## Definitions - American Psychological Association defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” Anxiety can be both a state and a trait. ([Location 708](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=708)) - Generalized anxiety disorder is different from both trait and state anxiety. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “generalized anxiety disorder is a condition of excessive worry about everyday issues and situations.”14 ([Location 722](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=722)) - Different definition: Anxiety is the view that your environment or context is a threat. ## Coping Mechanisms/ Symptoms - Our anxiety often leads to one of two coping mechanisms: worry or avoidance. Unfortunately, neither of these coping strategies is very effective. ([Location 735](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=735)) - Worrying and anxiety go together, but worry is not an emotion; it’s the thinking part of anxiety. Worry is described as a chain of negative thoughts about bad things that might happen in the future. ([Location 737](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=737)) - those of us with a tendency to worry believe it is helpful for coping (it is not), believe it is uncontrollable (which means we don’t try to stop worrying), and try to suppress worry thoughts (which actually strengthens and reinforces worry). ([Location 739](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=739)) - Avoidance, the second coping strategy for anxiety, is not showing up and often spending a lot of energy zigzagging around and away from that thing that already feels like it’s consuming us. ([Location 743](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=743)) - Dr. Harriet Lerner writes, “It is not fear that stops you from doing the brave and true thing in your daily life. Rather, the problem is avoidance. You want to feel comfortable, so you avoid doing or saying the thing that will evoke fear and other difficult emotions. Avoidance will make you feel less vulnerable in the short run, but it will never make you less afraid.” ([Location 745](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=745)) - Surely this has a link to [[Perfectionism]] too? ## Link to Excitement, Dread, and Fear ### Excitement: - excitement is described as an energized state of enthusiasm leading up to or during an enjoyable activity, it doesn’t always feel great.20 We can get the same “coming out of our skin” feeling that we experience when we’re feeling anxious. ([Location 752](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=752)) - try to determine whether we’re feeling anxiety or excitement. Researchers found that labeling the emotion as excitement seems to hinge on interpreting the bodily sensations as positive. ([Location 756](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=756)) ### Dread: - Dread occurs frequently in response to high-probability negative events; its magnitude increases as the dreaded event draws nearer. ([Location 758](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=758)) ### Fear: - Fear is a negative, short-lasting, high-alert emotion in response to a perceived threat, and, like anxiety, it can be measured as a state or trait. ([Location 766](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=766)) - we experience social pain and physical pain in the same part of our brains, and the potential exposure to either type of pain drives fear. ([Location 773](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=773)) - “Throughout evolutionary history, anxiety and fear have helped every species to be wary and to survive. ([Location 775](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B09DTJM18Q&location=775)) ## See also - [[Loneliness]] - [[Loneliness in Students]]