Anxiety Definition

Anxiety as defined by the American Heritage Dictionary defines anxiety as “a state of uneasiness and distress about future uncertainties…apprehension…intense fear or dread…” (Boyer et al., 1985, p. 117). Bandura (1988) presents anxiety as “a state of anticipatory apprehension over possible deleterious happenings…an emotion of fright indexed by physiological arousal or subjective feelings of agitation” (p. 77-78). Within his definition, he also states that anxiety or emotional arousal can be considered both a physiological and emotional state.

The term anxiety can be traced back to its Latin origin: anxius. Dating as far back as the 17th Century, anxiety and its meaning has been constant. According to Lazarus & Averill (1972) the meaning of

anxiety is “a state of agitation or depression with feelings of distress in the praecordial region” (p. 245).

In a literature review about anxiety, the term fear is often discussed. Although these terms are used interchangeably, they do indeed have differences. Fear and anxiety can be traced back to the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. Spielberger, (1972) conducted research on writings done by an 11th century Arab philosopher, Ala ibn Hazm, of Cordova. He writes about the meaning of the hieroglyphics and purports that these images reflect man’s desire to escape anxiety and remove it from their spirit. The interdependence between the emotions of fear and anxiety is reflected in research conducted by Tillich (1996). He states that fear is a response to a specific object whereas anxiety is an emotion that is much less tangible, vague, and unspecific. The lack of specificity towards the causative emotion, results in a more anxious and frenzied behavior which may cause a person to lose the sense of awareness of the self and world (May, 1996).
Peplau describes anxiety as the energy coming from tension caused by biological and psychological needs that occur because of threats, real or imagined. In turn, this energy is produced as a direct result of the tension it caused the individual. According to Peplau, the energy you put forth is similar to the energy that you receive. Even though Peplau’s focus was on the patient/nurse relationship, this theory can be applied to student nurses during their clinical experience.