Anxiety– a person’s tendency to feel intense anxiety and fear, often without reason. It is manifested by psychological anticipation of a threat, discomfort and other negative emotions. Unlike a phobia, with anxiety a person cannot accurately name the cause of fear - it remains vague.

Prevalence of Anxiety. Among children in secondary school, anxiety reaches 90%. Among adults, 70% suffer from increased anxiety at different periods of life.

Psychological symptoms of anxiety may occur periodically or most of the time:

• excessive worries for no reason or for a minor reason;
• premonition of trouble;
• inexplicable fear of any event;
• feeling of insecurity;
• vague fear for life and health (personal or family members);
• perception of ordinary events and situations as dangerous and unfriendly;
• depressed mood;
• weakening of attention, distraction by disturbing thoughts;
• difficulties in study and work due to constant tension;
• increased self-criticism;
• “replaying” your own actions and statements in your head, increased feelings about this;
• pessimism.

Physical symptoms of anxiety explained by the excitation of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates the functioning of internal organs. Slightly or moderately expressed:

• rapid breathing;
• accelerated heartbeat;
• weakness;
• feeling of a lump in the throat;
• increased sweating;
• skin redness;

External manifestations of anxiety. Anxiety in a person is indicated by various behavioral reactions, for example:

• clenches his fists;
• snaps fingers;
• fidgets with clothes;
• licks or bites lips;
• bites nails;
• rubs his face.

The meaning of anxiety. Anxiety is considered to be a protective mechanism that should warn a person about impending danger from the outside or about an internal conflict (the struggle of desires with conscience, ideas about morality, social and cultural norms). This is the so-called useful anxiety. Within reasonable limits, it helps to avoid mistakes and defeats.

Increased anxiety is considered a pathological condition (not a disease, but a deviation from the norm). It is often a reaction to physical or emotional stress.

Norm and pathology. The norm counts moderate anxiety related to disturbing character traits. In this case, a person often develops anxiety and nervous tension over the most insignificant reasons. At the same time, vegetative symptoms (pressure changes, rapid heartbeat) appear very slightly.

Signs of mental disorders are severe anxiety attacks, lasting from several minutes to several hours, during which the state of health worsens: weakness, chest pain, feeling of heat, trembling in the body. In this case, anxiety may be a symptom:

• Anxiety disorder;
• Panic disorder with panic attacks;
• Anxious endogenous depression;
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder;
• Hysteria;
• Neurasthenia;
• Post-traumatic stress disorder.

What can increased anxiety lead to? Behavioral disorders occur under the influence of anxiety.

• Leaving into the world of illusions. Often anxiety has no clear subject. For a person, this turns out to be more painful than the fear of something specific. He comes up with a reason for fear, then phobias develop based on anxiety.
• Aggressiveness. It occurs if a person has increased anxiety and low self-esteem. In order to get rid of the oppressive feeling, he humiliates other people. This behavior only brings temporary relief.
• Lack of initiative and apathy, which are a consequence of prolonged anxiety and are associated with depletion of mental strength. A decrease in emotional reactions makes it difficult to discern the cause of anxiety and eliminate it, and also worsens the quality of life.
• Development of psychosomatic illness. The physical symptoms of anxiety (palpitations, intestinal spasms) worsen and become a cause of illness. Possible consequences: ulcerative colitis, stomach ulcer, bronchial asthma, neurodermatitis.

Why does anxiety occur?

To the question: “Why does anxiety arise?” there is no clear answer. Psychoanalysts say that the reason is that a person’s desires do not coincide with his capabilities or are contrary to morality. Psychiatrists believe that improper upbringing and stress are to blame. Neuroscientists argue that the main role is played by the characteristics of the course of neurochemical processes in the brain.

Causes of anxiety

1. Congenital features of the nervous system. Anxiety is based on a congenital weakness of nervous processes, which is characteristic of people with a melancholic and phlegmatic temperament. Heightened experiences are caused by the peculiarities of the neurochemical processes that occur in the brain. This theory is proven by the fact that increased anxiety is inherited from parents, therefore, it is fixed at the genetic level.
2. Features of education and social environment. The development of anxiety can be triggered by excessive parental care or unfriendly attitude from others. Under their influence, anxious personality traits become noticeable already in childhood or appear in adulthood.
3. Situations involving risks to life and health. These could be serious illnesses, attacks, car accidents, catastrophes and other situations that caused a person to have great fear for his life and well-being. In the future, this anxiety extends to all circumstances that are associated with this situation. Thus, a person who has survived a car accident experiences anxiety for himself and loved ones who are traveling in transport or crossing the road.
4. Repetitive and chronic stress. Conflicts, problems in your personal life, mental overload at school or at work deplete the resources of the nervous system. It has been noticed that the more negative experiences a person has, the higher his anxiety.
5. Severe somatic diseases. Diseases accompanied by severe pain, stress, high temperature, and intoxication of the body disrupt biochemical processes in nerve cells, which can manifest as anxiety. Stress caused by a dangerous disease causes a tendency to think negatively, which also increases anxiety.
6. Hormonal disorders. Malfunctions of the endocrine glands lead to changes in the hormonal balance, on which the stability of the nervous system depends. Anxiety is often associated with excess thyroid hormones and ovarian dysfunction. Periodic anxiety caused by impaired production of sex hormones is observed in women during the premenstrual period, as well as during pregnancy, after childbirth and abortion, and during menopause.
7. Poor nutrition and vitamin deficiency. Lack of nutrients leads to metabolic disorders in the body. And the brain is especially sensitive to fasting. The production of neurotransmitters is negatively affected by a lack of glucose, B vitamins and magnesium.
8. Lack of physical activity. A sedentary lifestyle and lack of regular exercise disrupts metabolism. Anxiety is the result of this imbalance, manifesting itself at the mental level. Conversely, regular exercise activates nervous processes, promotes the release of happiness hormones and eliminates anxious thoughts.
9. Organic brain lesions, in which blood circulation and nutrition of brain tissue are disrupted:

• Severe infections suffered in childhood;
• Injuries received during childbirth;
• Cerebral circulation disorders due to atherosclerosis, hypertension, age-related changes;
• Changes caused by alcoholism or drug addiction.

Psychologists and neuroscientists agree that anxiety develops if a person has innate characteristics of the nervous system, which are layered with social and psychological factors.
Causes of increased anxiety in children

• Excessive care on the part of parents who are too protective of the child, are afraid of illnesses, injuries and demonstrate their fear.
• Anxiety and suspiciousness of parents.
• Alcoholism in parents.
• Frequent conflicts in the presence of children.
• Dysfunctional relationship with parents. Lack of emotional contact, detachment. Lack of affection.
• Fear of separation from mother.
• Aggression of parents towards children.
• Excessive criticism and excessive demands on the child from parents and teachers, which result in internal conflicts and low self-esteem.
• Fear of not living up to adults’ expectations: “If I make a mistake, they won’t love me.”
• Inconsistent demands of parents, when the mother allows, but the father forbids, or “It’s generally impossible, but today it’s possible.”
• Family or class rivalry.
• Fear of being rejected by peers.
• Lack of independence of the child. Inability to dress, eat, and go to bed independently at the appropriate age.
• Children's fears associated with scary fairy tales, cartoons, films.

Taking certain medications may also increase anxiety in children and adults:

• preparations containing caffeine - citramon, cold medicines;
• preparations containing ephedrine and its derivatives - broncholithin, dietary supplements for weight loss;
• thyroid hormones – L-thyroxine, alostin;
• beta-adrenergic stimulants – clonidine;
• antidepressants – Prozac, fluoxicar;
• psychostimulants – dexamphetamine, methylphenidate;
• hypoglycemic agents – novonorm, diabrex;
• narcotic analgesics (if discontinued) - morphine, codeine.

What types of anxiety are there?

Due to development

• Personality anxiety– a constant tendency to anxiety, which does not depend on the environment and current circumstances. Most events are perceived as dangerous; everything is seen as a threat. Considered to be an overly pronounced personality trait.
• Situational (reactive) anxiety– anxiety arises before significant situations or is associated with new experiences or possible troubles. Such fear is considered a variant of the norm and is present to varying degrees in all people. Makes a person more cautious, stimulates preparation for the upcoming event, which reduces the risk of failure.

