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Anxiety is the subjective feeling of apprehension, dread, or foreboding ranging from excessive concern about the present or future to feelings of panic, accompanied by a variety of autonomic signs and symptoms, with or without a stressful situation. The focus of anticipated danger may be internal or external. The state of anxiety seems to place the defensive physiological mechanisms in a heightened state of preparedness, thereby facilitating and stimulating the fight-flight response only in case the threatening event occurs. Anxiety is often distinguished from fear in that fear is a more appropriate word to use when threat or danger exists in the real world. Anxiety is more reflective of a threat that is not apparent or imminent in the real world, at least not to an experienced degree.
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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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(2007). Anxiety. In: Schmidt, R., Willis, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_262
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_262
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43957-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-29805-2
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