preview

State Anxiety And Anxiety Disorders

Good Essays

Evaluation.
Since the 1980’s there has been a major increase in research on anxiety. Ever since, special clinics have been introduced in order to help deal with anxiety disorders. It is suggested that the growth in research is due to anxiety being regarded as one of the most prominent and pervasive emotions, causing distress and negatively affecting large numbers of people. As stated by Rachman (2004), anxiety is described as the experience of unpleasant feelings and the unsettling anticipation of a threatening but vague event. Anxiety can be experienced in many different ways, such as feeling tense, uncertain, and perhaps, fearful at the thought of a particular phenomenon or event. There are two main types of anxieties; state anxiety and trait anxiety. Endler & Kocovski (2001) have explained that state and trait anxiety both result from mental assessments of a potential threat. Unlike trait, state anxiety is described as a temporary condition, where once the perceived threatening object or event goes away, the individual no longer experiences the symptoms of anxiety. Individuals who exhibit state anxiety will normally feel anxious when going to job interviews, speaking in front of large crowds or sitting exams. State anxiety is considered to be useful at particular times, by making us more alert and enhance our performance, thus creating a fight or flight response (Rachman, 2004). However, in some cases where the feeling of anxiety is too overwhelming, it can have the

Get Access