Interesting topic. Personally have trouble differentiating between the physical sensations of anxiety and guilt; they both *feel* the same so it's often a logical process to understand what is the actual emotion accompanying those physical manifestations. Wondering if the word guilt might even be used wrong here. Thinking upset over failure in a personal self-control would probably be better emotionally classified as weakness or angst rather than guilt. Maybe people are saying they feel guilty without taking the time to think about what they're actually feeling.
Guilt and anxiety have an overlap, I am sure of that. But in cases of (mainly women) expressing guilt, it has to do with how they are responsible for what has been done. So the guilt factor is part of it.
Lunch time at work is amazing observation time, half of the (mainly) women is wallowing in guilt and worries, the other half is either laughing their arse off, or watching baffled, utterly amazed.
It is amusing most of the time, but when it gets to a massive crisis, it is not that funny.
Other observation, the having of this sense of guilt is not following the lines of spazz or non spazz people.
Know someone with the weirdest guilt thoughts. She's highly religious, and thinks after death everything will be awesome. She is so into forgiving that she thinks legal guilt should be forgiven almost always too. But, when she eats too much, her sensation of guilt gets completely over the top. There is no forgiving, there is no leniency, there should be punishment.
She also does have big anxiety and control issues. The overlap is there, but in case of guilt, she does react different than in the other cases.