An operating definition of neurosis would more likely be that it results from a conflict between opposing emotions. Anxiety based upon the conflict of emotions is often called neurotic anxiety. The person, when anxious, has begun to substitute maladaptive approaches for more reality-based responses to problems. That is why we are able to be anxious over things that have never and may not even be likely to happen. In an acute panic attack the fear is so great that the individual feels total loss of control, impending doom and intense terror.
Anxiety is, therefore, essentially a free-floating fear.
Anxiety is a physical as well as a psychological reality. The person becomes intensely activated with an increase in heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, muscle tension, digestive processes and other autonomic activity. Thus, anxiety is a response of the person's nervous system. Often, however, we are aware of the physical symptoms of anxiety rather than the source. The symptoms rather than the event become the target of concern.