Worst Jobs For People With Anxiety – Top 6 in 2024

According to the American Psychology Association, anxiety is an emotion that is characterized by feelings of tension, fear, worrying thoughts as well as physical transformations such as high blood pressure, tachycardia, or excessive sweating.

In other words, it is the response of the body to stressful situations. Its existence in an individual is typically accompanied by a feeling of fear and concerns about what is going to happen.

Many circumstances can precipitate anxiety such as going to an interview, having to give a speech, or going to college for the first time.

However, when such anxiety becomes recurring then it becomes a serious health condition and there are certain jobs that individuals that suffer from it must avoid at all costs. Therefore, below is a list of the top 6 worst jobs for people with anxiety (or someone with social anxiety). We also covered a list of work-from-home jobs for the disabled that might be interesting for you.

We invite you to have a look at our list of jobs for people with disabilities to find and apply to jobs that will fit with needs.

1.  Lawyer

Being a lawyer is a good job, but not for someone affected by anxiety. This owes largely to the fact it is a job that requires a lot of constant confrontation and this is not good for highly anxious individuals as it will lead to autonomic arousal of the person beyond control.

As a matter of fact, lawyers that do not have anxiety issues occasionally suffer from such autonomic response, how much more those with anxiety issues. Surely, this only highlights one thing and it is the fact that being a lawyer is one of the worst jobs for people with anxiety.

2.  Police Officer

Dealing with criminals from different social backgrounds is no easy job and this is what police officers are constantly involved in. they do this on a daily basis and it has become second nature to them.

This is something that people with anxiety will have a tough time doing. Interacting with regular civilians is already mentally draining. Doing this with criminals is going to be even more challenging.

For this reason, being a police officer is one of the worst jobs for people with anxiety. The mental stress that comes with this job is not a good fit for someone with social anxiety.

3.  Teacher

We all know how frustrating it can be dealing with kids and the extent they can go to exploit any perceived weakness. They can be cruel, unforgiving, and annoying. This is why teaching them is one of the worst jobs for someone with social anxiety. Teachers that have to constantly deal with them can give first-hand information on how it can be.

This career requires you to regularly put up live performances in front of infants and misguided teenagers that are in most cases not even interested in what you have to say.

In addition to the stress from the children, you will also have to deal with their parents and some of them can be hard to deal with as well.              

4.  Enlisted Military Personnel

Everyone understands that being part of the military is not an easy job. However, it is more demanding for those that have been enlisted. Combat is surely not for the faint-hearted.

A panic attack is the last thing that is needed on the battlefield. A battlefront is a place where you are best-positioned by being a proper frame of mind.

Therefore, it is obvious that it is one of the worst jobs for people with anxiety. Ordinarily, people that are not prone to panic attacks usually experience it during fire exchange so it is certainly something to avoid for individuals that have them as a health condition.

5.  Firefighter

Firefighting is a stressful activity. In fact, the sight of a house or a building burning can be worrying and scary.

If you have ever witnessed a house fire before, this will resonate with you a lot more. This means that firefighters deal with stress routinely, which is definitely not something for people suffering from anxiety.

They are saddled with the responsibility of saving people caught up in fire incidents. Definitely, this is not something that someone that suffers from anxiety can cope with.

The mental stress that comes with handling that kind of situation can only be imagined. Due to this, we can confidently say that being a firefighter is one of the worst jobs for people with anxiety.

6.  Cashier

The job of a cashier might appear easy to many people. While this might be true in the general sense, one certain thing is that it does not obtain when it comes to someone with social anxiety. The job requires you to constantly deal with all kinds of customers.

While some of them can be quite nice and respectful, a lot of them can also be hard to deal with. Imagine a situation where a disgruntled customer starts yelling and shouting at you as a cashier and how mentally frustrating that can be.

Without further ado, this is not an ideal working atmosphere for someone dealing with anxiety. Definitely, it is one of the worst jobs for people with anxiety.

Conclusion

Being someone with anxiety, you should avoid these jobs and others which put you in the spotlight.

Instead, go for something where the stress levels are really low, and which doesn’t tend to be overwhelming such as:

• Gardening,
• Being an animal caretaker,
• Data entry clerk
• .. amongst so many other options.