Experts Divided Over Anxiety is frightening, but it can also help us grow

Is anxiety something to get rid of? Or a necessary evil we cannot do without?

For the first time ever in the academic world of psychology, research has been conducted on the emotional effects of a pandemic. The last pandemic, which took place at the beginning of last century, came at a point where studies on emotions had not been formalised yet. However, Schimmenti et al. (2020) have now articulated all the shades of fear we have experienced in these last months. While the pandemic can be said to have generated fear and anxiety in many of us, these two inner states have always been part of our human experience.

Anxiety is generated from within us; it is a sign that something within our being is not as it should be: a need not met properly; a painful memory rekindled by a current incident; a new experience that is equally exciting and terrifying; the loss of a loved one, or other anxiety-inducing events. We are truly not masters of our own house; while our ego strives to keep everything under control, we are not flawless machines, but human beings on a journey towards a hard-fought freedom.