Anxiety Glossary
Clear, practical definitions of the key terms used to understand anxiety — from the science to everyday life.
A
Autonomic nervous system
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls involuntary body functions — heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestio…
See definition →Automatic thoughts
Automatic thoughts are spontaneous, rapid, and often unconscious thoughts that arise in response to situations — immedia…
See definition →Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is the fear or avoidance of situations where escape would be difficult or help unavailable if the person wer…
See definition →Anxiety and ADHD — a bidirectional relationship
Anxiety and ADHD co-occur at a very high rate — roughly 50% of people with ADHD have some comorbid anxiety disorder. The…
See definition →ACT — Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a 'third-wave' behavioral therapy approach that focuses on accepting difficul…
See definition →Anxiety in children
Anxiety in children is very common — an estimated 10-20% of children have some anxiety disorder. Unlike adults, children…
See definition →B
Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines are anti-anxiety medications that work by enhancing the action of GABA (the brain's main inhibitory neur…
See definition →Breathing techniques for anxiety
Breathing techniques are interventions based on the relationship between breathing and the autonomic nervous system. Slo…
See definition →C
CBT — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a structured psychotherapeutic approach that focuses on the relationship between t…
See definition →Cognitive restructuring
Cognitive restructuring is a set of CBT techniques aimed at identifying, evaluating, and modifying the dysfunctional tho…
See definition →Cortisol
Cortisol is the body's primary stress hormone, produced by the adrenal cortex in response to stressors and regulated by …
See definition →Cognitive distortions
Cognitive distortions are systematically biased thinking patterns that skew a person's perception of reality — first ide…
See definition →E
EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy developed by Francine Shapiro, originally for PT…
See definition →Exercise and anxiety
Physical exercise is one of the interventions with the strongest evidence for anxiety — with effectiveness comparable to…
See definition →F
Fight-or-flight response
The fight-or-flight response is the automatic physiological activation that prepares the body to confront or flee from t…
See definition →Financial anxiety
Financial anxiety is excessive, persistent worry about money — debt, financial security, retirement, spending. It has bo…
See definition →G
GAD — Generalized Anxiety Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive, persistent worry that is difficult to control and span…
See definition →Gradual exposure
Gradual exposure is a core therapeutic technique in the treatment of anxiety disorders that involves progressively confr…
See definition →Grounding
Grounding refers to techniques that help bring attention back to the present moment — especially useful during panic att…
See definition →H
Habituation
Habituation is the neurobiological process by which the response to a stimulus decreases with repeated exposure to that …
See definition →Health anxiety (hypochondria)
In the DSM-5, what used to be called hypochondria was split into two diagnoses: Illness Anxiety Disorder (worry about ha…
See definition →P
Panic Disorder
Panic Disorder is characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, followed by at least a month of persistent conce…
See definition →PTSD — Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops in response to exposure to a traumatic event (actual or threatened) invol…
See definition →S
Social Phobia — Social Anxiety Disorder
Social Phobia (clinically known as Social Anxiety Disorder) is the intense, persistent fear of social situations in whic…
See definition →SSRIs — Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors
SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressants for anxiety di…
See definition →SNRIs — Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors
SNRIs (Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors) are another class of antidepressants used for anxiety and depressio…
See definition →Separation anxiety
Separation anxiety is excessive fear related to separation from attachment figures — parents, spouse, children. It is no…
See definition →School performance anxiety
School performance anxiety is excessive anxiety related to academic evaluation situations — tests, assignments, presenta…
See definition →Sleep and anxiety — a bidirectional relationship
The relationship between sleep and anxiety is bidirectional and powerful: anxiety disrupts sleep, and sleep deprivation …
See definition →Understanding is the first step
Balanced Mind puts this knowledge into practice with tools built to manage anxiety day to day.