[Anxiety and its control].

Abstract

Anxiety has many faces--including suppressed anxiety and "non-anxiety". Our present age is increasingly being referred to as the "age of anxiety", our society as an "anxious society", probably because we constantly feel threatened not only by physical, but also by psycho-social anxiety. If we are unable actively to combat or escape from a threat, or to cope with emotional reactions and stress, insecurity, anxiety and fear result. If this becomes extremely pronounced and appears irrational to the person affected, the term phobia is employed to describe a specific fear (fear of bridges, crowds, confined spaces, etc.). The more susceptible the person, the smaller are his chances of compensating. The increase in anxiety disorders and psychosomatic disturbances seen today, are an indication that we must learn not merely to combat anxiety, but also to accept it.