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Anxiety. Anxiety is an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure. Anxiety is not the same as fear, but they are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threat, whereas fear is an appropriate ...
anxiety. n. an emotion characterized by apprehension and somatic symptoms of tension in which an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune. The body often mobilizes itself to meet the perceived threat: Muscles become tense, breathing is faster, and the heart beats more rapidly. Anxiety may be distinguished from fear ...
Anxiety disorders are among the most common of all mental health disorders, affecting an estimated 15% to 20% of people at some point in their life. Bunmi Olatunji, PhD, director of the Emotion and Anxiety Research Lab at Vanderbilt University, discusses the emotions that drive anxiety disorders, how to treat them effectively, and how people ...
A form of psychotherapy known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is highly effective at treating anxiety disorders. Through CBT, psychologists help patients learn to identify and manage the factors that contribute to their anxiety. Through the cognitive component of therapy, patients learn to understand how their thoughts contribute to their ...
For example, the operational definition of anxiety could be in terms of a test score, withdrawal from a situation, or activation of the sympathetic nervous system. The process of creating an operational definition is known as operationalization .
People under stress experience mental and physical symptoms, such as irritability, anger, fatigue, muscle pain, digestive troubles, and difficulty sleeping. Anxiety, on the other hand, is defined by persistent, excessive worries that don’t go away even in the absence of a stressor. Anxiety leads to a nearly identical set of symptoms as stress ...
The Encyclopedia of Psychology serves a remarkable variety of readers: students and their teachers in every area of psychology as well as in such related fields as sociology, social work, nursing, and allied health; researchers in the cognitive sciences and neurosciences; and clinicians and other mental health and human service professionals.
fear of social situations in which embarrassment may occur (e.g., making conversation, meeting strangers, dating) or there is a risk of being negatively evaluated by others (e.g., seen as stupid, weak, or anxious).
Mental health. Mental health is a state of mind characterized by emotional well-being, good behavioral adjustment, relative freedom from anxiety and disabling symptoms, and a capacity to establish constructive relationships and cope with the ordinary demands and stresses of life. Adapted from APA Dictionary of Psychology.
Stranger anxiety is a normal part of cognitive development: Babies differentiate caregivers from other people and display a strong preference for familiar faces. Stranger anxiety usually begins around 8 or 9 months of age and typically lasts into the 2nd year. Also called fear of strangers. See also separation anxiety; xenophobia.