Anxiety described by Wordsworth's Margaret

My apprehensions come in crowds; I dread the rustling of the grass; The very shadows of the clouds Have power to shake me as they pass.
William Wordsworth, The Affliction of Margaret

Wordsworth's Margaret suffered from a problem with which many of us can identify today. He describes a general anxiety disorder, a disproportionate sense of fear and apprehension induced without good reason. Millions of people in the world go through life feeling that there is something terribly wrong with them because of the constant anxiety that pervades their lives. It may be a state of galloping panic, it may be continuous feeling of uncertainty and conviction that something is not quite right.

Anxiety is the permanent companion of so many of us. The Latin word anxius means to press tightly or to strangle; the dictionary defines 'anxiety' as 'a state of chronic apprehension’. Men and women are blessed - some may say cursed with imagination; they can project their thoughts into the future and anticipate what might happen rather than what actually will happen ... and what misery this can cause. Too often anxiety develops into a chronic condition where the sufferer is afraid of the anxiety itself and is then caught in a vicious circle which is difficult to break.

Some people are naturally timid, going through life trying to avoid confrontations that they feel might upset their equili¬brium. Rude behaviour from a stranger or a family row will set them for days and they will avoid arguments at all costs, i is now accepted that many of us are born with a predispo¬sition towards anxiety; others, as we shall see later in this book, ay become oversensitised as the result of some traumatic event, psychological or physiological, and find that they not cope with the stresses of everyday life. In their highly sensitised state these people may experience chronic, nagging anxiety which can disrupt their lifestyles r, in more severe cases, become overwhelmed by sudden devastating attacks of acute anxiety, commonly called panic attacks.

Many people will experience a panic attack at some time in their lives. The after-effects of a serious illness, seeing or being involved in an accident, or experiencing some other traumatic event may result in a one-off panic attack - and that's understandable. Almost everyone at some time feels sick, weak, faint or over-anxious, but these feelings are soon shaken off and we are reassured because we know there was a reason for them. However, there are some people who can experience four or more panic attacks every month without any obvious reason, and this is when the anticipatory anxiety builds up.. the ‘what if?' syndrome. What if I have a panic attack at work? ... at school? ... in the cinema? Anywhere? Now the sufferer is faced with the most crippling phobia of them all: fear of fear itself. We know this as agoraphobia. For many years agoraphobia was understood to be a fear of open spaces, but you will see that this was a misnomer.

Though sufferers have often been unwilling to admit to being agoraphobic, the condition has been recognised for a long time. Richard Burton wrote in 1621 of:
one that durst not walk alone from home for fear he should swoon or die ... if he be in a throng, middle of a church or multitude, where he may not well go out, though he sit at ease he is so misaffected.



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