By area of ​​origin

• Academic anxiety– related to the learning process;
• Interpersonal– associated with difficulties in communicating with certain people;
• Related to self-image– high level of wishes and low self-esteem;
• Social– arises from the need to interact with people, meet people, communicate, and be interviewed;
• Choice Anxiety– unpleasant sensations that arise when you need to make a choice.

By impact on humans

• Mobilizing anxiety– provokes a person to take actions aimed at reducing risk. Activates the will, improves thought processes and physical activity.
• Relaxing Anxiety- paralyzes the will of a person. Makes it difficult to make decisions and take actions that would help find a way out of the current situation.

According to the adequacy of the situation

• Adequate anxiety– reaction to objectively existing problems (in the family, in the team, at school or at work). May relate to one area of ​​activity (for example, communication with the boss).
• Inappropriate anxiety– is the result of a conflict between a high level of aspirations and low self-esteem. It occurs against the background of external well-being and the absence of problems. It seems to a person that neutral situations pose a threat. Usually it is diffuse and concerns many areas of life (study, interpersonal communication, health). Often found in teenagers.

By severity

• Reduced anxiety– even potentially dangerous situations that pose a threat do not cause alarm. As a result, the person underestimates the seriousness of the situation, is overly calm, and does not prepare for possible difficulties, is often negligent in his duties.
• Optimal anxiety– anxiety arises in situations that require the mobilization of resources. Anxiety is expressed moderately, so it does not interfere with the performance of functions, but provides an additional resource. It has been observed that people with optimal anxiety control their mental state better than others.
• Increased anxiety– anxiety manifests itself often, too strongly and for no reason. It interferes with a person’s adequate reaction and blocks his will. Increased anxiety causes distraction and panic at a crucial moment.

Which doctor should I see if I have anxiety?

People with anxious character traits do not need treatment because “character cannot be cured.” Adequate rest for 10-20 days and elimination of a stressful situation helps them reduce anxiety. If after a few weeks the condition has not returned to normal, then you need to seek help from psychologist. If he identifies signs of neurosis, anxiety disorder or other disorders, he will recommend contacting psychotherapist or psychiatrist.

How is anxiety corrected?

Correcting anxiety should begin with an accurate diagnosis. Because for anxious depression, antidepressants may be needed, and for neurosis, tranquilizers, which will be ineffective for anxiety. The main method of treating anxiety as a personality trait is psychotherapy.

1. Psychotherapy and psychological correction

The impact on the psyche of a person suffering from increased anxiety is carried out through conversations and various techniques. The effectiveness of this approach for anxiety is high, but it takes time. Correction may take from several weeks to a year.

1. Behavioral psychotherapy

Behavioral or behavioral psychotherapy is designed to change a person's reaction to situations that cause anxiety. You can react to the same situation in different ways. For example, when going on a trip, you can imagine the dangers that lie in wait on the road, or you can rejoice at the opportunity to see new places. People with high anxiety always have negative thinking. They think about dangers and difficulties. The goal of behavioral psychotherapy is to change your thinking pattern to a positive one.
Treatment is carried out in 3 stages

1. Identify the source of anxiety. To do this, you need to answer the question: “What were you thinking about before you felt anxious?” This object or the situation is most likely the cause of the anxiety.
2. Question the rationality of negative thoughts. “How likely is it that your worst fears will come true?” Usually it is negligible. But even if the worst happens, in the vast majority of cases there is still a way out.
3. Replace negative thoughts with positive ones. The patient is asked to replace thoughts with positive and more realistic ones. Then, at the moment of anxiety, repeat them to yourself.

Behavioral therapy does not eliminate the cause of increased anxiety, but teaches you to think rationally and control your emotions.

1. Exposure psychotherapy

This direction is based on the systematic reduction of sensitivity to situations that cause anxiety. This approach is used if anxiety is associated with specific situations: fear of heights, fear of public speaking, or traveling on public transport. In this case, the person is gradually immersed in the situation, giving the opportunity to face his fear. With each visit to a psychotherapist, the tasks become more complicated.

1. Presentation of the situation. The patient is asked to close his eyes and imagine the situation in full detail. When the feeling of anxiety reaches its highest level, the unpleasant image must be released and returned to reality, and then move on to muscle relaxation and relaxation. At subsequent meetings with a psychologist, they look at pictures or films that demonstrate a frightening situation.
2. Getting to know the situation. A person needs to touch what he is afraid of. Go out onto the balcony of a high-rise building, say hello to those gathered in the audience, stand at the bus stop. At the same time, he experiences anxiety, but is convinced that he is safe and his fears are not confirmed.
3. Getting used to the situation. It is necessary to increase the duration of the exposure - ride a Ferris wheel, go one stop on the transport. Gradually, the tasks become more and more difficult, the time spent in an alarming situation is longer, but at the same time addiction occurs and anxiety decreases significantly.

When performing tasks, a person must demonstrate courage and self-confidence through his behavior, even if this does not correspond to his inner feelings. Changing your behavior helps you change your attitude towards a situation.

1. Hypnosuggestive therapy

During the session, a person is put into a hypnotic state and instilled in him with attitudes that help change incorrect thought patterns and attitudes towards frightening situations. Suggestion includes several areas:

1. Normalization of processes occurring in the nervous system.
2. Increased self-esteem and self-confidence.
3. Forgetting unpleasant situations that led to the development of anxiety.
4. Suggestion of imaginary positive experiences regarding a frightening situation. For example, “I like flying on airplanes, during the flight I experienced the best moments of my life.”
5. Instilling a sense of calm and security.

This technique allows you to help a patient with any type of anxiety. The only limitation may be poor suggestibility or the presence of contraindications.

1. Psychoanalysis

Work with a psychoanalyst is aimed at identifying internal conflicts between instinctual desires and moral standards or human capabilities. After realizing the contradictions, discussing them and rethinking them, anxiety recedes as its cause disappears.
A person’s inability to independently identify the cause of anxiety suggests that it lies in the subconscious. Psychoanalysis helps to penetrate the subconscious and eliminate the cause of anxiety, therefore it is recognized as an effective technique.
Psychological correction of anxiety in children

1. Play therapy

This is a leading method of treating anxiety in children of preschool and primary school age. With the help of specially selected games, it is possible to identify the deep-seated fear that causes anxiety and get rid of it. The child's behavior during play indicates the processes occurring in his unconscious. The information obtained is used by a psychologist to select techniques for reducing anxiety.
The most common option for play therapy is when the child is asked to play the role of what/what he is afraid of - ghosts, bandits, teachers. At the initial stages, these can be individual games with a psychologist or parents, then group games with other children. Fear and anxiety decrease after 3-5 sessions.
The game “Masquerade” is suitable for relieving anxiety. Children are given various items of adult clothing. Then they are asked to choose which role to play at the masquerade. They are asked to talk about their character and play with other children who are also “in character.”

1. Fairy tale therapy

This technique for reducing anxiety in children involves writing fairy tales independently or together with adults. It helps you express your fears, come up with a plan of action in a frightening situation, and manage your behavior. Can be used by parents to reduce anxiety during periods of mental stress. Suitable for children over 4 years old and teenagers.

1. Relieving muscle tension

Muscle tension that accompanies anxiety is relieved with breathing exercises, children's yoga, and games aimed at muscle relaxation.
Games to relieve muscle tension

A game	Instructions for the child
"Balloon"	We fold our lips into a tube. Exhaling slowly, we inflate the balloon. Imagine what a big and beautiful ball we got. We smile.
"Dudochka"	We exhale slowly through pursed lips and finger an imaginary pipe.
"Gift Under the Tree"	We inhale, close our eyes, and imagine the best gift under the tree. We exhale, open our eyes, depict joy and surprise on our face.
"Barbell"	Inhale – raise the barbell above your head. Exhale – lower the barbell to the floor. We tilt the body forward, relax the muscles of the arms, neck, back, and rest.
"Humpty Dumpty"	When saying “Humpty Dumpty was sitting on the wall,” we rotate our body, our arms are relaxed and freely follow the body. “Humpty Dumpty fell in his sleep” - a sharp tilt of the body forward, arms and neck relaxed.

