Anxiety is a normal reaction that we all experiences some time in our life. Anxiety is a protection mechanism – part of our ‘fight or flight’ response. This helps us to be ready for potentially life threatening situations such as facing a predator in the wild. This is an ancient reaction to danger but we don’t live in the wilderness any more and have to defend ourselves from big cats, wolves or bears but the reaction is still present.
We are designed to think of potential dangers, (natural anxieties), when we leave the safety of our homes but as they don’t exist in the way they used to some people worry about other, non-dangerous, things and that is when the problems start to occur.
Hence, anxieties can prevent so people from living their life to the full. They can experience intense emotions like fear or apprehension and worry in situations that most people ignore as they are no real threat. If their anxiety begins to intrude into and control their lives, it becomes a major problem. This is an anxiety disorder.