Why a Type-A personality paves the path for success—but also for anxiety

It’s easy to name the triggers—trauma, excess caffeine, sleepless nights. But it’s harder to admit how much anxiety begins with a restless mind, a need for perfection, a fear of pause. That link isn’t coincidental. A PubMed Central study reveals that personality traits and mental health share a bidirectional relationship, meaning both have an equivalent effect on each other. In fact, nearly a quarter of the overall risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety can be traced back to certain personality patterns. One of the most common culprits? Type-A personality.

Clinical psychologist Prerna Kohli explains, “When I think of a Type-A personality, I picture someone who’s always switched on. They’re driven, organised, and thrive on structure.” Therapist Anandita Vaghani, founder of Unfix Your Feelings, describes Type-A personality as a behavioural style marked by restlessness, impatience, and a need for control or achievement. On the surface, a Type-A personality sounds synonymous with ambition and success; underneath, it’s often toxic productivity in disguise. 

What is a Type-A personality?

In childhood, a Type-A personality can appear as competitive in school, obsessing over grades or filling every free moment with extracurricular activities. Eventually, that sense of unstoppability, unrest, competitiveness, and tenaciousness becomes your personality, a.k.a Type-A personality. As adults, it manifests as constant urgency and ambition—a sense of “not doing enough.”

Actor and founder of So+, Ananya Panday, identifies with certain Type-A personality traits: “I’ve always had very high standards for myself and the people I work with. I like things done with excellence; I plan everything, move quickly, and hate wasting time.” She further states, “That’s why I can get restless if something isn’t going as planned. Similarly, while I do like being organised, I’m always thinking about what’s next, which makes me struggle with being present in the moment at times.”

Interestingly, the concept of Type-A personality can be traced back to medicine, not psychology, apprises Vaghani. “It came from cardiologists who noticed that certain highly driven, impatient, and competitive people seemed more prone to heart disease. What they were really observing was a pattern of constant internal urgency—people who moved fast, thought fast, and often felt like there was never quite enough time., They thrive on structure and productivity, but struggle to relax or slow down without guilt.”

“TYPE-AS ARE DEPENDABLE, GOAL-DRIVEN, AND INCREDIBLY PRODUCTIVE. BUT THEY DON’T KNOW WHEN TO STOP. REST FEELS LIKE GUILT” — Prerna Kohli

Kohli adds, “They’re perfectionists at heart, and while that helps them achieve a lot, it also makes them restless. Even relaxation becomes a task—think ‘I must meditate for 15 minutes today’. Underneath that drive, there’s often a quiet fear of losing control or falling behind.”

Why a Type-A personality is a double-edged sword

On paper, Type-A personality seems like the ideal prototype of a successful individual. But as pop culture reminds us—the characters of Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara(2012), Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor) in Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013), and Shruti (Anushka Sharma) from Band Baaja Baarat(2010)—ambition can easily tip into burnout. 

There’s a lot to admire about Type-A people, cites Kohli. “They’re dependable, goal-driven, and incredibly productive. You’ll often find them in leadership roles because they don’t wait for others to take charge. But the downside is that they don’t know when to stop. Rest feels like guilt to them.”  Vaghani adds, “I’ve seen how a Type-A person can go from thriving to being overwhelmed in the span of a few months, not because anything went wrong, but because their nervous system simply never rests.”

Over time, this leads to anxiety, burnout, and other health complications. As Panday puts it, “That constant pressure to improve is really motivating, but can also be overwhelming.” Entrepreneur Hanna Strömgren Khan, founder of Bozzil Group, agrees, “It’s key to separate productive pressure from destructive anxiety. There was a phase where I was trying to treat my anxiety by going to therapy and trying to find solutions to get rid of it. Over time, I’ve realised that my anxiety pushes me to do better too. Now, I’m not trying to get rid of it; I’m trying to make sense of it and keep it in check and never let it take over.”

Understanding the link between Type-A personality and anxiety

It’s easy to see why a Type-A personality often coexists with anxiety. As Vagahani notes, “They come into therapy not because they’ve failed at something, but because their success has stopped feeling satisfying enough. They’ll usually say things like, ‘I should be happy, I have everything lined up,’ but internally feel restless, anxious, or empty.”

I’VE SEEN HOW A TYPE-A PERSON CAN GO FROM THRIVING TO BEING OVERWHELMED IN THE SPAN OF A FEW MONTHS, NOT BECAUSE ANYTHING WENT WRONG, BUT BECAUSE THEIR NERVOUS SYSTEM SIMPLY NEVER RESTS” –– Anandita Vaghani

Psychologist Sanam Devidasani points out how hustle culture normalises this pattern. “From a relational lens, this often develops in environments where love or validation felt conditional—where being good enough was tied to achievement or productivity.” This mindset can make someone more vulnerable to anxiety, stress, and mood fluctuations. “The inner dialogue tends to be fast-paced and critical. When this dialogue runs the show for too long, the body and mind start to show signs of strain—sleeplessness, irritability, restlessness, even burnout. The anxiety isn’t random; it’s often the cost of trying to outrun one’s own sense of inadequacy.”