1. Family therapy

The psychologist's conversations with all family members help improve the emotional atmosphere in the family and develop a parenting style that will allow the child to feel calm, feel needed and important.
At the meeting with the psychologist, it is important that both parents and, if necessary, grandparents are present. It must be taken into account that after 5 years a child listens more to a parent of the same sex, who has a special influence.

1. Medication treatment for anxiety

Group of drugs	Medicines	Action
Nootropic drugs	Phenibut, piracetam, glycine	Prescribed when the energy resources of brain structures are depleted. They improve brain function and make it less sensitive to damaging factors.
Herbal sedatives	Tinctures, infusions and decoctions of lemon balm, valerian, motherwort peony, persen	They have a calming effect, reduce fear and anxiety.
Selective anxiolytics	Afobazole	Relieves anxiety and normalizes processes in the nervous system, eliminating its cause. Does not have an inhibitory effect on the nervous system.

Self-help for anxiety

Methods for reducing anxiety in adults

• Introspection- This is an attempt to independently understand the internal conflict. First you need to make two lists. The first is “I want”, where all material and immaterial desires are entered. The second is “Should/Must”, where responsibilities and internal restrictions are entered. Then they are compared and contradictions are identified. For example, “I want to go travel,” but “I have to pay off the loan and take care of the children.” Even the first stage will significantly reduce anxiety. Then you should determine what is more valuable and important to you. Is there a possibility of a compromise between “I want” and “I need”. For example, a short trip after paying off a loan. The final stage is drawing up an action plan that will help fulfill your desires.
• Auto-training to increase self-esteem. It combines self-persuasion and muscle relaxation. Often the basis of anxiety is treated by the contradiction between desire and lack of self-confidence - “I want a man to like me, but I’m not good enough.” Self-persuasion is aimed at strengthening self-confidence. To do this, in a relaxed state, it is better to repeat verbal formulas with the necessary statements before falling asleep. “My body is completely relaxed. I am beautifull. I'm confident. I'm charming." The result will improve significantly if you combine auto-training and work on yourself in other areas: sports, intellectual development etc.
• Meditation. This practice includes breathing exercises, muscle relaxation and concentration on a specific object (sound, candle flame, your own breathing, a point in the area between the eyebrows). In this case, it is necessary to discard all thoughts, but not to drive them away, but to ignore them. Meditation helps to organize thoughts and emotions, to concentrate on the present moment - “here and now”. This reduces anxiety, which is a vague fear of the future.
• Change of life situation - work, marital status, social circle. Often anxiety arises when it is necessary to do something that goes against goals, moral principles, and capabilities. When the cause of the internal conflict is eliminated, anxiety disappears.
• Increased success. If a person feels successful in some area (work, study, family, sports, creativity, communication), then this significantly increases self-esteem and reduces anxiety.
• Communication. The wider the social circle and the closer the social contacts, the lower the level of anxiety.
• Regular spot training. Exercising 3-5 times a week for 30-60 minutes reduces adrenaline levels and increases the production of serotonin. They restore balance in the nervous system and improve mood.
• Rest and sleep mode. A full 7-8 hour sleep restores brain resources and increases its activity.

Please note that these methods do not provide immediate results in the fight against anxiety. You will feel a significant improvement in 2-3 weeks, and it will take several months of regular exercise to completely get rid of anxiety.

• Reduce the number of comments. An anxious child suffers greatly from the inflated demands of adults and the inability to meet them.
• Make comments to your child in private. Explain why he is wrong, but do not humiliate his dignity or call him names.
• Be consistent. You cannot allow something that was previously prohibited and vice versa. If a child does not know how you will react to his misbehavior, then the level of stress increases significantly.
• Avoid speed competitions and in general comparisons of the child with others. It is acceptable to compare the child with the same person in the past: “You are coping with this better now than you were last week.”
• Demonstrate confident behavior in the presence of your child. In the future, the actions of parents become a role model in difficult situations.
• Remember the importance of skin-to-skin contact. This could be stroking, hugs, massage, games. Touch shows your love and calms your child at any age.
• Praise the child. Praise must be deserved and sincere. Find something to praise your child for at least 5 times a day.

What is an anxiety scale?

The basis for determining the level of anxiety is anxiety scale. It is a test in which you need to choose a statement that most accurately describes your mental state or assess the degree of anxiety in various situations.
There are various versions of the methods, named after the authors: Spielberger-Khanin, Kondash, Prikhozhan.

1. Spielberger-Hanin technique

This technique allows you to measure both personal anxiety (a personality trait) and situational anxiety (a state in a certain situation). This distinguishes it from other options, which provide an idea of ​​only one type of anxiety.
The Spielberger-Hanin technique is intended for adults. It can be in the form of two tables, but the electronic version of testing is more convenient. An important condition when passing the test is that you should not think about the answer for a long time. You must indicate the option that first came to mind.
To determine personal anxiety you need to rate 40 judgments that describe your feelings USUALLY(In most cases). For example:

• I get upset easily;
• I am quite happy;
• I am pleased;
• I get the blues.

To determine situational anxiety required to evaluate 20 judgments that describe feelings AT THE MOMENT. For example:

• I am calm;
• I'm pleased;
• I'm nervous;
• I'm sad.

Judgments are scored on a 4-point scale, from “never/no, not true” – 1 point, to “almost always/absolutely true” – 4 points.
The scores are not summed up, but a “key” is used to interpret the answers. With its help, each answer is assessed with a certain number of points. After processing the responses, indicators of situational and personal anxiety are determined. They can range from 20 to 80 points.

1. Anxiety scale for children

Anxiety in children aged 7 to 18 years is measured using methods for multidimensional assessment of children's anxiety Romitsina. The technique in most cases is used in electronic form, which simplifies its behavior and processing of results.
It consists of 100 questions that must be answered “yes” or “no”. These questions relate to various areas of the child’s activity:

• general anxiety;
• relationships with peers;
• relationships with parents;
• relationships with teachers;
• check of knowledge;
• assessment of others;
• success in learning;
• self-expression;
• decreased mental activity caused by anxiety;
• autonomic manifestations of anxiety (difficulty breathing, sweating, rapid heartbeat).

Each of the scales can take on one of 4 values:

• Denial of anxiety - which can be a defensive reaction;
• Normal level of anxiety, prompting action;
• Increased level - in certain situations, anxiety disrupts the child’s adaptation;
• High level – correction of anxiety is necessary.

The method of multidimensional assessment of children's anxiety allows not only to determine the level of anxiety, but also to indicate which area it belongs to, as well as to establish the cause of its development.

Let us note that although increased anxiety in children and adults is not dangerous to health, it leaves an imprint on a person’s behavior, making him more vulnerable or, on the contrary, aggressive, forcing him to refuse meetings and trips, as situations that pose a threat. This condition influences the decision-making process, forcing you to choose not what will bring success, but what entails less risk. Therefore, correcting anxiety allows you to make life richer and happier.

Anxiety is an emotion that all people experience when they are nervous or afraid of something. Constantly being “on edge” is unpleasant, but what can you do if life is like this: there will always be a reason for anxiety and fear, you need to learn to keep your emotions under control, and everything will be fine. In most cases this is exactly the case.

It's normal to worry. Sometimes this can even be beneficial: when we worry about something, we pay more attention to it, work harder, and generally achieve better results.

But sometimes anxiety goes beyond reasonable limits and interferes with life. And this is an anxiety disorder - a condition that can ruin everything and which requires special treatment.

Why does anxiety disorder occur?

As in the case of most mental disorders, no one can say exactly why anxiety clings to us: too little is known about the brain to talk about the reasons with confidence. Several factors are likely to blame, from ever-present genetics to traumatic experiences.

For some, anxiety appears due to the stimulation of certain parts of the brain, for some, hormones - and norepinephrine - are acting up, and for others, the disorder occurs as a result of other diseases, and not necessarily mental ones.

What is an anxiety disorder?

To anxiety disorders Studying Anxiety Disorders. include several groups of diseases.

