What is anxiety?

The word anxiety come from the Latin word anxious, meaning a condition of agitation and distress.  The term has been in use since the 1500’s.  You can better understand the nature of anxiety by looking both at what it is and what it is not.  For example, anxiety can be distinguished from fear in several ways.  When you are afraid, your fear is usually directed toward some concrete, external object or situation.  The event that you fear usually is within the bounds of possibility.  You might fear not meeting a deadline, failing an exam, being unable to pay your bills, or being rejected by someone you want to please.

When you experience anxiety, on the other hand, you often can’t specify what it is you’re anxious about.  The focus of anxiety is more internal that external.  It seems to be a response to a vague, distant, or even unrecognized danger.  You might be anxious about “something  bad happening.”