Anxiety is one of the leading and aggravating symptoms of PTSD.  My daughter-in-law posted a link to an awesome article on anxiety.  Not everyone with PTSD experiences anxiety.  Not everyone with anxiety has PTSD.  However, I believe this article can help people understand what she experiences with anxiety.  She did label it with trigger warnings.  Talking about anxiety can be a trigger by itself.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gina-decicco/what-i-mean-when-i-say-i-have-anxiety_b_9176808.html

My own experience with anxiety was more confusing.  Dissociation at an extreme level added a complexity of not understanding that there was a connection to my feelings of anxiety and events in my life.  I felt a disconnect.  Sometimes anxiety would explode all over the place and I sound like a raving lunatic.  Other times I quietly imploded and slipped away into shivering unconsciousness.  Until I entered counseling I had no idea that anxiety was a major part of my life.  I masked it.  Hid it from myself.  Denied its existence.  I fought with my counselor denying that what I felt was anxiety.  I couldn’t identify an emotion if it smacked me in the face.  I used anger to hide my anxiety.  I felt shame that I was so strung out over seemingly unimportant issues.  Counseling helped me recognize, name, accept, and learn different coping skills for my anxiety.  I agree with the Gina Decicco, I wish I didn’t have it.  Wishing doesn’t help with coping.  Art, breathing, exercise, computer games, and most importantly counseling gave me an arsenal of tools to help me day-to-day.