As explained above, anxiety as an emotion is a normal reaction to certain situations and even serves a useful purpose. First, it would be incorrect to conclude someone is suffering from an anxiety disorder simply because they are experiencing some degree of anxiety. There are several reasons it is important to make this distinction between normal, adaptive anxiety, versus anxiety as a disorder. Moreover, evidence suggests that women tend to experience anxiety disorders more frequently than men do approximately a 2:1 ratio (APA, 2013). Similar prevalence rates are reported for the global population. Interestingly, these estimates are not unique to the United States. This prevalence rate is really quite astonishing: roughly one person in five will have experienced an anxiety disorder during that year. More information about the diagnosis and classification of anxiety disorders is provided in another section.Īccording to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2008), approximately 40 million American adults (i.e., 18.1 %) have an anxiety disorder in a given year, with their first episode occurring before the age of 21.5. Therefore, I do not meet criteria for a phobia disorder. Nonetheless, I still go to see the dentist regularly and it does not create health problems or enormous distress for me.

I may even have panic attacks prior to a dental visit. For instance, I may have a phobia about going to see the dentist. However, the main criteria used to distinguish normal anxiety from an anxiety disorder is that it results in significant distress, or impairs social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (APA, 2013). There are specific symptoms that accompany each anxiety disorder. This impairment causes them significant distress. In contrast, abnormal anxiety is a chronic condition that impairs peoples' functioning and interferes with their well-being. Therefore, the difference between normal anxiety and abnormal anxiety is this: anxiety is considered normal and adaptive when it serves to improve peoples' functioning or wellbeing. Anxiety disorders represent variant forms of this pathological anxiety. When the intensity, duration, and/or frequency of anxiety become distressful and chronic, such that it interferes with a person's functioning, it is often referred to as pathological anxiety. As such, abnormal anxiety is different from normal anxiety because it is disproportionate to the situation that elicited the anxious response. These three factors- duration, intensity, and frequency- distinguish normal, adaptive anxiety from abnormal, pathological anxiety. However, anxiety becomes a problem when it overstays its welcome (duration), and/or is of an intensity or frequency which begins to interfere with a person's functioning and overall well-being. As noted previously, normal anxiety is actually beneficial.

Definition of pathological fear