Soren Kierkegaard and The Psychology of Anxiety

"Just as a doctor might say that there is no such thing as a completely healthy person,

It could also be said, knowing men well, that there is not a single person

free from despair, internal conflict, disharmony,

a fear of something unknown and which one does not even dare to get to know, an anxiety about something external

or a fear of oneself... an inexplicable anxiety"

The title of W. H Auden's 1947 poem "The Age of Anxiety" is surely

One of the most appropriate phrases to capture the atmosphere that was experienced in those times

Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychological conditions today.

Still, for those who don't suffer from them, even moderate feelings of anxiety persist.

often for much of our day.

Most people believe that anxiety is an emotional state without positive value,

and consequently many try to relieve their feelings of anxiety through frantic actions,

stimulants, distractions, or a mix of prescription and recreational drugs.

However, those who have dedicated themselves to studying this emotion have found

that the role this emotion plays in our lives is not so clear and simple.

"There is no doubt that the anxiety problem is a point

nodal in which the most varied and important

questions converge, a riddle whose solution would yield

a torrent of light over our entire mental existence."

In this video we will try to glimpse the problem of anxiety

drawing on the ideas of the great Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard

To understand anxiety, it is helpful to contrast it with fear, which are emotional responses to perceived threats.

However, the types of threats that trigger these emotions are different.

Fear is usually triggered by a threat we know

and which is found in some external object or situation.

Anxiety, on the other hand, is the feeling of being threatened but unable to know where the danger comes from.

The source of our fears can usually be located, but anxiety, in the words of Rollo May,

"it attacks us from all sides at once"

Therefore, fear sharpens the senses and prepares us for a fight-or-flight response,

While anxiety, given its unknown cause, paralyzes the senses,

It inhibits action and leaves us unaware of how to reduce our discomfort.

Because of the disorientation involved, coping with severe anxiety is an agonizing experience.

Most people, however, are spared the tortures of severe anxiety,

But few can escape the mildest form of anxiety.

that permeates the background of our daily existence. To differentiate it from severe anxiety,

This most common form is sometimes called "angst" or "existential anxiety,"

and instead of trying to alleviate it, Soren Kierkegaard considers it an ingredient

indispensable in a life that develops to its full potential.

"If man were a beast or an angel, (he wrote)

I couldn't feel anxiety."

Since he is both beast and angel, he can be anxious,

and the greater the anxiety, the greater the man." (Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety)

In his book "The Concept of Anxiety"

Kierkegaard suggests that our capacity to feel existential anxiety

emerges with the birth of self-awareness.

In our state of infancy,

Growth involves the actualization of latent potentials within

with little or no conscious reflection or choice on our part.

At a certain stage of development, we awaken to self-awareness,

or to put it in symbolic terms represented in the myth of Adam and Eve,

We eat the forbidden fruit of knowledge and become aware not only of good and evil,

but of the possibility of freedom.

We begin to understand the countless possibilities before us,

and we see how the search for each of them would open a door to a different unknown.

This awareness of freedom in the midst of an almost infinite number of possibilities generates anxiety.

Or as Kierkegaard put it: anxiety is "the dizziness of freedom."

Kierkegaard compares the dizziness one feels in the face of unlimited possibility

with a man standing on the edge of a cliff over an abyss.

Along with the fear of accidentally falling to his death,

experiences anxiety when he realizes that he is free to jump.

Faced with all the possibilities of life,

We too find ourselves on a metaphorical cliff above an abyss, aware of "the alarming possibility of power" (Kierkegaard).

We understand that it is our freedom before the possibility,

or our ability to jump if we so choose,

which gives us control over our destiny.

But we feel ambivalent about this freedom.

We are attracted by the power it gives us, but repelled by the demands and confusion it imposes on us.

And then we tend to turn away from freedom and deny its existence, or, as Kierkegaard said, "we grasp finitude" (Kierkegaard).

We live as if the world and our situation in it were linked and immune to change.

This may help relieve anxiety, but at the cost of our growth.

To move forward in life it is necessary to be open to possibilities,

but this involves experiencing the dizziness of anxiety.

Without the ability to coexist with anxiety and act in the presence of it,

we could not chase risks,

explore the unknown and determine the limits of our capabilities.

We could not remain open to the future and choose between the possibilities presented to us,

nor being able to use our power to create new possibilities that have never before seen the light of day.

"Learning to know anxiety (he wrote)

It is an adventure that every man has to face...

Therefore, whoever correctly learned to feel anxiety

has learned the most important thing." (Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Anxiety)

But if we decide to run away from our freedom in an attempt to free ourselves from anxiety,

By avoiding the possibilities that await us, we will succumb to despair.

A life without possibilities and freedom is sterile,

It creates stagnation and deprives us of hope for a better future.

Therefore, since possibility and freedom are only possible with the presence of anxiety,

It would be wise to heed Kierkegaard's advice and learn to be anxious in the right way. Or as psychologist James Hollis explains:

"Therefore, we are forced to make a difficult decision:

anxiety or depression.

If we move forward, as our soul insists,

we can be flooded with anxiety.

If we do not move forward, we will suffer from depression,

the pressure of soul purpose.

In such a difficult choice, one must choose anxiety,

since anxiety is at least the path to personal growth;

"Depression is a stagnation and a defeat in life." (James Hollis, Swamplands of the Soul)