Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic,

emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an
unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, fear, or worry.
Anxiety is a generalized mood condition that occurs without an identifiable triggering
stimulus. As such, it is distinguished from fear, which occurs in the presence of an
observed threat. Additionally, fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and
avoidance, whereas anxiety is the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable
or unavoidable.
Another view is that anxiety is "a future-oriented mood state in which one is ready or
prepared to attempt to cope with upcoming negative events” suggesting that it is a
distinction between future vs. present dangers that divides anxiety and fear.
Anxiety is considered to be a normal reaction to stress. It may help a person to deal with
a difficult situation, for example at work or at school, by prompting one to cope with it.
When anxiety becomes excessive, it may fall under the classification of an anxiety
disorder.

Symptoms
Anxiety can be accompanied by physical effects such as heart palpitations, fatigue,
nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, or headaches. Physically, the body
prepares the organism to deal with a threat. Blood pressure and heart rate are increased,
sweating is increased, bloodflow to the major muscle groups is increased, and immune
and digestive system functions are inhibited (the fight or flight response). External signs
of anxiety may include pale skin, sweating, trembling, and pupillary dilation. Someone
suffering from anxiety might also experience it as a sense of dread or panic.
Although panic attacks are not experienced by every anxiety sufferer, they are a common
symptom. Panic attacks usually come without warning, and although the fear is generally
irrational, the perception of danger is very real. A person experiencing a panic attack will
often feel as if he or she is about to die or pass out. Panic attacks may be confused with
heart attacks.
Anxiety does not only consist of physical symptoms. There are many emotional
symptoms involved as well. Some of them include: "Feelings of apprehension or dread,
trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst, irritability,
restlessness, watching (and waiting) for signs (and occurrences) or danger, and, feeling
like your mind's gone blank." There's also, "nightmares/bad dreams, obsessions about
sensations, deja vu, a trapped in your mind feeling, and feeling like everything is scary."
One of the most common symptoms of anxiety is fear, which includes the fear of dying.
"You may...fear that the chest pains [a physical symptom of anxiety] are a deadly heart
attack or that the shooting pains in your head [another physical symptom of anxiety] are
the result of a tumor or aneurysm. You feel an intense fear when you think of dying, or
you may think of it more often than normal, or can’t get it out of your mind."

Biological basis
Neural circuitry involving the amygdala and hippocampus is thought to underlie anxiety.
When confronted with unpleasant and potentially harmful stimuli such as foul odors or
tastes, PET-scans show increased bloodflow in the amygdala. In these studies, the
participants also reported moderate anxiety. This might indicate that anxiety is a
protective mechanism designed to prevent the organism from engaging in potentially
harmful behaviors.
Research upon adolescents that were as infants highly apprehensive, vigilant, and fearful
finds that their nucleus accumbens is more sensitive than that in other people when they
selected to make an action that determined whether they received a reward. This suggests
a link between circuits responsible for fear and also reward in anxious people. As
researchers note "a sense of ‘‘responsibility,’’ or self agency, in a context of uncertainty
(probabilistic outcomes) drives the neural system underlying appetitive motivation (i.e.,
nucleus accumbens) more strongly in temperamentally inhibited than noninhibited
adolescents."
Although single genes have little effect on complex traits and interact heavily both
between themselves and with the external factors, research is underway to unravel
possible molecular mechanisms underlying anxiety and comorbid conditions. One

Varieties
Existential anxiety
Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, in The Concept of Anxiety, described anxiety or dread
associated with the "dizziness of freedom" and suggested the possibility for positive
resolution of anxiety through the self-conscious exercise of responsibility and choosing.
Theologian Paul Tillich characterized existential anxiety as "the state in which a being is
aware of its possible nonbeing" and he listed three categories for the nonbeing and
resulting anxiety: ontic (fate and death), moral (guilt and condemnation), and spiritual
(emptiness and meaninglessness). According to Tillich, the last of these three types of
existential anxiety, i.e. spiritual anxiety, is predominant in modern times while the others
were predominant in earlier periods. Tillich argues that this anxiety can be accepted as
part of the human condition or it can be resisted but with negative consequences. In its
pathological form, spiritual anxiety may tend to "drive the person toward the creation of
certitude in systems of meaning which are supported by tradition and authority" even
though such "undoubted certitude is not built on the rock of reality".
According to Viktor Frankl, author of Man's Search for Meaning, when faced with
extreme mortal dangers the most basic of all human wishes is to find a meaning of life to
combat the "trauma of nonbeing" as death is near.

Test anxiety
Test anxiety is the uneasiness, apprehension, or nervousness felt by students who have a
fear of failing an exam. Students suffering from test anxiety may experience any of the
following: the association of grades with personal worth, fear of embarrassment by a
teacher, fear of alienation from parents or friends, time pressures, or feeling a loss of
control. Sweating, dizziness, headaches, racing heartbeats, nausea, fidgeting, and
drumming on a desk are all common. An optimal level of arousal is necessary to best
complete a task such as an exam; however, when the anxiety or level of arousal exceeds
that optimum, it results in a decline in performance. Because test anxiety hinges on fear
of negative evaluation, debate exists as to whether test anxiety is itself a unique anxiety
disorder or whether it is a specific type of social phobia. In 2006, approximately 49% of
high school students were reportedly experiencing this condition. While the term "test
anxiety" refers specifically to students, many adults share the same experience with
regard to their career or profession. The fear of failing a task and being negatively
evaluated for it can have a similarly negative effect on the adult.

Stranger and social anxiety

Anxiety when meeting or interacting with unknown people is a common stage of
development in young people. For others, it may persist into adulthood and become
social anxiety or social phobia. "Stranger anxiety" in small children is not a phobia.
Rather it is a developmentally appropriate fear by toddlers and preschool children of
those who are not parents or family members. In adults, an excessive fear of other people
is not a developmentally common stage; it is called social anxiety.

State-Trait anxiety
Anxiety can be either a short term "state" or a long term "trait." Trait anxiety reflects a
stable tendency to respond with state anxiety in the anticipation of threatening situations.
It is closely related to the personality trait of neuroticism. State anxiety reflects a
"transitory emotional state or condition of the human organism that is characterized by
subjective, consciously perceived feelings of tension and apprehension, and heightened
autonomic nervous system activity."
"Trait anxiety denotes relatively stable individual differences in anxiety proneness and
refers to a general tendency to respond with anxiety to perceived threats in the
environment."
It means that 'state' anxiety is the anxiety state we experience when something causes us
to feel appropriately and temporarily anxious and this anxiety then retreats until we feel
'normal' again.
Trait anxiety is the 'preset' level of anxiety experienced by an individual who has a
tendency to be more anxious; to react less appropriately to anxiety provoking stimuli.
So, state anxiety is what we experience when a dog runs out in front of the car; an intense
anxiety reaction that produces a number of strong anxiety symptoms associated with the
respiratory, digestive and circulatory systems.
After the 'threat' has subsided, the anxiety state retreats and we feel 'normal' again. This is
how most people feel most of the time.
Scientists developed the terms 'state anxiety' and 'trait anxiety' for scientists and are
consequently they are practically irrelevant to an anxiety sufferer.
As an anxiety disorder sufferer, all you need to know is that your anxiety is inappropriate
and impermanent; it can be reversed and erased completely regardless of whether you
feel you have any family, genetic or other predisposition to the condition.