According to Xi (2020), anxiety is a distressing personal feeling that results in non-

adaptive physical and mental reactions. It is associated with intrusive thoughts about
uncertain future.
Spielberger (1983, as cited in Vitasari et al., 2010) classifies anxiety as a psychological and
physical response to subjective feelings of tension.
One of the ways in which anxiety can occur is by pairing certain stimuli in one individual’s
past environment (De Houwer, 2020). For example, bad grades can become an anxiety
trigger for a child who repeatedly got punished by their parents after coming home with a
bad grade.
Alternatively, anxiety can also occur when somebody is faced with aspects about
themselves that they feel hesitant towards and lack the capacity to process the
uncomfortable feelings accompanied with them (Sedlak, 1985).
Although anxiety can be rooted in all major psychological perspectives, the aim of this
essay is to take a look at it through a Behaviourist and a Psychodynamic approach, as well as
to get an understanding of some possible ways of dealing with anxiety.
Behaviourism is a psychological perspective concerned with understanding people and
animals by taking a look at their observable behaviour, unlike other perspectives that focus
on mind and its internal processes (ThoughtCo., 2019). De Hower (2020) labels conditioning
research “an important source of information about origins and treatment of anxiety
disorders”. Classical Conditioning, developed by Ivan Pavlov, is one of the key-findings
related to Behaviourism.
According to Pavlov (1927), human and animal behaviour can be shaped through
associations between different stimuli. A Neutral Stimulus does not trigger any response in
the subject, while an Unconditioned Stimulus will trigger an Unconditioned Response. After
being repeatedly paired with the Unconditioned Stimulus, the Neutral Stimulus becomes a
Conditioned Stimulus, which triggers a Conditioned Response in the subject. This conclusion
was reached by Pavlov after running a controlled experiment on a dog, where he would
repeatedly make sure to let it hear the sound of a bell before being given food. In this
experiment, the independent variables consist of the neutral stimulus (the bell sound) and
the unconditioned stimulus (food). The dependent variable is the dog’s salivation response.
Pavlov’s experiment concluded that, after the conditioning, the dog began drooling at the
simple sound of the bell, which became a conditioned stimulus, that could trigger a reaction
in the dog by itself, although no food was present.
De Hower (2020) states that Classical Conditioning can be referred to both as an effect or
as a mechanism. Classical Conditioning as an effect looks at the observable change in
behaviour that an individual shows after the repeated association between a meaningful
Unconditioned Stimulus and a Neutral Stimulus. For example, in Pavlov’s experiment, the
effect is the salivation response of the dog (C.R.). On the other hand, Classical Conditioning
as a mechanism aims to take a look at the internal causes that lead to a change in one
individual’s behaviour during the conditioning. Under certain circumstances, anxiety can be
an effect of Classical Conditioning. Delprato & McGlynn (1984) suggested that Anxiety can
occur by pairing certain stimuli in someone’s past environment. If the Neutral Stimulus is
paired with a meaningful and terrifying Unconditioned Stimulus, that produces anxiety as an
Unconditioned Response, the resulted Conditioned Stimulus will then generate anxiety by
itself after the conditioning, even in the absence of the initial anxiety-generating
Unconditioned Stimulus. De Hower (2020) indicates that, if repeated painful bites from
spiders make spiders become an anxiety source for someone who did not fear spiders
initially, before ever having got bitten, the anxiety would be an effect of Classical
Conditioning. Here is another example of how anxiety could be explained as an effect of
classical conditioning: An abusive father has a tendency to physically hurt his son when
being under the influence of alcohol. Assuming that he does not drink on the regular, the
son is likely not to feel anxious before the conditioning. However, if the father starts
engaging in a weekly drinking habit on every Friday evening, the simple fact that it is Friday
could start producing anxiety in the kid. In this example, the Neutral Stimulus is Friday, the
Unconditioned Stimulus is the father’s tendencies towards aggressiveness under the
influence of alcohol, and the Unconditioned Response is the kid’s feeling of anxiety. Before
the conditioning, the Neutral Stimulus (Friday) is totally ignored by the subject (kid). The
Unconditioned Stimulus (father’s aggressiveness) has the power to make the kid feel
anxious by itself, without needing any other external factor. After the conditioning, Friday
becomes a conditioned stimulus, which can trigger anxiety in the kid even before his father
actually starts drinking. In other words, because the son kept witnessing his father drinking
and becoming aggressive on every Friday, he is then likely to become anxious at the simple
thought that it is Friday, even if his father has not started drinking yet or will not even drink
this time.
Science has seen empirical evidence which supports the idea that Anxiety can be a result
of Classical Conditioning. Watson & Rayner (1920, as cited in Delprato & McGlynn, 1984) ran
a controversial, controlled experiment on Albert B., an 11-month-old child. The child was
presented a white laboratory rat (Neutral Stimulus). Initially, Albert showed no fear towards
it. Watson made Albert cry (Unconditioned Response) each time he was touching the rat, by
producing a loud noise (Unconditioned Stimulus). After repeated associations, Albert started
crying (Conditioned Response) at the simple sight of the rat (Conditioned Stimulus). The