• Generalized anxiety disorder. This is the case when anxiety does not appear because of exams or the upcoming meeting with the parents of a loved one. Anxiety comes on its own, it does not need a reason, and the feelings are so strong that they prevent a person from performing even simple everyday activities.
• Social anxiety disorder. Fear that prevents you from being among people. Some are afraid of other people's assessments, others are afraid of other people's actions. Be that as it may, it interferes with studying, working, even going to the store and saying hello to neighbors.
• Panic disorder. People with this disease experience panic attacks: they become so scared that they sometimes cannot take a step. The heart is beating at a breakneck speed, the vision is getting dark, there is not enough air. These attacks can come at the most unexpected moment, and sometimes because of them a person is afraid to leave the house.
• Phobias. When a person is afraid of something specific.

In addition, anxiety disorder often occurs in combination with other problems: bipolar or obsessive-compulsive disorder or.

How to understand that this is a disorder

The main symptom is a constant feeling of anxiety, which lasts for at least six months, provided that there are no reasons to be nervous or they are insignificant, and emotional reactions are disproportionately strong. This means that anxiety changes your life: you give up work, projects, walks, meetings or acquaintances, some activities just because you are too worried.

Other symptoms Generalized anxiety disorder in adults - Symptoms., which hint that something is wrong:

• constant fatigue;
• insomnia;
• constant fear;
• inability to concentrate;
• inability to relax;
• trembling in hands;
• irritability;
• dizziness;
• frequent heartbeat, although there are no cardiac pathologies;
• increased sweating;
• pain in the head, stomach, muscles - despite the fact that doctors do not find any violations.

There is no exact test or analysis that can be used to identify an anxiety disorder, because anxiety cannot be measured or touched. The decision on the diagnosis is made by a specialist who looks at all the symptoms and complaints.

Because of this, there is a temptation to go to extremes: either diagnosing yourself with a disorder when life has just begun, or not paying attention to your condition and scolding your weak-willed character, when, due to fear, an attempt to go out into the street turns into a feat.

Don’t get carried away and confuse constant stress and constant anxiety.

Stress is a response to a stimulus. For example, a call from a dissatisfied client. When the situation changes, the stress goes away. But anxiety may remain - this is a reaction of the body that occurs even if there is no direct impact. For example, when an incoming call comes from a regular customer who is happy with everything, but it’s still scary to pick up the phone. If the anxiety is so strong that any phone call is torture, then this is already a disorder.

There is no need to bury your head in the sand and pretend that everything is fine when constant stress interferes with your life.

It is not customary to consult a doctor with such problems, and anxiety is often confused with suspiciousness and even cowardice, and being a coward in society is shameful.

If a person shares his fears, he is more likely to receive advice to pull himself together and not become limp than an offer to find a good doctor. The trouble is that you won’t be able to overcome a disorder with a powerful willpower, just as you won’t be able to cure it with meditation.

How to treat anxiety

Persistent anxiety is treated like other mental disorders. This is why there are psychotherapists who, contrary to popular belief, do not just talk to patients about difficult childhoods, but help them find methods and techniques that truly improve their condition.

Some people will feel better after a few conversations, others will benefit from pharmacology. The doctor will help you reconsider your lifestyle, find the reasons why you are nervous a lot, assess how severe your symptoms are and whether you need to take medications.

If you don't think you need a therapist yet, try taming your anxiety on your own.

1. Find the reason

Analyze what makes you worry the most and most often, and try to eliminate this factor from your life. Anxiety is a natural mechanism that is needed for our own safety. We are afraid of something dangerous that can harm us.

Maybe if you are constantly shaking with fear of your boss, it’s better to change jobs and relax? If you succeed, it means that your anxiety is not caused by a disorder, there is no need to treat anything - live and enjoy life. But if you can’t identify the cause of your anxiety, then it’s better to seek help.

2. Exercise regularly

There are many blind spots in the treatment of mental disorders, but researchers agree on one thing: regular physical activity really helps keep your mind in order.

3. Let your brain rest

The best thing is to sleep. Only in sleep does the brain overloaded with fears relax, and you get a break.

4. Learn to slow down your imagination with work.

Anxiety is a reaction to something that hasn't happened. It's the fear of what might happen. Essentially, anxiety exists only in our heads and is completely irrational. Why is it important? Because counteracting anxiety is not calm, but reality.

While all sorts of horrors are happening in the anxious imagination, in reality everything goes on as usual, and one of the best ways to turn off the constantly itching fear is to return to the present, to current tasks.

For example, keep your head and hands busy with work or sports.

5. Stop smoking and drinking

When the body is already a mess, it is at least illogical to shake the fragile balance with substances that affect the brain.

6. Learn relaxation techniques

The rule “the more the better” applies here. Learn breathing exercises, find relaxing yoga poses, try music or even drink chamomile tea or use lavender essential oil in your room. Everything in a row until you find several options that will help you.

University of the Russian Academy of Education.

Faculty of Psychology.

COURSE WORK

Topic: “Anxiety and anxious states of personality”

Completed by: 6th year student

Golenkov. V.S

Scientific adviser:

Skripkina T.P.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Anxiety and Anxiety

1 The concept of anxiety and anxiety

1.2 Types of alarm

1.3 Alarm levels

Chapter 2. Anxiety and anxious states of the individual

2.1 Forms of anxiety

2.2 Manifestation of anxiety in preschool age

2.3 Manifestation of anxiety in primary school age

2.4 Manifestation of anxiety at school age

Conclusion

Introduction

Before talking about what anxiety and anxious states of personality are, I would like to mention what views modern psychologists had on anxiety and anxiety.

In modern psychology, it is common to distinguish between “anxiety” and “anxiety,” although half a century ago these differences were not obvious. Nowadays, such terminological differentiation is characteristic of both domestic and foreign psychology and allows us to analyze this phenomenon through the categories of mental state and mental property. In modern psychology, anxiety is understood as a mental state, and anxiety as a mental property determined genetically, ontogenetically or situationally.

Now we will gradually move on to the amount of information that relates to types of anxiety, levels of anxiety, the concept of anxiety and anxiety, forms of anxiety and, in general, how this affects the state of the individual.

Chapter 1. Anxiety and Anxiety

1 The concept of anxiety and anxiety

The concept of anxiety was introduced into psychology by 3. Freud, who distinguished between fear as such, concrete fear (German: Furcht) and vague, unaccountable fear. Anxiety that is of a deep, irrational, internal nature (German: Angst). In philosophy, a similar distinction was proposed by S. Kierkegaard, and is currently extremely relevant in the philosophical and psychological system of existentialism. The differentiation of anxiety and fear according to the principle proposed by Z. Freud is also supported by many modern researchers. It is believed that, unlike fear as a reaction to a specific threat, anxiety is a generalized, diffuse or non-objective fear.

Unlike anxiety, anxiety in modern psychology is considered as a mental property and is defined as an individual’s tendency to experience anxiety, characterized by a low threshold for the occurrence of an anxiety reaction (“Concise Psychological Dictionary”, 1985).

The term anxiety is used to refer to relatively stable individual differences in an individual's propensity to experience the condition. This feature is not directly manifested in behavior, but its level can be determined based on how often and how intensely a person experiences anxiety states. A person with severe anxiety tends to perceive the world around him as containing danger and threat to a much greater extent than a person with a low level of anxiety.

1.2 Types of alarm

Normal and mobilization anxiety. It occurs sporadically and contributes to the mobilization of a person’s physical and mental resources. Characteristic of mentally healthy, scenic, active individuals.

Personal anxiety or anxiety. It is a relatively stable personal characteristic and character trait that determines a low threshold for the occurrence of an anxiety reaction. Characteristic of anxious, anancastic and dependent individuals.

Situational anxiety is a state of anxiety that occurs only during a stressful situation and ceases when it ends.

Social anxiety is anxiety, often accompanied by fear that arises when interacting with society. These people have an expressed fear of public speaking and acting, a fear of communicating with officials, they avoid social contacts(especially with strangers), overly concerned with the opinions of others about themselves, afraid of negative assessments and rejection. If these disorders reach the level of a clinically defined state with vegetative, psychological and behavioral disorders, according to ICD-10 (ICD-10-International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision) they are classified as social phobias - F40.1

Social phobias. Fear of scrutiny from other people, leading to avoidance of social situations.