Panday recalls moments when her Type-A traits led to mental exhaustion. “During one of my shots, I was so fixated on trying to be perfect that I ended up exhausting myself mentally. In the bargain, I wasn’t able to enjoy the process because I was overthinking every tiny detail.” Others, like Sarah Sham, founder and managing director of Essajees Atelier, and content creator Naina Bhan, share how being highly driven sometimes means blurring the lines between work and life. “I just feel overwhelmed or fall sick and then need some days off to recharge,” says Sham.

For Bhan, who identifies as a Type-B personality with extreme Type-A traits, anxiety is a commonplace struggle. “Being driven does come with anxiety. Especially for someone in a field like mine, where once you break a glass ceiling, you don’t know what else to plot in the future to work backwards from.” 

“DURING ONE OF MY SHOTS, I WAS SO FIXATED ON TRYING TO BE PERFECT THAT I ENDED UP EXHAUSTING MYSELF MENTALLY” –– Ananya Panday

Bhan also throws light on how a Type-A personality oftentimes translates into blurry lines between professional and personal lives, further fanning the flames of pre-existing anxiety. “Being constantly on the move means endless fatigue, which takes a toll on your social battery. If you’re overly obsessed with career and success, family planning may also take a backseat.”

Relationships tend to suffer too. Vaghani explains, “They expect efficiency, even in love. They may get impatient when others move more slowly or don’t think like them. Sometimes they even try to ‘fix’ people instead of just listening. It’s not that they don’t care—they do—but they show love through action, not always through emotion. And that can make their partners feel unseen or pressured.” Relationships aren’t projects, adds Kohli. “You can’t schedule affection or optimise intimacy.”

The Type-A personality behaviour, once rewarded at work, can backfire emotionally. Through adverse effects on one’s emotional, mental, and physical well-being, as well as relationships, research also corroborates that a Type-A personality can not only trigger but also exacerbate anxiety.  

Type-A personality versus high-functioning anxiety

Before tackling Type-A personality-induced anxiety, it’s important to determine the pattern itself. It often mirrors high-functioning anxiety, though the emotional wiring underneath is different. “A Type-A pattern is more about identity,” says Devidasani. “‘This is who I am, I perform, I achieve’. It’s often celebrated and reinforced by society,” explains the expert. “High-functioning anxiety or depression, on the other hand, is more about how someone feels inside while maintaining that façade. A person might appear successful, sociable, and composed, but internally they may be exhausted, self-critical, and disconnected from any real sense of joy or fulfillment.”

“They’re wired to anticipate, plan, and move toward the next goal before fully experiencing the one they just achieved,” says Vaghani. “Even moments of accomplishment are brief, because satisfaction fades fast and the brain starts scanning for what’s next. When there’s no crisis to solve or goal to chase, their anxiety rises. Doing becomes their way of calming down; it’s how they regulate stress.” 

While this behaviour stems from motivation, high-functioning anxiety comes from tension. “In the latter, it can get trickier. Many individuals keep performing at high levels even when they feel emotionally flat, disconnected, or joyless inside. They’re still showing up, but not feeling much. From the outside, it looks like discipline; inside, it’s often depleting. So, while Type-A personality describes a style of being, high-functioning anxiety describes a state of suffering within that style.”

Coping with a Type-A personality

The first step is recognising the drawbacks of the Type-A personality worn like a golden badge. Without identifying its red flags, it continues to feed cycles of anxiety and fatigue. 

“It helps to recognise that slowing down isn’t a threat to your success, it’s a way of expanding your capacity to experience life,” says Devidasani. “Many Type-A individuals fear that rest means losing their edge or becoming complacent. But balance doesn’t mean you stop being ambitious; it means you learn to relate differently to your ambition.” Giving up on the negatives of your Type-A personality won’t result in irrelevance or inadequacy. 

You don’t need a complete personality makeover, adds Kohli, you just learn to pause. “Schedule breaks, and don’t fill them with more goals. Try mindfulness or yoga, not because it’s trendy, but because it forces you to pause for a while. Learn to delegate. Say no. Accept that some things will be imperfect, and that’s okay. Therapy really helps uncover the fear behind the busyness—usually, it’s a fear of not being good enough. And maybe the hardest lesson of all: understand that balance doesn’t come naturally. You have to practise it.”

For Panday, journalling helps silence the noise. Sham, meanwhile, turns to gratitude. Strömgren Khan finds grounding in spending time with her daughter and in exercise. Bhan admits she’s still figuring out the best ways to cope with her anxiety—having a schedule, working out, taking time off frequently, travelling, and sometimes, playing a video game on her mobile phone helps.

Anxiety doesn’t always arrive as panic; sometimes it hides in productivity, in the need to keep moving. The irony of the Type-A personality is that the same drive that builds success also erodes calm. Ambition isn’t the problem—only the pace at which it’s pursued is.