dependent variable was Albert’s response to the rat after the conditioning, while the
independent variables were the Neutral / Conditioned Stimulus, and the Unconditioned
Stimulus. Although the study was criticised due to the ethical considerations behind it (lack
of informed-consent from Albert or debrief), the results clearly showed that Behaviourism is
worth being considered when addressing a topic like Anxiety.
The Behaviourist perspective plays an important role in understanding what leads a
person towards feelings of Anxiety, which can eventually be used as a tool to make the
Anxiety go away. If Anxiety is a result of Classical Conditioning, a therapist can identify the
Conditioned Stimulus in order to spot the Unconditioned Stimulus and find the actual source
of the Anxiety. Moreover, evidence supports the Pavlovian law of extinction (Delprato &
McGlynn, 1984), which suggests that a Conditioned Stimulus will get progressively
diminished when being repeatedly presented to the subject in the absence of the
Unconditioned Stimulus. In other words, the dog will stop drooling at the simple sound of
the bell if the bell has been repeatedly rung without being given any food for long enough. If
someone feels anxious as a result of classical conditioning, this theory can help the person
eliminate half of the problem. For example, if the abusive father stops showing a pattern of
drinking on every single Friday, the son will eventually stop feeling anxious simply because it
is Friday. De Hower (2020) classifies exposure and systematic desensitization as a highly
effective treatment strategy, which was derived from Classical Conditioning research. It is
safe to say that Classical Conditioning plays an important role in the treatment of anxiety,
considering that by finding the conditioned stimulus, a therapist can spot the unconditioned
stimulus, which can also be referred to as the source of the anxiety. On top of this, the
therapist can use the Pavlovian law of extinction to make the patient stop feeling anxious at
the Conditioned Stimulus. However, Classical Conditioning alone cannot always explain or
cure any type of anxiety. This is because, Classical Conditioning can only explain the Anxiety
generated by a Conditioned Stimulus after the association with an Unconditioned Stimulus
that generates Anxiety as an Unconditioned Response. This suggests there always was
another cause of Anxiety, way before the conditioning took place. While Classical
Conditioning can be valuable when it comes to finding that initial cause, it is also possible
that the Unconditioned Stimulus could be rooted in any psychological perspective, other
than Behaviourism.
Unlike Behaviourism, the Psychodynamic approach to Psychology studies human
behaviour by looking at the ways in which the unconscious aspects of the mind can
influence personality, attitudes, and eventually produce emotional disorder (American
Psychological Association, n.d.). It shifts its focus from the observable behaviour and
environment to the internal, unconscious processes that govern human mind.
Sedlak (1985) claims that anxiety is a result of one individual’s feelings of “impending
danger”, and, despite this being something that most psychological perspectives agree with,
there is a specific way to look at it, mostly associated with the Psychodynamic Perspective.
This viewpoint suggests the existence of a model where anxiety is the symptom of a
momentarily awareness over aspects about one’s self, that an individual does not tolerate
and feels hesitant towards reflecting on. Sedlak offered a qualitative perspective by
providing insight into a psychoanalytic psychotherapy session he had with a female patient,
whose main symptoms were the lack of ability to engage in relationships and social anxiety.
Soon after implying that treatment was important to her, the patient claimed that she had a
friend coming over for a meal and asked Sedlak if they could finish the session early that
day. Sedlak linked this back to some traumatic events that happened in the patient’s early
childhood, including being left by her father “in a most painful way” at the age of 5, shortly
followed by the birth of a brother that had health problems until the age of 1, which
captured most of the patient’s mother attention. This association made Sedlak realise that
the hesitant attitude shown by the female patient soon after she became aware of the
importance of therapy in her life, lies in her resistance to becoming dependent on anybody
other than herself. After Sedlak made the patient aware of his hypotheses and offered her
the chance to consider his interpretation, she confirmed that she could not bear indeed to
be needy. Furthermore, Clemens (2003) suggests that a small child will be exposed to
anxiety in a variety of situations, depending on the life stage they find themselves in and
their development. This makes it a good starting point when addressing the anxiety source
of an adult, because it might be related to difficulties in their early childhood.

Psychodynamic Perspective: From a psychodynamic viewpoint, regulating affects is often

Extinction Failures and Incubation Effects. A vast amount of experimental evidence supports the
Pavlovian law of extinction which holds that CS presentations in the absence of contingent UCS
presentation result in progressive diminutions of the CR. Insofar as fears are classically conditioned
respondents, unrein forced CS presentations should extinguish them as well. Eysenck has argued not
only that fear responses sometimes fail to diminish with repeated CS-only presentations, but also
that under certain conditions there should be incremental or enhancement (incubation) effects.
According to Eysenck,

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Psychodynamic approach. In APA dictionary of