Neurotic anxiety is a chronic, clinical condition that is accompanied by fear, anxiety, panic, obsessive-phobic, generalized anxiety disorder, as well as vegetative, psychological and behavioral disorders. It deprives a person of the ability to function normally.

1.3 Alarm levels

Anxiety of the lowest intensity corresponds to a feeling of internal tension, expressed in experiences of tension, wariness, and discomfort. It does not carry signs of a threat, but serves as a signal of the approach of more pronounced alarming phenomena. This level anxiety has the greatest adaptive significance.

At the second level, the feeling of internal tension is replaced or supplemented by hyperaesthetic reactions, thanks to which previously neutral stimuli acquire significance, and, when intensified, a negative emotional connotation (irritability, which, in essence, is an undifferentiated response, is based on this).

The third level - anxiety itself - manifests itself in the experience of an uncertain threat, a feeling of unclear danger, which can develop into fear (fourth level) - a state that occurs when

an increase in anxiety and manifests itself in the objectification of an uncertain danger. Moreover, objects identified as “frightening” do not necessarily reflect the real cause of anxiety.

The fifth level is called the feeling of the inevitability of an impending catastrophe. It arises as a result of an increase in anxiety and the experience of the inability to avoid danger, an imminent catastrophe, which is not associated with the content of fear, but only with an increase in anxiety.

The most intense manifestation of anxiety (sixth level) - anxious-fearful arousal - is expressed in the need for motor release, seeking help, which maximally disorganizes a person’s behavior.

There are several points of view on the relationship between the intensity of the experience of anxiety and the effectiveness of the activities mediated by it.

According to the inverted U theory, based on the well-known Yerkes-Dodson law, anxiety to a certain extent can stimulate activity, but, having crossed the threshold of the individual’s “zone of optimal functioning,” it begins to produce a relaxing effect (Khanin Yu. L., 1976; Fig. 1).

The threshold theory states that each individual has his own threshold of arousal, beyond which the effectiveness of activity drops sharply (discretely) (Karolchak-Bernacka B.B., 1983; Fig. 2).

Rice. 1. Yerkes-Dodson Law

Rice. 2. Threshold theory

Chapter 2. Anxiety and anxious states of the individual

2.1 Forms of anxiety

By a form of anxiety we understand a special combination of the nature of experience, awareness, verbal and nonverbal expression in the characteristics of behavior, communication and activity. The form of anxiety manifests itself in the spontaneously developing ways of overcoming and compensating it, as well as in the attitude of the child and adolescent to this experience.

The study of forms of anxiety was carried out in the process of individual and group practical psychological work with children and adolescents. It is known that there are 2 categories of anxiety: 1. open - consciously experienced and manifested in behavior and activity in the form of a state of anxiety; 2. hidden - unconscious to varying degrees, manifested either by excessive calm, insensitivity to real disadvantage and even denial of it, or indirectly through specific modes of behavior.

Acute, unregulated or poorly regulated anxiety is strong, conscious, manifested externally through symptoms of anxiety, and the individual cannot cope with it on his own.

Regulated and compensated anxiety, in which children independently develop enough effective ways to help them cope with their anxiety. According to the characteristics of the methods used for these purposes, two subforms were distinguished within this form: a) reducing the level of anxiety and b) using it to stimulate one’s own activity, increasing activity. This form of anxiety occurs mainly in primary school and early adolescence, i.e. in periods characterized as stable.

An important characteristic of both forms is that anxiety is assessed by children as an unpleasant, difficult experience that they would like to get rid of.

Cultivated anxiety - in this case, unlike those voiced above, anxiety is recognized and experienced as a quality valuable to the individual, allowing one to achieve what he wants. Cultivated anxiety comes in several forms. Firstly, it can be recognized by the individual as the main regulator of his activity, ensuring his organization and responsibility. Secondly, it can act as a certain ideological and value setting. Thirdly, it often manifests itself in the search for a certain “conditional benefit from the presence of anxiety and is expressed through an increase in symptoms. In some cases, one subject had two or even all three options simultaneously.

The form that we conventionally called “magical” can be considered as a type of cultivated anxiety. In this case, the child or teenager, as it were, “conjures evil forces” by constantly replaying in his mind the most disturbing events, constant conversations about them, without, however, freeing himself from the fear of them, but further strengthening it through the mechanism of the “vicious psychological circle.” "

Speaking about forms of anxiety, one cannot help but touch upon the problem of so-called “masked” anxiety. “Masks” of anxiety are those forms of behavior that have the form of pronounced manifestations of personal characteristics generated by anxiety, allowing a person to experience it in a softened form and not express it outwardly. Such “masks” are most often described as aggressiveness, dependence, apathy, excessive daydreaming, etc. There are aggressive-anxious and dependent-anxious types (with varying degrees of awareness of anxiety). The aggressive-anxious type is most often found in preschool and adolescence with both open and hidden forms of anxiety, both as a direct expression of aggressive forms of behavior. The anxiety-dependent type is most often found in open forms of anxiety. Especially in acute, unregulated and cultivated forms.

2.2 Manifestation of anxiety in preschool age

Anxiety is a vague, long-lasting, and vague fear about future events. It arises in situations where there is not yet (and may not be) a real danger for a person, but he is waiting for it, and does not yet have any idea how to cope with it. According to some researchers, anxiety is a combination of several emotions - fear, sadness, shame and guilt.

Z. Freud recognized the need to distinguish between fear and anxiety, believing that fear is a reaction to a specific danger, while anxiety is a reaction to a danger that is unknown and not defined. Believing that understanding anxiety is extremely important for explaining human mental life, Freud scrupulously approached the analysis of this phenomenon, repeatedly revised and clarified his concept - mainly in those parts that relate to causes and

anxiety functions. Freud defined anxiety as an unpleasant experience that acts as a signal of anticipated danger. The content of anxiety is feelings of uncertainty and helplessness.

Anxiety is characterized by three main signs - a specific feeling of unpleasantness; corresponding somatic reactions (primarily increased heart rate); awareness of this experience. Initially, Freud admitted the existence of unconscious anxiety, but then came to the conclusion that this state is experienced consciously and is accompanied by an increase in the ability to cope with danger (through fight or flight). Anxiety is placed in the Ego.

Freud identified three main types of anxiety: 1) objective, caused by a real external danger; 2) neurotic, caused by an unknown and uncertain danger; 3) moral, defined by him as “anxiety of conscience.”

The analysis of neurotic anxiety allowed Freud to identify two of its main differences from objective anxiety. That is, from real fear. Neurotic anxiety differs from objective anxiety “in that the danger is internal rather than external, and in that it is not consciously recognized.” The main source of neurotic anxiety is the fear of the potential harm that the release of drives can cause. Neurotic anxiety, according to Freud, can exist in three main forms. Firstly, this is “free-floating”, “free-floating” anxiety, or “readiness in the form of anxiety”, which, as Freud figuratively notes, an anxious person carries with him everywhere and which is always ready to attach to any more or less suitable object ( both external and internal). For example, it can translate into fear of anticipation. Secondly, these are phobic reactions, which are characterized by a disproportion to the situation that caused them - fear of heights, snakes, crowds, thunder, etc. Thirdly, this is fear, which arises during hysteria and severe neuroses and is characterized by a complete lack of connection with any external danger.

Despite the fact that these days the ideas of classical psychoanalysis are no longer as popular in the psychological community as in former times, it must be recognized that Freud’s ideas for many years, right up to the present day, have determined the main directions in the study of anxiety.

The problem of anxiety was further developed in line with neo-Freudianism, primarily in the works of G.S. Sullivan, K. Horney and E. Fromm.

E. Fromm emphasized that the main source of anxiety and internal restlessness is the experience of alienation associated with a person’s idea of ​​himself as a separate person, who therefore feels helpless before the forces of nature and society. E. Fromm considered the main way to resolve this situation to be the most diverse forms of love between people. It is not for nothing that he called one of the first sections of his book “The Art of Love” “Love is the solution to the problem of human existence.”

G.S. Sullivan, speaking about anxiety, uses concepts from psychosomatics. He notes that the satisfaction of biological drives is usually accompanied by the release of physical tension, both in the internal organs and in the skeletal muscles; this happens involuntarily. Under the influence of the parasympathetic nervous system, internal organs relax (satisfaction relieves the need for further actions), and external muscles, under the control of the central nervous system, also strive to reduce tension.

