Anxiety in modern society: definition, meaning and influence of this phenomenon on people’s behavior

Definition in psychology

Anxiety in psychology is an emotional response that occurs in a subject in situations that he perceives or interprets as threatening or dangerous, although often in reality they cannot be assessed as such.

Important! The main difference between normal and pathological anxiety is that the latter is based on an unrealistic or distorted assessment of the threat. When anxiety is very strong and acute, it can paralyze a person, turning into panic.

From the definition of pathological anxiety it follows that this method of response is maladaptive and harmful to the individual, since anxiety always manifests itself excessively.

Anxiety in psychology is currently considered a common mental disorder, since it covers a number of clinical pictures that have as a common feature a pathological nature, manifested in numerous dysfunctions and inconsistencies at the cognitive, behavioral and psychophysiological level.

Pathological anxiety

Content

• Anxiety: Varieties. Introspection
• Signs of situational anxiety
• Detect the source of the alarm
• Advice from psychologists on combating anxiety

I am glad to welcome everyone to my blog! Let's be clear... How often do you experience anxiety? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by an overwhelming feeling of helplessness and confusion? You are afraid, you cannot make a decision, and the situation you find yourself in seems simply hopeless. In psychology, there is a concept - situational anxiety - this is increased, painful anxiety that arises along with the problem that has arisen. Is it worth fighting this phenomenon? Of course, today I will talk about how it manifests itself and methods of healing.

Causes of anxiety

Determination - what is it in psychology

The causes of anxiety in each case are individual and, as a rule, are a combination of external factors and characteristics of a particular organism. All possible causes of anxiety can be divided into several groups:

1. Genetic – Anxiety can be inherited through genes. Even if a person has not genetically inherited high anxiety, it can arise under certain conditions;
2. Circumstances – Traumatic events such as a car accident, assault or fire can cause anxiety. In these cases, the feeling of anxiety will either be relatively short-lived and disappear with the end of the event, or remain for months and years. This is what is known as post-traumatic stress disorder;
3. Use of alcohol or drugs. Amphetamines, ecstasy and LSD are drugs that can cause anxiety. Caffeine and theine can also trigger it in some people;
4. Life events. Changes in life, such as pregnancy, dismissal, promotion, can become causes of anxiety.

For some people, anxiety may be related to an underlying health problem. Some medical causes of anxiety:

• heart diseases;
• diabetes;
• problems with the thyroid gland;
• breathing problems (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma);
• avoidance of alcohol, sleeping pills or other medications;
• unusual tumors that produce hormones.

Anxiety and worry

Are you often overcome by feelings of restlessness and anxiety? Don't worry about it, that's how it should be. Anxiety and worry are an integral component of the human psyche - a living, healthy, normal person, capable of adequately responding to changes in the outside world and/or in his own body. A psychologically healthy person must necessarily worry, worry, be afraid, worry, worry, and also experience other negative and positive feelings in order to live a full life. But he must experience them in moderation, I emphasize, in moderation, with full, or at least partial awareness of one or another of his feelings. Actually, if people adhered to this measure and knew how to consciously manage their feelings, then they would not have any problems with any negative feelings. But many people, unfortunately, do not know how to do this. However, it is never too late to learn this, for example, with the help of this article.

So in these very feelings there is anxiety and anxiety, I don’t see any problems, because there aren’t any, rather, on the contrary, I see in them an excellent opportunity for you to change your life for the better and become stronger. We will only need to figure out with you what is bothering you there and why, because if something is bothering you, it means that you definitely need to do something. You must understand what information the feelings you experience contain and what you need to do with this information, how to react to it. Otherwise, you will constantly worry and worry, and this will cause you some discomfort. However, you need discomfort, we all need discomfort like air, and we also need problems - we need them. It is only important to learn to competently and adequately perceive any problems and discomfort so as not to go crazy because of them. So, friends, in this article we will take a philosophical approach to the problem discussed in it and will definitely turn it into an opportunity for you. Read this article to the end, and only then draw your own conclusions about the correctness or incorrectness of my reasoning and the conclusions that I made thanks to my rich experience working with people.

