Anxiety is something we may all experience.
- It may be in the form of a sudden and unexpected reaction.
- You can even have a reaction to old stress or previous traumatic experiences.
- It may arise in connection with an unfamiliar situation in which you do not feel safe and where you feel you have to transcend new barriers.
- The symptoms of anxiety may be a rapid heartbeat, dizziness, difficulties breathing, etc. as well as a general state of physical and psychological unease.
- Anxiety can also occur in connection with the fear of not being able to solve a certain task or the fear of not being able to live up to one’s own expectations.
- Anxiety has many faces. It can also occur in connection with important situations in which we need to perform. This is commonly known as situational anxiety.
Phobias
Anxiety can occur in connection with phobias linked to certain situations or certain objects, such as for instance riding in a car after having been involved in an accident, thunder, heights, snakes or reptiles.
In cases of phobias as reactions of fear you may experience extreme terror which can cause you to completely lose control of yourself.
Social phobias
may manifest themselves as fear of being talked about by others or accidently doing something that may become an object of other people’s conversation. It may also involve the fear of being belittled by others.
Agoraphobia
manifests itself in actions of avoidance – for instance by staying away from town squares filled with people. Some agoraphobics avoid large shopping malls or public transportation. In short, agoraphobics are afraid of being ’locked’ in a situation.
Panic disorder
forms part of several different phobias. Panic attacks manifest themselves through the experience of the thoughts, emotions and bodily reactions connected to the phobias. The attacks are likely to strike even if there is no real threat.
The difference between anxiety and fear is that fear is visible and concrete whereas anxiety is more invisible and form part of the way we think and the way we cope in our lives.
There is always hope – or light behind the darkness