According to R.S. Nemov, anxiety is defined as a person’s ability to enter a state of increased anxiety, to experience fear and anxiety in specific social situations.

V.V. Davydov interprets anxiety as an individual psychological feature, consisting in an increased tendency to experience anxiety in a wide variety of life situations, including such social characteristics that do not imply this.

Anxiety includes the following concepts: “anxiety”, “fear”, “worry”. Let's consider the essence of each. Fear is an affective (emotionally acute) reflection in a person’s mind of a specific threat to his life and well-being. Anxiety is an emotionally heightened sense of an upcoming threat. Anxiety, unlike fear, is not always a negatively perceived feeling, since it is also possible in the form of joyful excitement, exciting expectations.

The common thread between fear and anxiety is the feeling of restlessness. It manifests itself in the presence of unnecessary movements or, conversely, immobility. The person becomes lost, speaks in a trembling voice, or becomes completely silent.

Fear can manifest itself in the form of an excited or depressed emotional state. Most often, when fear intensifies, its highest form - horror - is accompanied by a depressed state, depression.

Some philosophers, especially those who approach this phenomenon from a purely moral standpoint, consider fear to be a harmful emotion with bad consequences. Other philosophers, especially those who view fear as a primarily biological phenomenon, on the contrary, consider this state to be useful because it alerts us to dangerous situations. Both points of view are not mutually exclusive, since the emotion of fear, like the sensation of pain, ensures the self-preservation of the individual, and becomes unproductive or dangerous only in the most intense and prolonged manifestations.

Ch. Spielberger distinguishes two types of anxiety: personal and situational (reactive). Personal anxiety assumes a wide range of objectively safe circumstances as containing a threat (anxiety as a personality trait). Situational anxiety usually occurs as a short-term reaction to a specific situation that objectively threatens a person.

A.I. Zakharov draws attention to the fact that in older preschool age anxiety is not yet a stable character trait; it has situational manifestations, since it is during the period of preschool childhood that the formation of personality occurs in a child.

A.M. Parishioners distinguishes types of anxiety based on situations related to: the learning process, educational anxiety; with self-image - self-esteem anxiety; with communication - interpersonal anxiety. In addition to the types of anxiety, its level structure is also considered.

I.V. Imedadze distinguishes two levels of anxiety: low and high. Low is necessary for normal adaptation to the environment, and high causes discomfort for a person in the surrounding society.

B.I. Kochubey, E.V. Novikov distinguishes three levels of anxiety associated with activity: destructive, insufficient and constructive. Anxiety as a psychological feature can take various forms.

According to A.M. Parishioners, anxiety is the experience of emotional discomfort associated with the expectation of trouble, with a premonition of impending danger, and the form of anxiety is understood as a special combination of the nature of the experience, awareness of verbal and non-verbal expression in the characteristics of behavior, communication and activity.

Anxiety is the experience of emotional discomfort associated with the expectation of trouble, with a premonition of impending danger. She identified open and closed forms of anxiety. Open forms: acute, unregulated anxiety; regulated and compensating anxiety; cultivated anxiety. She calls closed (disguised) forms of anxiety “masks.” Such masks are: aggressiveness; overdependence; apathy; deceit; laziness; excessive daydreaming. Increased anxiety affects all areas of the child’s psyche: affective-emotional, communicative, moral-volitional, cognitive.

Anxiety, like fear, is an emotional reaction to danger. Unlike fear, anxiety is characterized primarily by vagueness and uncertainty. Even if there is a specific danger, as with an earthquake, anxiety is associated with the fear of the unknown. The same quality is present in neurotic anxiety, whether the danger is vague or embodied in something concrete, such as a fear of heights.

Different individuals consider very different things to be their vital values, and one can find wide variations in what they experience as a mortal threat. Although certain values ​​are almost universally perceived as vitally important - for example, life, freedom, children - however, only depending on the living conditions this person and what will become the highest value for him depends on the structure of his personality: body, property, reputation, beliefs, work, love relationships.

Thus, the concept of anxiety is interpreted differently by different authors; but, in general, from the definitions of concepts it follows that anxiety can be considered as: a psychological phenomenon; individual psychological characteristics of a person; a person’s tendency to experience anxiety; state of heightened anxiety.

2.3 Anxiety in primary school age

School is one of the first to open up the world of social life to a child. In parallel with the family, he takes on one of the main roles in raising the child.

Thus, school becomes one of the determining factors in the development of a child’s personality. Many of his basic properties and personal qualities are formed during this period of life; all his subsequent development largely depends on how they are laid.

It is known that changing social relationships pose significant difficulties for a child. Anxiety and emotional tension are associated mainly with the absence of people close to the child, with changes in the environment, usual conditions and rhythm of life.

The expectation of impending danger is combined with a feeling of uncertainty: the child, as a rule, is not able to explain what, in essence, he is afraid of. Unlike the similar emotion of fear, anxiety does not have a specific source. It is diffuse and behavioral can manifest itself in a general disorganization of activity, disrupting its direction and productivity.

Two large groups of signs of anxiety can be distinguished: the first is physiological signs that occur at the level of somatic symptoms and sensations; the second is reactions occurring in the mental sphere. The difficulty in describing these manifestations lies in the fact that all of them individually and even in a certain aggregate can accompany not only anxiety, but also other states and experiences, such as despair, anger and even joyful excitement.

The psychological and behavioral reactions of anxiety are even more varied, bizarre and unexpected. Anxiety, as a rule, entails difficulty making decisions and impaired coordination of movements. Sometimes the tension of anxious anticipation is so great that a person unwittingly causes himself pain.

Typically, anxiety is a transitory state; it subsides as soon as the person actually faces the expected situation and begins to navigate and act. However, it also happens that the expectation that gives rise to anxiety is prolonged, and then it makes sense to talk about anxiety.

Anxiety, as a stable state, interferes with clarity of thought, effective communication, enterprise, and creates difficulties when meeting new people. In general, anxiety is a subjective indicator of personal distress. But for it to form, a person must accumulate a baggage of unsuccessful, inadequate ways to overcome the state of anxiety. That is why, in order to prevent an anxious-neurotic type of personality development, it is necessary to help children find effective ways in which they could learn to cope with anxiety, uncertainty and other manifestations of emotional instability.

In general, the cause of anxiety can be anything that violates a child’s sense of confidence and reliability in his relationship with his parents. As a result of anxiety and anxiety, a personality grows up, torn by conflicts. In order to fear fear, anxiety, feelings of helplessness and isolation, the individual has the definition of “neurotic” needs, which she calls neurotic personality traits learned as a result of vicious experiences.

A child, experiencing the hostile and indifferent attitude of others, and overcome by anxiety, develops his own system of behavior and attitude towards other people. He becomes angry, aggressive, withdrawn, or tries to gain power over others to compensate for the lack of love. However, such behavior does not lead to success; on the contrary, it further aggravates the conflict and increases helplessness and fear.

The transformation of anxiety from mother to baby is put forward by Sullivan as a postulate, but it remains unclear to him through what channels this connection is carried out. Sullivan, pointing to the basic interpersonal need - the need for tenderness, which is already inherent in an infant capable of empathy in interpersonal situations, shows the genesis of this need, passing through each age period. Thus, a baby has a need for the tenderness of his mother, in childhood there is a need for an adult who could be an accomplice in his games, in adolescence there is a need for communication with peers, in adolescence there is a need for love. The subject has a constant desire to communicate with people and a need for interpersonal reliability. If a child encounters unfriendliness, inattention, and alienation from close people whom he strives for, then this causes him anxiety and interferes with normal development. The child develops destructive behavior and attitude towards people. He becomes either embittered, aggressive, or timid, afraid to do what he wants, anticipating failures, and shows disobedience. Sullivan calls this phenomenon “hostile transformation”; its source is anxiety caused by poor communication.

Each period of development is characterized by its own prevailing sources of anxiety. Thus, for a two-year-old child, the source of anxiety is separation from the mother; for six-year-old children, it is the lack of adequate patterns of identification with their parents. In adolescence - fear of being rejected by peers. Anxiety pushes a child into behavior that can save him from trouble and fear.

