Stress and anxiety in most cases have been used interchangeable and at some point confused since many people do not understand or cannot differentiate the two. This may be due to the fact that one apparently leads to another or the two terms closely relate, hence, the need to examine the two terms critically.
Differences can be looked at within the following broad areas:
The difference in feeling; critically examining the definition of these two terms, one will come to realize that stress is mostly associated with frustration and nervousness whereas anxiety originates from fear worry and at some point uneasiness. We can also understand that stress is the feeling of being under pressure either mentally or emotionally whereas anxiety is a feeling of unease fear, worry or uneasiness as previously stated.
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The difference in causes; Stress is mostly caused or is as a result of an external or existing stress factor or rather a stressor whereas anxiety, on the other hand, may tend to exist or hang around even after the stressor or problem is gone. The National Institute of Health‘s US National Library of Medicine says, ‘Stress is caused by an existing stress –causing factor whereas anxiety is stress that continue after the stressor is gone.
The difference in treatment; Stress and anxiety are treated differently. Stress is mainly through stress identifying and eliminating the cause of the stress and through relaxation methods e.g. Meditation all of which commonly known as stress management techniques whereas anxiety especially when it comes to an extreme or disorder point, there is a need for one to seek help or medical intervention to deal with the symptoms e.g. through Counseling, therapy or other professional psychological treatment to help the patient identify and deal with anxiety.
The difference in duration; stress often ends once the situation that was causing it has been resolved whereas anxiety tends to hang around even after the situation has been resolved, meaning that stress is a temporary experience as opposed to anxiety which is a more sustained mental problem.
Similarities
We can come to a conclusion that Stress and anxiety are both negative experience that may alter either the general functioning of the body or life. Stress and anxiety also tend to share mimic symptoms which may include increased heartbeat, rapid breathing, etc. They are both caused by stressors either internal or external.
References
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour research and therapy , 33 (3), 335-343.
