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Anaesthesia => Psychiatry => Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety, fearful anticipation of impending danger, the source of which is unknown or unrecognized.
The central feature of anxiety is intense mental discomfort, a feeling that one will not be able to master future events. The person tends to focus only on the present and on pursuing one task at a time. Physical symptoms include muscle tension, sweaty palms, upset stomach, shortness of breath, feelings of faintness, and a pounding heart.
Indeed, until the late 19th century extreme anxiety was routinely mistaken for cardiac or respiratory disorders. At that time Sigmund Freud identified anxiety neurosis as a distinct diagnosis. Freud believed that anxiety arose when a person's aggressive or sexual drives-which he believed were instinctual- made them behave unacceptably, and that the anxiety acted as a trigger for defensive action to repress or redirect these drives. When the unconscious defensive manoeuvres were unsuccessful, a neurotic anxiety reaction occurred.
Learning theorists see anxiety differently. Some believe that anxiety is learned when innate fears occur together with previously neutral objects or events; for example, an infant often startled by a loud noise while playing with a toy may become anxious just at the sight of the toy. Others stress the importance of imitative behaviour and the development of particular thought patterns.
Psychiatrists recognize several mental disorders in which anxiety is the main disturbance, including panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Panic attacks occur intermittently, whereas generalized anxiety is more chronic. In phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorders, fear is experienced when an individual tries to master other symptoms.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental disorders in the Western world and the most common in the United States, affecting at least 4 per cent of the population. Evidence suggests that such disorders occur in families. Drugs, psychotherapy, behaviour modification, and complementary medicine therapies such as relaxation training, alone or in combination, are used in treating anxiety.
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