As the child's imagination develops, anxiety begins to focus on imaginary dangers. And later, when an understanding of the meaning of competition and success develops, one finds oneself ridiculous and rejected. With age, the child undergoes some restructuring in relation to objects of concern. Thus, anxiety in response to known and unknown stimuli gradually decreases, but by the age of 10-11, anxiety associated with the possibility of being rejected by peers increases. Much of what worries us during these years remains in one form or another in adults.

The subject's sensitivity to events that may cause anxiety depends, first of all, on the understanding of the danger, and also, to a large extent, on the person's past association, on his real or imagined inability to cope with the situation, on the meaning that he himself attaches to the incident.

Thus, in order to free a child from worry, anxiety and fears, it is necessary, first of all, to fix attention not on specific symptoms of anxiety. Based on the underlying reasons - circumstances and conditions - this condition in a child often arises from a feeling of insecurity, from demands that are beyond his strength, from threats, cruel punishments, and unstable discipline.

The state of anxiety can be completely relieved only by eliminating all difficulties of cognition, which is unrealistic and unnecessary.

Destructive anxiety causes a state of panic and despondency. The child begins to doubt his abilities and strengths. But anxiety disorganizes not only educational activities, it begins to destroy personal structures. Of course, it is not only anxiety that causes behavioral disorders. There are other mechanisms of deviations in the development of a child’s personality. However, psychologists-consultants argue that most of the problems for which parents turn to them, most of the obvious violations that impede the normal course of education and upbringing are fundamentally associated with the child’s anxiety.

B. Kochubey, E. Novikova consider anxiety in connection with gender and age characteristics.

It is believed that in preschool and primary school age boys are more anxious than girls. They are more likely to have tics, stuttering, and enuresis. At this age, they are more sensitive to the effects of unfavorable psychological factors, which facilitates the formation of various types neuroses.

It turned out that the content of girls' anxiety differs from boys' anxiety, and the older the children, the more significant this difference is. Girls' anxiety is more often associated with other people; they are worried about the attitude of others, the possibility of a quarrel or separation from them.

What worries boys the most can be described in one word: violence. Boys are afraid of physical injuries, accidents, as well as punishment, the source of which is parents or authorities outside the family: teachers, school principal.

A person’s age reflects not only the level of his physiological maturity, but also the nature of his connection with the surrounding reality, features of the internal level, and the specifics of experience. School time is the most important stage in a person’s life, during which his psychological appearance fundamentally changes. The nature of anxious experiences changes. The intensity of anxiety more than doubles from the first to the tenth grade. According to many psychologists, the level of anxiety begins to rise sharply after the age of 11, reaching its peak by the age of 20, and gradually decreases by the age of 30.

The older the child gets, the more specific and realistic his worries become. If young children are worried about supernatural monsters breaking through the threshold of their subconscious, then teenagers are worried about a situation associated with violence, expectation, and ridicule.

The cause of anxiety is always the child’s internal conflict, his inconsistency with himself, the inconsistency of his aspirations, when one of his strong desires contradicts another, one need interferes with another. The most common causes of such internal conflict are: quarrels between people who are equally close to the child, when he is forced to take the side of one of them against the other; incompatibility of different systems of demands placed on a child, when, for example, what parents allow and encourage is not approved at school, and vice versa; contradictions between inflated aspirations, often instilled by parents, on the one hand, and the real capabilities of the child, on the other, dissatisfaction of basic needs, such as the need for love and independence.

Thus, the contradictory internal states of the child’s soul can be caused by:

conflicting demands on him coming from different sources;

inadequate requirements that do not correspond to the child’s capabilities and aspirations;

negative demands that put the child in a humiliated, dependent position.

In all three cases, there is a feeling of “losing support,” loss of strong guidelines in life, and uncertainty in the world around us.

Anxiety does not always appear in obvious form, since it is a rather painful condition. And as soon as it arises, a whole set of mechanisms is activated in the child’s soul that “process” this state into something else, albeit also unpleasant, but not so unbearable. This can change the entire external and internal picture of anxiety beyond recognition.

The simplest of psychological mechanisms works almost instantly: it is better to be afraid of something than to be afraid of something unknown. So, children's fears arise. Fear is the “first derivative” of anxiety. Its advantage is its certainty, the fact that it always leaves some free space. If, for example, I am afraid of dogs, I can walk where there are no dogs and feel safe. In cases of pronounced fear, its object may have nothing to do with the true cause of the anxiety that gave rise to this fear. A child may be terrified of school, but at the heart of this is a family conflict that he deeply experiences. Although fear, compared to anxiety, gives a slightly greater sense of security, it is still a condition in which it is very difficult to live. Therefore, as a rule, the processing of anxious experiences does not end at the stage of fear. The older the children, the less often the manifestation of fear, and the more often - other, hidden forms of anxiety.

However, it must be taken into account that an anxious child simply has not found another way to deal with anxiety. Despite the inadequacy and absurdity of such methods, they must be respected, not ridiculed, but the child must be helped to “respond” to his problems with other methods; one must not destroy the “island of safety” without giving anything in return.

The refuge of many children, their salvation from anxiety, is the world of fantasy. In fantasies, the child resolves his insoluble conflicts; in dreams, his unsatisfied needs are satisfied. In itself, fantasy is a wonderful quality inherent in children. Allowing a person to go beyond reality in his thoughts, to build his own inner world, unfettered by conventional boundaries, and to creatively approach solving various issues. However, fantasies should not be completely divorced from reality; there should be a constant mutual connection between them.

The fantasies of anxious children, as a rule, lack this property. A dream does not continue life, but rather opposes itself to it. In life I don’t know how to run - in my dreams I win a prize at regional competitions; I am not sociable, I have few friends - in my dreams I am the leader of a huge company and perform heroic deeds that evoke admiration from everyone. The fact that such children and adolescents could actually achieve the object of their dreams is, not surprisingly, of no interest to them, even if it costs little effort. Their real advantages and victories will meet the same fate. In general, they try not to think about what actually exists, since everything that is real for them is filled with anxiety. As a matter of fact, the real and the factual change places for them: they live precisely in the sphere of their dreams, and everything outside this sphere is perceived as a bad dream.

However, such withdrawal into one’s illusory world is not reliable enough - sooner or later the demands of the big world will burst into the child’s world and more effective effective methods of protection against anxiety will be needed.

Anxious children often come to a simple conclusion: in order not to be afraid of anything, you need to make them afraid of me. As Eric Berne puts it, they try to convey their anxiety to others. Therefore, aggressive behavior is often a form of hiding personal anxiety.

Anxiety can be very difficult to discern behind aggressiveness. Self-confident, aggressive, humiliating others at every opportunity, do not look alarming at all. His speech and manners are careless, his clothes have a connotation of shamelessness and excessive “uncomplexedness.” And yet, such children often hide anxiety deep down in their souls. And behavior and appearance- only ways to get rid of the feeling of self-doubt, from the consciousness of one’s inability to live as one would like.

Another common outcome of anxious experiences is passive behavior, lethargy, apathy, and lack of initiative. The conflict between conflicting aspirations was resolved through the renunciation of all aspirations.

Anxious children are characterized by frequent manifestations of restlessness and anxiety, as well as a large number of fears, and fears and anxiety arise in situations in which the child would seem to be in no danger. Anxious children are particularly sensitive, suspicious and impressionable. Also, children are often characterized by low self-esteem, which causes them to expect trouble from others. This is typical for those children whose parents set impossible tasks for them, demanding things that the children are not able to do.

Anxious children are very sensitive to their failures, react sharply to them, and tend to give up activities in which they experience difficulties.

In such children, you can notice a noticeable difference in behavior in and outside of class. Outside of class, these are lively, sociable and spontaneous children; in class they are tense and tense. Teachers answer questions in a low and muffled voice, and may even begin to stutter. Their speech can be either very fast and hasty, or slow and labored. As a rule, motor excitement occurs: the child fiddles with clothes with his hands, manipulates something.

Anxious children tend to develop bad habits of a neurotic nature: they bite their nails, suck their fingers, and pull out their hair. Manipulating their own body reduces their emotional stress and calms them down.

