9781422280652

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Symptoms and Treatments of Anxiety Disorders

physically hurt; there are lots of other reasons people feel afraid. If you get in trouble at school, you might feel afraid that your parents are going to punish you when you get home. Many performers feel fear (called stage fright or performance anxiety ) right before a show. Some people actually enjoy being scared from time to time—that’s why rollercoasters and horror movies are so popular. Fear tends to be a fairly intense emotion, and it’s usually pretty short-lived. The dog either bites you or it doesn’t; your mom either yells at you or she doesn’t. Either way, the moment passes, and afterward, you no longer feel afraid. Even in situations where people are afraid of an abstract thing—like death, for example—they usually can’t

Stage fright is a type of anxiety that lots of people experience when they have to speak in front of an audience.