They also perceive threats in situations that are not real.

Pathological anxiety occurs when the person feels incapable of facing a threat. Anxiety, then, has some positive purposes. If we aren’t prepared in this way then a great feeling of helplessness floods us when the danger actually appears. When there is a real threat, both the body and the mind must prepare to face it. Its role is to protect us in order to guarantee our integrity and survival. In other words, we expect something bad to happen to us constantly.Īdaptive anxiety is an in-built part of us. In pathological anxiety, on the other hand, there is emotional discomfort in the face of future damage that is possible, but not probable. Because of this, it becomes pretty much a permanent state. For example, when we know that we’ll be late for work and we expect to be rebuked for it. In adaptive anxiety, the expected suffering is a real probability. There can also be physical symptoms, such as palpitations, nausea, and dizziness. It shows itself as emotional discomfort, something like a mixture of fear, restlessness and nervousness. In other words, it occurs when someone thinks that something bad will happen. In general terms, we can define anxiety as an emotional state that is a result of some sort of harm or misfortune. It’s important to know because people often think that all types of anxiety are negative. And on the other we have adaptive anxiety, known as “normal” anxiety. On the one hand we have pathological anxiety, sometime called dysfunctional. It is important to know that there are different types of anxiety.

Pathological fear definition