Understanding Anxiety Part II: Components of Anxiety

All emotions seem to have several components – they generate sensations in the body, they motivate behavior via urges, and they direct attention towards the perceived object of emotion. Physically, fear and anxiety tend to generate tightness in a person’s muscles, stomach discomfort, increase in heart rate, and an internal pressure or restlessness. Behaviorally, the first instinct is usually to freeze. Then, if a feared object is identified (e.g., a person or group of people, a situation, an inanimate object, an animal, a thought or feeling, etc.), the urge becomes avoidance or escape. Mentally, attention becomes directed towards the object of fear and we are faced with the decision of whether to approach or avoid. When the intensity of the fear or threat is greater than the potential rewards of approaching, a person will tend to avoid. When the potential reward is salient, and the person feels capable of attaining it despite the fear, they will be more likely to approach.

-Noah Lankford, Psy.D.