Anxiety
Anxiety is a physiological and psychological state characterized by cognitive, somatic,
emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to
create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, apprehension,
or worry occurring without an identifiable triggering stimulus. As such, it is
distinguished from fear, which occurs in the presence of an external threat. Additionally,
fear is related to the specific behaviors of escape and avoidance, whereas anxiety results
in either a handicapping sense of dread or irrational bizarre behaviors often referred to
as OCD's.
Symptoms
Anxiety can be accompanied by physical effects such as heart palpitations, 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 attack.
References
- ^ Seligman, M.E.P., Walker, E.F.
& Rosenhan, D.L. (2001). Abnormal psychology, (4th ed.) New York: W.W. Norton
& Company, Inc.
- ^ Ohman, A. (2000). Fear and anxiety:
Evolutionary, cognitive, and clinical perspectives. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones
(Eds.). Handbook of emotions. (pp.573-593). New York: The Guilford Press.
- ^ National Institute of Mental Health
Retrieved September 3, 2008.
- ^ Rosen JB, Schulkin J
(1998). "From normal fear to pathological anxiety". Psychol Rev 105
(2): 325?0. PMID 9577241.
- ^ Zald, D.H.; Pardo, J.V.
(1997). "Emotion, olfaction, and the human amygdala: amygdala activation during
aversive olfactory stimulation". Proc Nat'l Acad Sci (USA) 94 (8):
4119?4. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.8.4119. PMID 9108115.
- ^ Zald, D.H.;
Hagen, M.C. & the anxiety cure Pardo, J.V. (2002). "Neural correlates of tasting
concentrated quinine and sugar solutions". J. Neurophysiol 87 (2):
1068?5. PMID 11826070.
http://jn.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/87/2/1068.
- ^ Tillich, Paul, (1952). The
Courage To Be, New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-08471-4
- ^ Schwarzer, R. (December 1997).
"Anxiety". Retrieved on 2008-01-12.