Among the causes of childhood anxiety, the first place is improper upbringing and unfavorable relationships between the child and his parents, especially with his mother. Thus, rejection and non-acceptance of the child by the mother causes him anxiety due to the impossibility of satisfying the need for love, affection and protection. In this case, fear arises: the child feels the conditionality of maternal love. Failure to satisfy the need for love will encourage him to seek its satisfaction by any means.

Childhood anxiety can also be a consequence of the symbiotic relationship between the child and the mother, when the mother feels like one with the child and tries to protect him from the difficulties and troubles of life. She “ties” the child to herself, protecting her from imaginary, non-existent dangers. As a result, the child experiences anxiety when left without a mother, is easily lost, worried and afraid. Instead of activity and independence, passivity and dependence develop.

In cases where upbringing is based on excessive demands that the child is unable to cope with or copes with difficulty, anxiety can be caused by the fear of not being able to cope, of doing the wrong thing. Parents often cultivate “correct” behavior: their attitude towards the child may include strict control, a strict system of norms and rules, deviation from which entails censure and punishment. In these cases, the child’s anxiety may be generated by the fear of deviating from the norms and rules established by adults.

A child’s anxiety can also be caused by the peculiarities of interaction between an adult and a child: the prevalence of an authoritarian style of communication or inconsistency of demands and assessments. In both the first and second cases, the child is in constant tension due to the fear of not fulfilling the demands of adults, not “pleasing” them, and transgressing strict boundaries.

When we talk about strict limits, we mean the restrictions set by the teacher. These include restrictions on spontaneous activity in games, activities, etc.; limiting children's inconsistency in classes, for example, cutting children off. Restrictions can also include interrupting the emotional manifestations of children. So, if emotions arise in a child during an activity, they need to be thrown out, which can be prevented by an authoritarian teacher.

Disciplinary measures applied by such a teacher most often come down to reprimands, shouting, negative assessments, and punishments.

An inconsistent teacher causes anxiety in a child by not giving him the opportunity to predict his own behavior. The constant variability of the teacher’s demands, the dependence of his behavior on his mood, emotional lability lead to confusion in the child, the inability to decide what he should do in this or that case.

The teacher also needs to know situations that can cause children's anxiety, especially the situation of rejection from a significant adult or from peers; the child believes that the fact that he is not loved is his fault, he is bad. The child will strive to earn love through positive results and success in activities. If this desire is not justified, then the child’s anxiety increases.

The next situation is a situation of rivalry, competition. It will cause especially strong anxiety in children whose upbringing takes place in conditions of hypersocialization. Hypersocialization is the intensive socialization of everything that exists beyond the “upper boundary” of society. Another situation is a situation of increased responsibility. When an anxious child falls into it, his anxiety is caused by the fear of not living up to the hopes and expectations of an adult and of being rejected.

In such situations, anxious children usually have an inadequate reaction. If they are foreseen, expected, or frequently repeat the same situation that causes anxiety, the child develops a behavioral stereotype, a certain pattern that allows him to avoid anxiety or reduce it as much as possible. Such patterns include systematic refusal to answer questions in class, refusal to participate in activities that cause anxiety, and the child remaining silent instead of answering questions from unfamiliar adults or those to whom the child has a negative attitude.

We can agree with the conclusion of A.M. Prikozhan, that anxiety in childhood is a stable personality formation that persists over a fairly long period of time. It has its own motivating force and stable forms of implementation in behavior with a predominance of compensatory and protective manifestations in the latter. Like any complex psychological formation, anxiety is characterized by a complex structure, including cognitive, emotional and operational aspects with the dominance of the emotional... it is a derivative of a wide range of family disorders.

Thus, in understanding the nature of anxiety in different authors, two approaches can be traced - the understanding of anxiety as an inherently human property and the understanding of anxiety as reactions to an external world hostile to a person, that is, the removal of anxiety from the social conditions of life

2.4 Manifestation of anxiety at school age

School time is the most important stage in a person’s life, during which his psychological appearance fundamentally changes. The school opens up the world of social life for the child and, in parallel with the family, is involved in his upbringing. Thus, school becomes one of the determining factors in the development of a child’s personality. For any child, entering school is an extremely important event, but some children easily get used to the new environment and new requirements, while others adapt poorly. At the time of entering school, the child must have formed the internal position of the student, which represents a motivational center that directs the child to study, his emotionally positive attitude towards school, and the desire to be a “good student.” In cases where the student’s positive position is not satisfied, the child may experience persistent emotional distress, fear of school, reluctance to attend, and school anxiety arise. This is a specific type of anxiety ity, characteristic of a certain class of situations - situations of interaction of a child with various components of the school educational environment. It manifests itself in excitement, increased anxiety in educational situations, and the expectation of a negative attitude towards oneself from classmates and teachers. Usually these children are very vulnerable, suspicious, very sensitive and take everything too seriously. Anxious children find themselves at school in a situation of constant evaluation of their actions and find themselves chronically unsuccessful. The child’s inability to cope with this failure is the basis for the emergence and consolidation of anxiety. Thus, the teacher turns out to be the most significant and at the same time the most traumatic figure in school for the child. By the end of primary school age, such children develop a psychological syndrome of chronic failure.

anxiety fear tension

Conclusion

The problem of anxiety is one of the most pressing problems in modern psychology. Among a person’s negative experiences, anxiety occupies a special place; it often leads to a decrease in performance, productivity, and difficulties in communication. In a state of anxiety, we, as a rule, experience not one emotion, but some combination of different emotions, each of which affects our social relationships, our somatic state, perception, thinking, and behavior. It should be borne in mind that anxiety in different people can be caused by different emotions.

The problem of diagnosing childhood anxiety requires special attention from psychologists, educators, and parents, since timely identification of its symptoms and study of the anxiety-forming impact of the child’s macrosocial environment will prevent negative manifestations of anxiety.

Based on theoretical and empirical research, it can be argued that, being a complex phenomenon that has various forms and types, frequency and degree of manifestation, which cannot be unequivocally assessed, anxiety can have both a positive and negative impact on the formation of a child’s personality.

As a result, we were able to identify important characteristics of anxious children.

Firstly, this is a relatively high level of learning ability of such children, which contradicts the teachers’ point of view of them as poorly trainable or not trainable at all.

Secondly, children’s inability to isolate the main task, concentrate on it, and the desire to cover all elements of the activity with their attention.

Thirdly, refusal to solve a problem after failure, and they associate failure not with the inability to solve a particular problem, but with the lack of necessary abilities, which is also typical for anxious children.

In addition, this group of anxious children was characterized by a fairly low level of self-esteem, both general and self-esteem in activities. The child in such a situation looked completely disoriented; he seemed to have lost all criteria for a correct or incorrect answer, correct behavior.

Note that such behavior is unusual for children of other school ages. It can be assumed that it is specific specifically for the first stages of learning, when anxiety arises as a child’s reaction to his lack of understanding of new demands and the inability to respond to them. This phenomenon is in many ways similar to what the World Health Organization has labeled “school shock.”

Manifestations of high anxiety in a child, accompanied by such emotional and psychophysiological changes as disturbances in his well-being, sleep, appetite, play activities, communication with adults and peers, etc., require mandatory measures to prevent its negative consequences.

When working with anxious children, the main emphasis should be placed on the fact that at primary school age one of the main reasons for the occurrence of inappropriate behavior in a child is anxiety. Next, the role of anxiety was shown. For fruitful work, for a full harmonious life, a certain level of anxiety is necessary.

List of used literature

1. May R., 2001; Tillich P., 1995 Levitov N.D., 1969. Anxiety and anxiety.

Spielberg Ch.D. Khanina Yu.L. Correction of increased anxiety in children. - St. Petersburg, (2001 - 214 s)

Prikhozhan A.M. Anxiety in children and adolescents: psychological nature and age dynamics. - M.: Moscow Psychological and Social Institute // Voronezh: Publishing House NPO "MODEK", 2000. (Series "Library of a practicing teacher").

Spielberg Ch.D. Conceptual and methodological problems in the study of anxiety. - Comp. Yu.L. Khanin. - M., 1983.

Horney K. Collection Op. in 3 volumes. M.: Smysl, 1997. T.2. pp. 174-180