Hello all! I’m new to the topic of anxiety and mental health so please redirect me if i’m in the wrong sub. 

I’ve been having a really rough time with mental health lately, and I think I might have anxiety. But I can’t tell if I actually have an anxiety disorder. Is there a way that I can tell? Did anybody just “know” that you had anxiety? 

I ask this because I’m trying to figure out if I should see a professional or not, my family tells me I’m just stressed from school (very difficult and fast-paced engineering curriculum) but none of the people I know seem as stressed as me. I have a ton of work and I’m a slow and meticulous worker so I’m always freaking out about stuff at the last minute. I have a mental health app on my phone and I’ve identified that I catastrophize and focus on worst-case scenarios instead of the actual situation, or I get so fixated on a situation (often that hadn’t even happened and has little indication of happening) to the point where I feel physically sick. Sorry if this is gross but I’ve picked at the skin on my lips and scalp as a nervous habit that’s so bad it bleeds on a near-daily basis. I also went from being a daily coffee drinker to not even being able to have half a cup because it gives me the shakes. 

Should I see a professional, or is it just school anxieties? Over the summer I’m not stressed at all, I just turn into an entirely different person during the school year which is why my parents say it’s normal and nothing to be worried about. My family also has a lot of stigma around mental health. I have a relative with depression and every time she’s even remotely sad or tired they tell her to “go take her crazy pills” and just completely invalidate her, and I don’t want to be treated that way.

Anyways, back to my original question - did you “know” when you had anxiety, or how do I differentiate it from just being stressed about school?