Anxiety and Body Aches: Describe the Symptom Without Assigning Cause
Muscle aches can occur with anxiety, but an ache is not specific to anxiety. Describe its location, timing, and accompanying changes without assuming a mental-health explanation for a new or persistent physical symptom.
Muscle aches can occur with anxiety, but an ache is not specific to anxiety. Describe its location, timing, and accompanying changes without assuming a mental-health explanation for a new or persistent physical symptom.
A worked situation: Shoulder area
Fictional example. A reader has worry and shoulder discomfort during a busy week. She also notes a new lifting task, so the record includes more than the stress explanation she first preferred.
Work through these questions: Shoulder area
Question or field
Fictional completed example
Ache location?
Shoulder area
Timing?
After work
Other context?
New lifting task
Daily impact?
Reaching is uncomfortable
Care question?
What might explain the recurring pain?
Do not use the timing to rule out other causes
Describe the ache, where it occurs, its timing, and its effect on function. Record worry or stress as context rather than the established explanation. A clinician may need information about other symptoms, medicines, activity, or a separate event. This page does not contain a test that can distinguish anxiety-related aches from other causes.
A relevant author lens: Freeze, Run, or Play Dead Mode
Clinical evidence relevant to anxiety and body aches
