Therefore, I do not meet criteria for a phobia disorder. ![]() Nonetheless, I still go to see the dentist regularly and it does not create health problems or enormous distress for me. I may even have panic attacks prior to a dental visit. For instance, I may have a phobia about going to see the dentist. However, the main criteria used to distinguish normal anxiety from an anxiety disorder is that it results in significant distress, or impairs social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (APA, 2013). There are specific symptoms that accompany each anxiety disorder. This impairment causes them significant distress. In contrast, abnormal anxiety is a chronic condition that impairs peoples' functioning and interferes with their well-being. Therefore, the difference between normal anxiety and abnormal anxiety is this: anxiety is considered normal and adaptive when it serves to improve peoples' functioning or wellbeing. Anxiety disorders represent variant forms of this pathological anxiety. When the intensity, duration, and/or frequency of anxiety become distressful and chronic, such that it interferes with a person's functioning, it is often referred to as pathological anxiety. As such, abnormal anxiety is different from normal anxiety because it is disproportionate to the situation that elicited the anxious response. ![]() These three factors- duration, intensity, and frequency- distinguish normal, adaptive anxiety from abnormal, pathological anxiety. However, anxiety becomes a problem when it overstays its welcome (duration), and/or is of an intensity or frequency which begins to interfere with a person's functioning and overall well-being. As noted previously, normal anxiety is actually beneficial.
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