Overview
The American Psychological Association defines anxiety as “an emotion characterized by apprehension and somatic symptoms of tension in which an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune. The body often mobilizes itself to meet the perceived threat: Muscles become tense, breathing is faster, and the heart beats more rapidly.”
When used as a casual shorthand, anxiety is often interchangeable with fear in general or Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), in which someone experiences chronic and uncontrollable anxiety across multiple areas of life that lasts longer than six months in ways that disrupt daily life. However, the two cases are very distinct; anxiety as an emotion is considered a normal response to specific stressful event like a public speaking obligation, but generalized anxiety involves chronic worry about a wide variety of things without a specific stressor. GAD also comes with distinct physical sypmtoms like restlessness, frequent or constant fatigue, muscle aches and headaches, and trouble sleeping.