Friends, I’ll tell you right away so that you don’t lose interest in this material, that I won’t retell any books to you here. I will not, like a parrot, retell to you the methods of overcoming anxiety, which were written about, for example, by the same Dale Carnegie and other famous people who worked with this problem. Let us, with all due respect to them, leave them and their work alone, and trust our own observations and reasoning to deal with the feeling of restlessness and anxiety once and for all on our own. Therefore, rest assured that this article, unique in its kind, I worked on it mainly with my own head. And I think that we should all learn this - to work with our own heads so that we have fewer problems in life. So, as for the feeling of anxiety and restlessness, we must, with our own minds, come to an understanding of what it is and what its purpose is. As soon as you and I understand what we are dealing with and why something worries and bothers us, we will immediately put things in order in our head and in our soul. Well, to be more precise, you will, since I have already dealt with this issue.

Let's first understand what anxiety is and what worry is. Anxiety is a signal of impending danger, or a state of such danger. Anxiety is our inner, mental experience about what has already happened or about what is about to happen. In general, if you don’t go into details, then anxiety and worry are vague, vague fears about future or past events. Anxiety warns us against negative events in the future, and anxiety draws our attention to both the future and the past, to the negative, from our point of view, past. Thus, you and I can conclude that when something disturbs and worries us, it is a signal informing us of some real or imaginary danger to which we must respond. The discomfort that we experience when something disturbs and worries us is precisely what is necessary for us to respond to this or that threat, to this or that change in the outside world or in our body. We need to adapt to various changes in order to survive, or, if we have enough opportunity and will, we must adapt something and/or someone to suit us. And in order for us to do this, we need discomfort. In other words, anxiety and worry are information, useful, vital information, which, according to nature, God, is designed to help us survive.

And we should under no circumstances ignore this information. We must analyze it, we must study it, research it in order to understand where this information comes from and what it prompts us to do. Without a complete understanding of our feelings, we will not be able to take control of them and will not be able to use them as a tool for understanding the external and internal world. So keep in mind, friends, that if you yourself do not learn to control your feelings, then they will be controlled for you by other people who, rest assured, will use your feelings in the way they need, and not you. It is quite possible that if something is currently bothering you and worrying you, these feelings of yours are false, and in fact, you have nothing to worry about, because nothing threatens you. After all, it is not always that we should worry about what we are unconsciously worried about, and it does not always make sense to constantly worry, living in constant fear because of our worries. But in order to know for sure whether we should or should not worry about something, we must study our anxiety, we must look for the answer to the question of why something bothers us? Is it difficult to do? Well, what can I tell you - some people find it easy to do this, while others find it difficult, so they turn to psychologists for help. But I will repeat once again that you can learn anything, including the ability to understand yourself and your feelings.

In the modern world, which is quite dynamic, stressful, overloaded with information and far from friendly towards humans, there are plenty of reasons for alarm and concern. The mere fatigue of the body, which has been subjected to excessive mental, emotional or physical stress, can cause a person to feel anxious and uneasy. Because overloading the body leads to stress, which tells our brain that not everything is in order in our lives, which means there is reason to worry. Do not forget that our physical body does not like either mental or physical excessive stress, because it wears out because of them. We bring our death closer, or rather the death of our physical body, when we overload ourselves with something, but our body does not want to die. That is why it alarms our brain with alarm signals, letting us know that we should not overexploit ourselves, that we need rest. How much does a modern person today have to work, what kind of stress is he exposed to, how much information does he receive every day that occupies all his attention? That's it. And it doesn’t matter that many modern people’s work is mental, not physical, mental work overloads a person even more, it’s not for nothing that one of the famous people said that mental work is the hardest, which is why so few people do it. So, as you can see, many of us today lead a lifestyle in which it is simply impossible not to worry or worry about anything. Decide for yourself what to do with this, whether you continue to participate in the general madness, in the struggle for a piece of bread, or still try to find a different way of existing in this turbulent world. I can only suggest that you change your life, but I will not insist on anything, because your life is your life.

