---
title: "Anxiety Without Pause: How to Distinguish Wartime Stress from Anxiety Disorders and When Antidepressants Are Needed"
description: "Psychiatrist Inna Chernenko explained how to distinguish natural wartime stress from an anxiety disorder, why physical symptoms can mask mental states, and when antidepressants are truly needed."
date: 2026-11-14T13:28:43.573Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/anxiety-without-pause-distinguish-wartime-stress-disorder
tags: []
author: "Inna Kinsheva"
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# Anxiety Without Pause: How to Distinguish Wartime Stress from Anxiety Disorders and When Antidepressants Are Needed

![A woman sits on a sofa holding her head, experiencing stress or anxiety](https://xab.info/media/2026/11/14/trevoga-bez-pauzy-kak-otlichit-stress-ot-trevognogo-rasstroystva/trevoga-bez-pauzy-kak-otlichit-stress-ot-trevognogo-rasstroystva-1.webp)

Constant tension, insomnia, rapid heartbeat, and fear of ordinary daily situations may not simply be the consequences of stress, but signs of an anxiety disorder. During wartime, recognizing this condition can be especially difficult: danger, uncertainty, and air raid alerts have become part of everyday life, and the body's natural response to a threat easily merges with a pathological condition. Inna Chernenko, a psychiatrist, psychotherapist, candidate of medical sciences, and lieutenant colonel of the medical service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, explained how to distinguish a normal stress response from a condition requiring professional help.

### Where the Boundary Lies Between Stress and Disorder

During wartime, feeling fear, anxiety, or tension is entirely natural. Shelling, air raid alerts, uncertainty, and everyday difficulties create a constant emotional burden. However, sometimes anxiety becomes so intense that it begins to prevent a person from living a normal life. According to Chernenko, the main difference between ordinary stress and an anxiety disorder lies in intensity, duration, and the degree of impact on daily life. If anxiety gradually fades after the stressful situation ends, this may be a natural bodily response. With an anxiety disorder, the sense of danger persists even when there is no immediate threat.

### Symptoms That Are Easy to Miss

Among the possible manifestations of an anxiety disorder are constant anticipation of bad events, the inability to relax, sleep disturbances, excessive worry over daily matters, and avoidance of fear-inducing situations. An important signal is the extent to which these symptoms restrict everyday life: interfering with work, communication, rest, or routine tasks. An anxious state is not always accompanied by obvious psychological manifestations. Sometimes the body's physical systems react to it first: rapid heartbeat, chest pain or discomfort, dizziness, muscle tension, nausea, and other gastrointestinal disorders. Therefore, people often first turn to a cardiologist, gastroenterologist, or other narrow specialists, not suspecting that some symptoms may be related to mental health. "Anxiety and depression often mask themselves as various somatic diseases," Chernenko notes.

### When You Can't Just Blame Everything on Stress

At the same time, the specialist emphasizes: it is important not to explain any physical symptoms exclusively by stress. Rapid heartbeat, chest pain, or dizziness can have other causes, so if necessary, you should undergo an examination and rule out somatic diseases. This is a crucial point: turning to a psychiatrist does not cancel the need for full medical diagnosis, but complements it.

### Treatment: From Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to Medication

Turning to a psychiatrist does not mean a person will necessarily be prescribed medications. Treatment tactics depend on the severity of symptoms, diagnosis, duration of the condition, and how much it affects the quality of life. One of the key methods of help for anxiety disorders is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It helps a person recognize anxious thoughts, change ineffective behavioral patterns, and learn to respond differently to stressful situations over time. "In the early stages, it is quite possible to cope without medications," the psychiatrist said. If anxiety becomes intense, significantly worsens well-being, and interferes with daily functioning, the doctor may recommend medication. Antidepressants are used not only to treat depression but also for certain anxiety disorders, and their prescription should be based on a comprehensive assessment of the patient's condition rather than just the presence of individual symptoms.

### Myths About Antidepressants and Real Side Effects

Some fear that medications will change their character, deprive them of the ability to feel emotions, or make them dependent on the drugs. However, according to Chernenko, such ideas do not correspond to the action of antidepressants: "Antidepressants do not cause addiction. Personality changes and the feeling of being a 'vegetable' are also myths." At the same time, like any medications, antidepressants can have side effects. At the beginning of therapy, drowsiness, nausea, dry mouth, tremor, or a temporary increase in anxiety sometimes occur. Certain medications can also affect sexual desire and function. It is important to report unwanted reactions to your doctor, even if certain symptoms seem minor or are awkward to discuss. If necessary, the specialist can change the dosage, choose another drug, or adjust the treatment regimen.

## Fact-Check & Sources

- [Тревога без паузы: как ее распознать и следует ли принимать антидепрессанты](https://wave.rbc.ua/ukr/wellness/trivoga-pauzi-k-yiyi-rozpiznati-i-chi-varto-1794504650.html) - Подтверждено по источнику wave.rbc.ua