In the modern world, anxiety is something that people have to constantly deal with. The stress that living in today's anxiety-filled world can wear down even the toughest people. There are countless pressures that a person has to deal with on a daily basis. These things can range from the mundane to the highly improbable. It doesn't help that the way things work also makes it hard for people to find ways to relieve that stress and anxiety. Some people just buckle under the strain and give up, but that is really just the tip of the iceberg. The fact is, all that anxiety can become the critical component in a dangerous mix of external and internal factors that can be severely damaging to a person's mental health. Anxiety, when combined with things like depression or insomnia, can effectively cripple someone psychologically.
One of the many consequences of anxiety come in the form of panic disorders. The fear and anxiety gets to a point when it can no longer be controlled without the help of psychoactive medication. Panic disorders differ from an anxiety disorder in that the former does not necessarily require a specific trigger to kick in. Another difference lies in the fact that panic disorders have more severe physical side effects and symptoms than an anxiety disorder. In general, nausea, excessive sweating, and increased heart rate are all classic signs of a panic attack. More severe cases can also include muscle spasms, shallow breathing, sudden drops in body temperature, and an inability to fully coordinate physical activity. In contrast, an anxiety attack has less obvious physical symptoms, aside from the increase in heart rate and sweating.
Another potential consequence of being unable to deal with anxiety is depression. As the stress and anxiety causes a person to be unable to perform his duties professionally or socially, it can cause a lack of confidence. In a world where one's purpose in life is defined by what he does and the people around him, this can be a massive problem. The lack of confidence only makes any attempts to perform even worse, eventually evolving into a crippling case of performance anxiety. If left untreated still, this problem can easily evolve into clinical depression, as the person loses all ability to see past his mistakes and perceived lack of ability. Obviously, this problem can be addressed by counseling early on, but the problem lies in it being detected by untrained observers during the earlier stages. Most people tend to dismiss the signs as nothing more than a phase or a temporary slump in a person's ability.
Perhaps the most drastic consequence of stress and anxiety would be addiction. Gambling, narcotics, and alcohol are all things that a person can develop an unhealthy attachment to. All three addictions tend to start out as just stress relief for the person, until the mind begins to crave it and the body develops a tolerance for it. This process goes on until it becomes a mental health problem that could potentially destroy the person and damage his relationships with other people.