Now let's turn our attention to the information that bombards our brains every day. A lot really depends on her. I would call the information that we receive today from a variety of sources the root of all evil. Moreover, each of us reacts differently to the same information, some are worried about the economic situation in the country and the world, while others do not care at all, some are afraid of war, and for others, war is their mother. Consequently, from the same information, some people benefit and others receive harm. What does it mean? This means, friends, that just as you monitor what your stomach consumes, you should also monitor what information your brain consumes. Understand the main thing that a restless and anxious state prompts a person to commit a certain action or inaction, which can be beneficial or unprofitable for both himself and another person. A simple example is advertising. Doesn't it make you worry about things you didn't worry about before, and doesn't your worry make you buy this or that advertised product that you don't really need? Advertising, at a minimum, deposits the information it needs in your subconscious, and at maximum, it zombifies you by influencing our instincts, which in turn cause certain feelings in you, including a feeling of anxiety and a feeling of restlessness. And feelings prompt a person to certain actions, to actions that someone needs. Therefore, you definitely need to know what information affects you and how it affects you.

I am absolutely sure that in most cases, feelings of anxiety and restlessness arise in people out of the blue, for no apparent reason. And if you are worried for no apparent reason, it means that someone is causing these feelings in you with the help of certain information that you perceive unconsciously and react to it just as unconsciously. Because of this information, a chain is instantly triggered in you: stimulus (real or imaginary threat) – reaction (worry, anxiety, fear, panic). To put it simply, someone may deliberately frighten you in order to manipulate you in this way. This is not uncommon nowadays. Are there real threats in this world that you should worry about? Of course they exist, they always have been and will be. But it’s not about them, because you will never protect yourself from all threats, so it simply doesn’t make sense to react to all the warning signs and worry about everything that may threaten you. The point, friends, is in your readiness to withstand any threat, any changes that you should have, for which you need to be a confident person and be able to analyze any information that comes to you in order to control your feelings that it causes. We live in a world in which, no matter how much we want, we cannot know exactly what will happen tomorrow and whether there will be a tomorrow itself. We can only guess, plan, calculate and hope, but not know. Therefore, you should treat all your fears critically, you must be able to correctly classify them. Look at the world more broadly and then all those little things that you currently don’t consider little things, and therefore they worry and disturb you, will cease to be a problem for you. If you understand how to solve a particular problem and whether it needs to be solved at all, it will cease to be a problem for you. Do you agree with me?

And yet, it would be irresponsible of me to say that anxiety and worry are easy to overcome on your own, and that anyone can do it. Yes, anyone can cope with anxiety and worry, but not always on their own. First of all, he cannot do this because of emotions that turn off the constructive thinking necessary to solve any problems. In addition, you and I, in principle, are not able to solve all our problems, especially of a psychological nature, on our own. Not every person is able to critically evaluate the information he receives from the outside world, as well as from the inner world, and he is not always able to competently analyze this information himself, without outside help, in order to understand it. After all, for this he needs to have not only the necessary knowledge and methodology, but also be in a calm state in which he can think. Well, this is natural, if we knew how to do everything for ourselves, then we would no longer have any need for each other, and man would cease to be a social being, with all the ensuing consequences. Now it is absolutely obvious that our strength lies in unity and mutual assistance, and if we need help, then, thank God, we can get it from other people. Sometimes we cannot do without this help. So if you are experiencing anxiety and restlessness, worry and fear, then seek help from a psychologist. He or she will definitely cope with this problem.

