Anxiety is often not just a matter of being too anxious. Anxiety is typically experienced as a sudden spell of feeling frightened, anxious, or terrified in a situation where most people would not feel afraid. Anxiety symptoms often mimic the signs of medical illness. When a situation is identified as a threat, an automatic bodily response follows. Some people feel as if they are going to have a heart attack, collapse, faint, go crazy, or perhaps die. These physical feelings reinforce the anxiety. The person then focuses on the feelings and not the issue that caused the feelings. It is the fear of the panic or anxiety itself, regardless of where they occur, that is the primary problem. Time is then spent fearfully anticipating the next attack or avoiding life situations. When many situations begin to pose a serious threat, and panic becomes frequent and distressing to the point of interfering with day-to-day functioning, seeking help is important.

Since the time of the ancient Greeks, there have been consistent reports of a problem causing the most irrational fears in otherwise rational persons. It was not until the end of the nineteenth century that this came to be known as agoraphobia, which literally translated means "fear of the marketplace". While a fear of particular situations characterizes the majority of panic symptoms, evidence suggests that these situational fears are not the primary fears in panic. Individuals with anxiety are responding appropriately to their thoughts, it's just that the thoughts are often not appropriate to the situation. In this sense, panic is a false alarm, and stress increases our sensitivity to being alarmed. It's like a car alarm going off at the wrong time. Everyone has thoughts, feelings, and behaviors throughout the day. These thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influence each other. Sometimes, people are unaware of these influences, especially the influence of thoughts on feelings. It is easy to assume that events lead directly to emotions. This is most important, because it may lead people to believe that they have no influence over the way they think, feel, or behave. This leads to panic and anxiety.

The symptoms of anxiety begin with a situation that is assessed as a threat and excessive unwanted feelings develop. Most events that cause excessive anxiety are complex, and the full meaning given to the life event takes some time to unfold, appraise accurately, and develop coping skills to deal with in a healthy way. Most people become anxious when threatened by loss of love, position, wealth, or safety. Many events that appear threatening at the time are found to be harmless. It is not the things that go "bump in the night" that produce anxiety, but the meaning given to them. These false meanings are learned early in life and continue to be accepted as accurate. It is the incorrect appraisal of the event that identifies the event as a threat. Many people were taught to fear and avoid situations that produce normal anxiety and so react to anxiety as if it were abnormal, and then generate more fear and worsen their symptoms. The anxiety experienced is consistent with fight or flight responses, symptoms that if left untreated, become long lasting, and turn into feelings of despair and create irrational fears.