The Causes And Different Types Of Anxiety

In his initial assessment of anxiety, Sigmund Freud believed that anxiety was triggered by unfulfilled libido. However, as time passed by, he refuted this claim as he found a more in-depth understanding of anxiety. He was able to identify that anxiety was not the result of one’s repression, rather the cause of it. Freud, in this phase, saw that the person’s inhibition is prompted by the anxiety the person is experiencing. Hence, he identified two types of anxiety that each have a distinct reason for existence, but both are rooted on traumatic situations. Though it may seem a little inadequate to cover each anxiety experienced in this world, these two anxieties Freud came up with are generalized but are able to clearly differentiate causes of anxiety with regards to Psychoanalysis.

First is primary anxiety, which, according to Freud, is caused by a situation that have caused trauma for the person because of the state of helplessness the person has encountered. In that case, primary anxiety occurs when a person undergoes extreme disturbance that causes the person to act a certain way. This, in turn, can be seen as a form of suppression the person developed as a response to the trauma faced by the client. Moreover, an example of this can be seen in people experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is rooted from a traumatic event that have caused various extreme and negative emotions. Therefore, the person may feel dejected after the said event which results to the person’s withdrawal from the world as a reaction to the event.

On another note, secondary anxiety which can also be called as signal anxiety serves as a trigger that something traumatic may occur and are stimulated by external factors. As a result, the person may develop a defense mechanism to restrain it. Furthermore, it can also be based on a memory that the person bases what is considered as a threat. Hence, the person experiencing this trauma may inhibit certain things about themselves as the person’s defense mechanism.

This is similar to Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD) which is characterized by constant obsessions and compulsions that may disrupt the life of the person. One of the most common sub-characterization of OCD is the obsession with cleanliness which causes the person to repeatedly wash or sanitize themselves. This can be rooted from a past memory of the person that have caused the person extreme sickness which caused the development of the person’s defense mechanism which is the repetitive rituals inclined to cleanliness of the person’s body.