Editing Anxiety (section)

===Psychological===
{{Mental state}}
Poor [[Coping (psychology)|coping skills]] (e.g., rigidity/inflexible problem solving, denial, avoidance, impulsivity, extreme self-expectation, negative thoughts, affective instability, and inability to focus on problems) are associated with anxiety. Anxiety is also linked and perpetuated by the person's own pessimistic outcome expectancy and how they cope with feedback negativity.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gu R, Huang YX, Luo YJ | title = Anxiety and feedback negativity | journal = Psychophysiology | volume = 47 | issue = 5 | pages = 961–967 | date = September 2010 | pmid = 20374540 | doi = 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2010.00997.x }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Watkins ER | title = Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought | journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 134 | issue = 2 | pages = 163–206 | date = March 2008 | pmid = 18298268 | pmc = 2672052 | doi = 10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163 }}</ref> Temperament (e.g., [[neuroticism]])<ref name="NeuroticismMA" /> and attitudes (e.g. pessimism) have been found to be risk factors for anxiety.<ref name="Bienvenu Ginsburg 2007">{{cite journal | vauthors = Bienvenu OJ, Ginsburg GS | title = Prevention of anxiety disorders | journal = International Review of Psychiatry | volume = 19 | issue = 6 | pages = 647–654 | date = December 2007 | pmid = 18092242 | doi = 10.1080/09540260701797837 | s2cid = 95140 }}</ref>

[[Cognitive distortion]]s such as overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, mind reading, [[emotional reasoning]], binocular trick, and mental filter can result in anxiety. For example, an overgeneralized belief that something bad "always" happens may lead someone to have excessive fears of even minimally risky situations and to avoid benign social situations due to anticipatory anxiety of [[embarrassment]]. In addition, those who have high anxiety can also create future stressful life events.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Phillips AC, Carroll D, Der G | title = Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and/or stress generation | journal = Anxiety, Stress, and Coping | volume = 28 | issue = 4 | pages = 357–371 | year = 2015 | pmid = 25572915 | pmc = 4772121 | doi = 10.1080/10615806.2015.1005078 }}</ref> Together, these findings suggest that anxious thoughts can lead to anticipatory anxiety as well as stressful events, which in turn cause more anxiety. Such unhealthy thoughts can be targets for successful treatment with [[cognitive therapy]].

[[Psychodynamics|Psychodynamic]] theory posits that anxiety is often the result of opposing [[Unconscious mind|unconscious]] wishes or fears that manifest via maladaptive [[Defence mechanisms|defense mechanisms]] (such as suppression, repression, anticipation, regression, somatization, passive aggression, dissociation) that develop to [[Ego psychology|adapt]] to problems with early [[Object relations theory|objects]] (e.g., caregivers) and [[Self psychology|empathic failures]] in childhood. For example, persistent parental discouragement of anger may result in repression/suppression of angry feelings which manifests as gastrointestinal distress (somatization) when provoked by another while the anger remains unconscious and outside the individual's awareness. Such conflicts can be targets for successful treatment with [[Psychodynamic psychotherapy|psychodynamic therapy]]. While psychodynamic therapy tends to explore the underlying roots of anxiety, cognitive behavioral therapy has also been shown to be a successful treatment for anxiety by altering irrational thoughts and unwanted behaviors.

====Evolutionary psychology====
An [[evolutionary psychology]] explanation is that increased anxiety serves the purpose of increased [[vigilance (psychology)|vigilance]] regarding potential threats in the environment as well as increased tendency to take proactive actions regarding such possible threats. This may cause [[false positive]] reactions but an individual with anxiety may also avoid real threats. This may explain why anxious people are less likely to die due to accidents.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Andrews PW, Thomson JA | title = The bright side of being blue: depression as an adaptation for analyzing complex problems | journal = Psychological Review | volume = 116 | issue = 3 | pages = 620–654 | date = July 2009 | pmid = 19618990 | pmc = 2734449 | doi = 10.1037/a0016242 }}</ref> There is ample empirical evidence that anxiety can have adaptive value. Within a school, timid fish are more likely than bold fish to survive a predator.<ref>{{Cite book| vauthors = Gluckman P |title=Principles of Evolutionary Medicine|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-19-923639-8|pages=249}}</ref>

When people are confronted with unpleasant and potentially harmful stimuli such as foul odors or tastes, [[Positron emission tomography|PET-scans]] show increased blood flow in the [[amygdala]].<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zald DH, Pardo JV | title = Emotion, olfaction, and the human amygdala: amygdala activation during aversive olfactory stimulation | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 94 | issue = 8 | pages = 4119–4124 | date = April 1997 | pmid = 9108115 | pmc = 20578 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.94.8.4119 | doi-access = free | bibcode = 1997PNAS...94.4119Z }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Zald DH, Hagen MC, Pardo JV | title = Neural correlates of tasting concentrated quinine and sugar solutions | journal = Journal of Neurophysiology | volume = 87 | issue = 2 | pages = 1068–1075 | date = February 2002 | pmid = 11826070 | doi = 10.1152/jn.00358.2001 | s2cid = 6278342 }}</ref> In these studies, the participants also reported moderate anxiety. This might indicate that anxiety is a protective mechanism designed to prevent the organism from engaging in potentially harmful behaviors.