ANXIETY
Instints share the center of Freudian dynamic theory with the concept of anxiety. In defining anxiety, Freud emphasized that it is felt, affective, unpleasant state accompanied by a physical sensation that warns the person against impending danger. The unpleasantness is often vague and hard to pinpoint, but the anxiety itself is always felt.
Only the ego can produce or feel anxiety, but the id, superego, and external world each are involved in o0ne of three kinds of anxiety. The ego's dependence on the id results in neurotic anxiety; its dependence on the superego produces moral anxiety; and its dependence on the outer world leads to realistic anxiety.
NEUROTIC ANXIETY
Neurotic anxiety is defined as apprehension about an unknown danger. The feeling itself exists in the ego, but it originates from id impulses. People may experience neurotic anxiety in the presence of a teacher, employer, or some other authority figure because they previously experienced unconscious feelings of destructiveness against one or both parebts. During childhood, these feelings of hostility are oftenm accompanied by fear of punishment, and this fear becomes generalized into unconscious neurotic anxiety.
MORAL ANXIETY
A second type of anxiety, moral anxiety, stems from the conflict between the ego and the superego. After we establish our superego - usually by the age of 5 or 6 - we may experience anxiety as an outgrowth of the conflict bwetween our realistic needs and dictates of our superego. Moral anxiety, for example, would result from sexual temptations if we believe that yielding to the temptation would be morally wrong. It may also result from the failure to behave consistently with what we regard as morally right, for example, failing to care for our aging parents or adequately supporting our children.
REALISTIC ANXIETY
Realistic anxiety, also known as objective anxiety, bears a close resemblance to fear. This third type of anxiety is defined as an unpleasant, nonspecific feeling involving danger. For example, we may experience realistic anxiety while driving in heavy, fast-moving traffic in an unfamiliar city, a situation fraught with real, objective danger. Howevver, realistic anxiety is different from fear in that it does not involve a specific fearful object. We would experience fear, for example, if our car suddenly began sliding out of control on an icy highway.
Anxiety serves as an ego-preserving mechanism because it signals us that some danger is at hand.
Anxiety is also self-regulating because it precipitates repression, which in turn reduces pain of anxiety. If the ego had no recourse to defensice behavior, the anxiety would become intolerable. Defensive behaviors, therefore, serve a useful function by protecting the ego against pain of anxiety.
Book:
Theories of Personality (5th Ed.)
Jess Feist and George J. Feist
McGraw Hill, 2003
P.S.
I typed it down verbatim since re-phrasing it will just confuse you. (^__^)v
Tags: research