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Anxiety Disorders

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science
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Synonyms

Anxiety; Defense regulation; Fear; Threat detection

Definition

Anxiety disorders are a class of mental health conditions that include persistent and excessive feelings of anxiety or fear as a core feature (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Anxiety is typically associated with feelings of unease, restlessness, or concern about a future threat (APA 2013). Fear is typically associated with a state of arousal in response to an immediate threat, either real or perceived (APA 2013).

Introduction

Anxiety is typically associated with unease, restlessness, or concern about the possibility of a future threat (APA 2013). In some instances the threat may be vague, unknown, or unidentifiable (Ranchman 2009). Fear is a response to an immediate object or situation that is threatening, or that an individual perceives to be threatening (APA 2013). Although the two are connected, fear is roused in response to an imminent threat and wanes once the threat is removed, whereas anxiety...

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Correspondence to Lanna J. Petterson .

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

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Petterson, L.J. (2018). Anxiety Disorders. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_692-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_692-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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