperstimulation. When the body is under chronic stress or in fight-or-flight mode, the brain can temporarily struggle to process visual information smoothly—causing vision to appear jumpy, delayed, or fragmented.
However, it’s wise to discuss all anxiety symptoms with your doctor to ensure they are solely anxiety-related, including visual clipping.
How do I know if it’s anxiety or something neurological like a seizure or stroke?
In most cases, anxiety-related visual symptoms, like clipping, blurring, or feeling like reality is lagging, come and go, are not dangerous, and tend to show up during or after periods of stress, worry, or panic. They’re often accompanied by other anxiety symptoms, such as the many symptoms in our Anxiety Symptoms section.
In contrast, neurological symptoms linked to seizures, strokes, or other serious issues often come with more dramatic or sudden changes, such as:
- Sudden weakness or numbness (especially on one side)
- Slurred speech or confusion
- Loss of consciousness
- Uncontrolled muscle movements or convulsions
- Persistent visual loss or complete blackouts
If your symptoms are mild, appear only during anxiety, and improve with relaxation or distraction, they’re likely anxiety-related. However, if symptoms are new, severe, come on suddenly, or include any of the signs above, seek medical attention right away.
Should I See an Eye Doctor or Neurologist for Visual Clipping?
If you’ve experienced visual clipping for the first time, it’s normal to wonder whether you should see an eye doctor or neurologist. In most cases, visual clipping is a harmless and temporary symptom of anxiety and nervous system hyperstimulation, not a sign of eye disease or neurological damage.
That said, if the symptom is:
- New or unusually intense
- Persistent or getting worse over time
- Accompanied by vision loss, weakness, confusion, or blackouts
It’s wise to consult your healthcare provider to rule out other possible causes. Starting with your family doctor or optometrist is a good step. If they find anything concerning or unclear, they may refer you to a neurologist or specialist.
Most people find that once anxiety is identified as the root cause—and they understand the symptom is safe and reversible—visual clipping fades as anxiety is properly managed. If nothing else, a check-up can provide reassurance and peace of mind, which helps calm the nervous system and reduce symptoms.
Is anxiety-caused visual clipping serious?
No, anxiety-caused visual clipping isn’t serious. It’s just an indication your body is stressed from an acute stress response or from chronic stress, including anxiety-caused chronic stress.
Is visual clipping the same as visual snow or tunnel vision?
While visual clipping is different from visual snow or tunnel vision, it is caused the same way: acute and chronic stress, including anxiety-caused stress.
Can visual clipping be the first symptom of anxiety?
If could be, but it doesn’t have to. Since each body reacts to stress in unique ways, any symptom of stress could appear first, including visual clipping. But that doesn’t have to be the case, either. Other symptoms could appear before visual clipping.
Hyperstimulation Test
Common Anxiety Symptoms
Additional Resources
- For a comprehensive list of Anxiety Disorders Symptoms Signs, Types, Causes, Diagnosis, and Treatment.
- Anxiety and panic attacks symptoms can be powerful experiences. Find out what they are and how to stop them.
- How to stop an anxiety attack and panic.
- Free online anxiety tests to screen for anxiety. Two minute tests with instant results. Such as:
- Anxiety 101 is a summarized description of anxiety, anxiety disorder, and how to overcome it.
Return to our anxiety disorders signs and symptoms page.
anxietycentre.com: Information, support, and therapy for anxiety disorder and its symptoms, including visual clipping anxiety symptoms.
References
1. Chu, Brianna, et al. “Physiology, Stress Reaction.” StatPearls, 7 May 2024.
2. Godoy, Livea, et al. "A Comprehensive Overview on Stress Neurobiology: Basic Concepts and Clinical Implications." Frontiers In Behavioral Neuroscience, 3, July 2018.
3. Marks, David. "Dyshomeostasis, obesity, addiction and chronic stress." Health Psychology Open, Jan 2016.
4. Yaribeygi, Habib, et al. “The Impact of Stress on Body Function: A Review.” EXCLI Journal, Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors, 2017.
5. Teixeira, Renata Roland, et al. “Chronic Stress Induces a Hyporeactivity of the Autonomic Nervous System in Response to Acute Mental Stressor and Impairs Cognitive Performance in Business Executives.” Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015.
6. Justice, Nicholas J., et al. “Posttraumatic Stress Disorder-Like Induction Elevates β-Amyloid Levels, Which Directly Activates Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Neurons to Exacerbate Stress Responses.” Journal of Neuroscience, Society for Neuroscience, 11 Feb. 2015.
7. Hofmann, Stefan G., et al. “The Efficacy of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: A Review of Meta-Analyses.” Cognitive Therapy and Research, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Oct. 2012.
8. Leichsenring, Falk. “Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the Gold Standard for Psychotherapy?” JAMA, American Medical Association, 10 Oct. 2017.
9. DISCLAIMER: Because each body is somewhat chemically unique, and because each person will have a unique mix of symptoms and underlying factors, recovery results may vary. Variances can occur for many reasons, including due to the severity of the condition, the ability of the person to apply the recovery concepts, and the commitment to making behavioral change.
10. Kingston, Dawn.“Advantages of E-Therapy Over Conventional Therapy.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 11 Dec. 2017.
11. Markowitz, John, et al. “Psychotherapy at a Distance.” Psychiatry Online, March 2021.
12. Thompson, Ryan Baird, "Psychology at a Distance: Examining the Efficacy of Online Therapy" (2016). University Honors Theses. Paper 285.