Will Guilt Cause Anxiety?

Although very important to experience, like many other emotions, guilt can cause pain. Despite the ability to serve as a signal for us to begin taking responsibility for our feelings, decisions, and behaviors we may have made and the conflict that causes, many of us allow these negative feelings about ourselves to bleed further into a sense of shame.

When this occurs, we go from experiencing a helpful and adaptive emotion to feelings of unworthiness and believing we are defective and flawed. When these feelings of intense inadequacy and negativity permeate our thoughts and invade us enough to impact our mental well-being, that may be a sign that we have crossed the line and combined feelings of fear and anxiety with guilt and shame.

Our desire for approval and fear of consequences for our improper or inappropriate actions weigh heavily on our conscience and become excessive, something we walk around with constantly. This continuous ‘drip drip drip’ of inadequate feelings, repeatedly telling us that we have done wrong, that we are flawed and defective, most certainly lead to intense anxiety.

Many people who experience intense anxiety can dig through their past and discover excessive guilt or shame as a key concept behind it. 

It is ironically correct to see anxiety as a cause, not just a possible symptom of guilt. In other words, guilt and anxiety combine in a way where it becomes a cycle many of us find ourselves trapped in. It goes something like this:

If I am already dealing with anxiety, there is a chance that I already incorrectly attribute the well-being and happiness of other people to me and my actions. In other words, anxious people are more likely to blame themselves when other people are not okay. This distortion in thinking and believing, in turn, contributes to my sense of guilt which in turn causes more intense anxiety. Many people with anxiety report excessively thinking (overthinking) overreacting to words, gestures,s and a variety of things that are believed to signal to the already super guilty and anxious person. The more guilt that develops, the more distressed they feel, which increases the level of anxiety.

And so the cycle continues until interrupted and set off course.