As for the treatment of emotional disorders accompanied by increased levels of anxiety and restlessness with the help of medications, I personally am categorically against this method of treatment. The fact is that if you calm yourself down with the help of drugs, then you will completely lose control over your emotional state and become dependent on these drugs, you will see your salvation only in them. But this is not a solution. In my opinion, this is an even bigger dead end. Often in medical practice there are cases of relapse, this is when anxiety returns, at the same time, changing its appearance. So, do you know in what form anxiety can come back to you? It may return in the form of obsessive fears or depression, as well as panic attacks. And this is much more serious.

Therefore, friends, firstly, do not neglect your psychological health, and secondly, do not poison your body with all sorts of chemicals - treat your emotional disorders and get rid of feelings of restlessness and anxiety, or with the help of their independent analysis, find the necessary for this in yourself willpower, or with the help of psychologists. And then everything will be fine with you. Living in fear is not life, but sheer torment. Make yourself happy and free from fear!

Types of anxiety

In psychology, anxiety is classified by type. They are determined by factors that generate anxiety.

Personality anxiety

Victimization - what is it in psychology

Mainly, a person’s character traits and genetics determine what personal anxiety is. It is caused by individual emotions, which are generated by the expectation of negative consequences of various events, fear of failure, and sometimes threats that do not exist in reality.

Personal anxiety is not a separate character trait; it only influences the formation of such traits as:

• desire not to take responsibility;
• fear of competition;
• the desire to protect oneself from failure.

Important! Personal anxiety gives rise to a whole complex of negative manifestations and negatively affects the development of the individual.

Basal anxiety is closely related to the concept of personal anxiety. Its formation occurs in childhood and is associated both with the psychological characteristics of the child and the conditions of upbringing. Manifestations of this type of disorder include feelings of a hostile environment, loneliness and helplessness.

Situational (reactive) anxiety

Situational anxiety is a feeling that occurs in response to emotional stress. In turn, stress is provoked by various events: exams at school or another educational institution, for boys - communication with girls, some people feel tension before telephone conversations, fear of flying, etc.

With reactive anxiety, individuals may experience anxiety only in the event of a specific situation; during other typical events that can provoke emotional stress, they are absolutely calm.

Important! Situational anxiety occurs as an initial reaction. Then, if the appropriate conditions arise, it becomes personal.

The types of anxiety in psychology include:

1. Generalized anxiety disorder. This is chronic tension that continues for weeks and months, even in the absence of provoking factors, or the causes of anxiety change freely;
2. Specific anxiety associated with one of the areas of occurrence: interpersonal, school, self-esteem, etc.

School anxiety

Types of anxiety states

There are 2 types of anxiety:

1. Personal (LT) or active (AT).
2. Situational (ST) or reactive (RT).

The concept of normal anxiety (NT) is also distinguished. This is a person's stress level based on experience. The NT mechanism is aimed at timely mobilization of body systems in the event of the onset of unfavorable conditions. NT is considered a natural trait that is common to all mentally healthy people.

A reaction that goes beyond the norm is expressed in the disorganizational impact on the personality of potential unfavorable developments. A person becomes helpless, unsure of his abilities, his behavior loses its semantic purpose, and his activity decreases.

The level of anxiety depends on the following factors:

• individual psychological characteristics;
• predisposition of the psyche to experiences;
• previous experience;
• features of the cultural and social environment.

The terms active and reactive anxiety are used in psychology to determine the degree of involvement of an individual in ongoing events. RT provides a characteristic of reactivity, i.e., it allows one to assess the involvement and immersion of personality traits in ongoing internal and external processes.

AT allows you to assess the activity of an individual in the formation of character traits. This is one of the signs of the type of temperament (sanguine, melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric).

