Anxiety

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry or fear, usually about something uncertain or still to come. Everyone feels it at times. It can show up in the body (racing heart, tight chest, poor sleep) and in the mind (what-ifs, restlessness). When it is persistent and hard to control, a doctor may assess it as an anxiety disorder.

What it means

In everyday speech, anxiety covers a wide range: nerves before an interview, dread before a family gathering, a general sense that something is about to go wrong. In small doses it can be useful. It sharpens attention and prepares the body to act.

It becomes harder when it stays switched on. The NHS describes generalised anxiety disorder as feeling anxious about a wide range of situations and issues, rather than one specific event, for much of the time. That is a diagnosis made by a health professional. Most anxiety people talk about in counselling is not assessed in that way, and it still deserves attention.

Where the idea comes from

Anxiety has been described for as long as people have written about emotion. Sigmund Freud wrote about it at length, and existential writers such as Søren Kierkegaard treated it as part of being free to choose. Modern psychiatry describes several anxiety disorders, including generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder and social anxiety.

The American Psychological Association describes anxiety as an emotion characterised by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like increased blood pressure. That definition is a helpful reminder that anxiety lives in the body as much as in thoughts.

What it can look like in everyday life

Imagine lying awake at 2am, replaying a slightly awkward conversation with your manager and imagining all the ways it might go wrong tomorrow.

Or imagine noticing your shoulders are up near your ears in a supermarket queue in a city where you still don't feel quite at home. You are rehearsing what to say at the till in a language you are still learning. Small tasks carry an extra charge when nothing is automatic yet.

Anxiety can also be quieter: a constant low hum of needing to get everything right, or of checking your phone in case your mother has messaged with bad news from home.

In person-centred counselling

I don't diagnose anxiety, and person-centred counselling doesn't start from a label. It starts from your experience. What does the anxiety feel like? When does it come? What might it be protecting you from, or trying to tell you?

Often, anxiety makes more sense when it is understood in context: a move abroad, high family expectations, an unpredictable relationship, or rules about worth learned long ago. Feeling deeply heard can sometimes ease the pressure a little, though no approach can promise that. The anxiety topic page explores this further.

If you would like structured techniques and exercises, CBT is a well-established option and may suit you better.

Related ideas

Anxiety and stress overlap but are not the same. Stress is usually tied to a clear pressure and eases when it passes. Anxiety can carry on without an obvious cause, or attach itself to things that have not happened.

Anxiety also differs from fear. Fear responds to a present threat, such as a car swerving towards you. Anxiety is more about anticipation: the threat that might come.

When to get more help

If anxiety is severe, sudden, or stopping you from working, sleeping or leaving the house, please speak to a GP or your local doctor. Panic attacks with chest pain should always be checked medically. The GAD-7 anxiety test is a free, private screening questionnaire that can help you describe what you are noticing, though it is not a diagnosis.