It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone in my life with a lower level of anxiety. Maybe in this age, maybe at this age, for some reason, everyone seems to be out of breath. While “depression” and “procrastination” have become almost buzzwords, the emotion of “anxiety” has not yet been discussed in depth, and here’s why The reasons for this will be discussed later. Anxiety is a very special emotion – it is an emotion that is definitely perceptible. That is, maybe you are depressed, but you don’t know what this negative emotion of yours is; but whenever you are anxious, you are sure to be aware of it and to distinguish it clearly from emotions such as pain, sadness, or depression. Anxiety is, in this sense, the same as pain. You may not know why you are anxious, but you will certainly feel your anxiety. So I can ask you this: Do you feel anxious? Where does your anxiety come from? Do you know what message your anxiety is trying to send to you? Does anxiety serve any purpose as an emotion? This article will answer these questions and tell you “what anxiety really is” based on Freud’s theory of anxiety in his book “Inhibition, Symptoms and Anxiety” from 1926. Since psychologists do not speak human, we will first review the “Id”, “Ego” and “Superego” for the sake of smoothness. ” . The deepest layer is the “Id”, which is the desires and fears that you are not aware of (still in the subconscious); the outermost layer is the “Superego”, which is the morality and conscience taught by our parents and society; and The “ego” is the mostly conscious one, which is used to deal with reality, and is the executive between the ego and the superego. Ego: desires and fears, Ego: reality enforcer, Superego: moral sense – remember that? There are many kinds of anxiety. But all anxieties have a common source of “conflict”, perhaps within ourselves or with the outside world. At the same time, all kinds of anxiety also have a common function, which is to anticipate danger and protect ourselves. Only sometimes this danger is from the inner world, sometimes from the real world, sometimes it is a real danger, and sometimes it is in our memory and imagination. So the two feelings, anxiety and fear, are closely related. First look at a chart, later will explain in detail: 1, the source of reality anxiety: the conflict between the self and reality We know that in our mind, only the self is directly connected with the external world, consciousness, feelings, perceptions, memories, emotions, thoughts, etc. These are the work of the self. When we feel that there may be some danger in the external world, the ego sends a signal to alert the mind in order to protect itself. That signal is anxiety. Fear of an external world thing like an elevator going out of control or a car that is out of control is reality anxiety. Anxiety like the fear of not getting your homework done affecting your grade is also reality anxiety. Mere reality anxiety is a relatively healthy form of anxiety. From an evolutionary perspective, humans have developed the ability to be anxious about potential hazards by virtue of their reproductive experience, and this anxiety can improve human survival rates. For us, controlling anxiety at a certain level can best mobilize us to act. Some studies show that people who have a certain level of anxiety feelings are more productive and of better quality than people who are not anxious at all. 2. The source of moral anxiety: the conflict between the ego and the superego The superego is not something one is born with. Initially, parents are the moral arbiters of their children. Parents would regulate their children, and when they violated the record, they would punish them. Later this morality is internalized by us, and this fear of punishment stays inside together. The superego is responsible for creating two feelings, guilt and shame. These are two extremely negative emotions, in fact shame is the worst of all feelings on the positive and negative scale of emotions. These two feelings exist as a means of ego punishment. When the ego has some thought that offends our moral conscience, the superego punishes us with guilt and shame. Because of the fear of this possible punishment, whenever we first have a thought that might offend our moral conscience, the ego immediately gives a signal to mobilize defense and protection from the punishment. This signal is also known as anxiety. This type of anxiety is also very common. However, if one’s moral code itself is problematic, too strict or biased (for example, inappropriately feeling that one’s premarital sex is a sign of lustful shame), it may result in unnecessary and excessive self-punishment that may bring harm to oneself. 3, neurotic anxiety source: the conflict between the ego and the ego Neurotic anxiety is the most tricky of the three kinds of anxiety. It is somehow based on the reality of anxiety. When you feel that some instinct of yours (located in the ego) will bring real danger; or because the desires and fears (located in the ego) are so strong that if they are released they will overwhelm the ego, the ego’s function may be damaged, and the ego will collapse; in order to avoid this, the ego will send out warning signals, i.e. anxiety. The complex and mysterious part is that because such instincts, desires and fears are located in the ego, that is, they are still in your subconscious mind, you are not actually aware that you have them at all. You only feel inexplicable, unwarranted, lingering anxiety, but are not aware of what you are anxious about. Conflict between the ego and the Self is actually quite common, and in fact every child is bound to experience such a rush in their developmental experience. This conflict is not necessarily pathological, but it does become associated with some psychological disorders. It is important to note that the feeling of anxiety itself is not the underlying cause of the illness. Often times it is the struggle to get rid of this feeling of anxiety that leads to illness. For example, obsessive-compulsive disorder is the use of compulsive behaviors to reduce feelings of anxiety. Personality disorders are often the result of an abnormal upbringing and choosing to develop a way to best adapt to that abnormal environment and consistently relieve feelings of anxiety. So anxiety-related disorders are not the only category of anxiety disorders as we might think; obsessive-compulsive disorders, phobias, and personality disorders are all related to feelings of anxiety. Finally, there is a saying that “anxiety is simply a universal coin that can be used as an exchange for all emotions”, which means that any kind of feeling that you are not able to specify yourself (including positive and positive feelings) can be felt by you in the form of anxiety. It is because of this profound, complex and uncertain nature of anxiety that not many people have done discussions about it yet.