Symptoms of anxiety

Personality development - what is it in psychology

When diagnosing disorders, it is determined which signs and symptoms characterize a person’s anxious state:

• feeling nervous, excited, or tense;
• a feeling of imminent danger, panic, or disaster;
• cardiopalmus;
• rapid breathing (hyperventilation);
• sweating;
• tremor;
• feeling weak or tired;
• problems concentrating, inability to think about anything other than the current problem;
• sleep disorders;
• gastrointestinal disorders;
• anxiety is uncontrollable;
• the desire to avoid situations that cause anxiety.

Important! To assess whether a particular patient suffers from high anxiety, it is advisable to rule out the presence of a systemic disorder.

To do this, the following aspects are taken into account:

1. Physical symptoms;
2. Previous medical history of the patient and his family;
3. Possible presence of an illness causing an anxiety disorder;
4. The influence of caffeine, drugs, alcohol.

Symptoms of Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders (ADs) represent many different diagnoses, but their common symptoms usually include:

• anxiety and feeling “on edge”
• uncontrollable feeling of anxiety
• increased irritability
• difficulty concentrating
• sleep problems (insomnia, restless sleep)

Experiencing many of these symptoms may be normal in everyday life, but people with TD may experience them all the time or very severely. An anxiety disorder can manifest as mild anxiety or more severe worry that disrupts normal life.

How to get rid of anxiety

Severe anxiety disorders can only be treated by a specialist. If there are signs of anxiety that interfere with a full life, but do not threaten the mental and physical health of the individual, then several possible directions are recommended to get rid of their manifestations.

Medication therapy

Important! Medicines for the treatment of anxiety disorders cannot be self-prescribed and are not available without a prescription.

Various natural sedatives remain available for over-the-counter purchase and use, such as motherwort tincture or valerian-based products (tablets, drops, capsules, etc.).

Valerian tincture

Introspection

To do this, you need to use analytical judgments that arise when you deeply mentally immerse yourself in your problems and adequately understand them. This method requires maximum relaxation. It is widely used by psychotherapists; sometimes self-analysis will help ordinary people to achieve a correct assessment of the manifestations of anxiety (is it excessive?) and develop guidelines for overcoming it.

Changes in external circumstances

Anxiety does not always arise in connection with mental disorders. This can happen in a situation that leads to temporary stress on the human psyche. Then, to free yourself from inner anxiety, various relaxation techniques can help.

There is no universal recipe here - everyone relaxes differently. Some people benefit from breathing exercises, others from physical activity, and others from spending time with friends. In each case, it is necessary to change living conditions: pay more attention to rest, communicate, play sports, etc.

People experiencing anxiety due to mental illness should consult a specialist: a psychiatrist, psychologist or psychotherapist. Others just need to listen to themselves more: if there is internal anxiety, and there is a desire to fight it, you need to devote yourself to actions that reduce stress and allow you to relax.

Anxiety as an indicator of vitality

Anxiety of various levels and intensity is part of the everyday life of many. Of course, with the advent of the pandemic, these “many” have become even more numerous. But anxiety is not useless - for some it helps to avoid contact with the virus. “The presence of anxiety indicates that the self-preservation instinct is working,” says May. — Moderate experiences (not to the point of numbness) sharpen vigilance and create that very “tension necessary to consolidate the experience.” Anxiety makes us more attentive to potential threats, it also forces us to change behavior and form new habits: putting on a mask, carrying a sanitizer with us, traveling abroad less often and with greater caution, and so on.

Many claim that this difficult time has given them a positive sense of the experience they have shared together. Collective anxiety played a vital role in the process of unity, which in the future will help normalize the problem of anxiety in general.

“We finally began to take an interest in each other’s lives sincerely, and not out of politeness, as before,” explains Charlotte Fox Weber, head of psychotherapy at The School of Life, explains the significance of what happened. “Everyone had to admit that these are difficult times. But life in general rarely turns out the way we imagine it. Everyone has come to terms with uncertainty, with the fact that we can’t control everything, but it has made us appreciate human connections in a whole new way.”

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