us;	our	anxiety	response	can	be	triggered	by	things	that	exist	only	in	our
minds.	This	happens	when	we	worry	about	and	anticipate	what-ifs	and	worst-
case	scenarios,	which	may	never	come	to	be.	Consider	the	person	who	feels
insecure	and	frets	relentlessly	about	the	possibility	of	doing	something	wrong
socially	and	being	embarrassed.	Eventually	their	social	world	becomes
smaller	and	smaller.	They	may	no	longer	go	to	social	events	and	may	even
stop	opening	up	to	people	they’ve	known	for	a	long	time.
If	you’re	holding	this	book,	you	likely	struggle	with	anxiety	in	some	way.
But	you	may	still	have	questions	about	whether	or	not	anxiety	is	a	problem
for	you,	or	about	how	serious	a	problem	it	is.	There	are	some	general	ways	to
assess	if	you’re	dealing	with	problematic	anxiety,	or	just	the	normal	fears	that
arise	in	life	from	time	to	time.
Anxiety	is	
adaptive
	
when	it	comes	in	response	to	an	in-the-moment	fear
of	risk	in	your	immediate	environment.	Anxiety	is	
maladaptive
	
when	it
becomes	a	chronic	state	of	tension,	worry,	and/or	avoidance	behavior,	all	of
which	negatively	impacts	your	life	and	functioning.
The	table	below	describes	the	differences	between	normal	fear	and
problematic	anxiety.
FEAR
ANXIETY