Anguish

**Anguish** is an emotion. It is a feeling of severe pain, mental suffering, distress and sadness. Anguish is related to misery, dread, despair, and depression.

## Causes of anguish
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Many things can cause a person to feel anguish. Abuse can cause anguish. Child abuse can cause anguish. Elder abuse can cause anguish. Bullying can cause anguish. Neglect can cause anguish. A person may feel anguish when their life is not going as they hoped and there is little they can do to change it. That number is .

When Jimmy Carter was President of the United States, he issued a  about human rights. He said that we must  the victims of anguish, not the culprits (the people who cause it).

## Anguish in medicine
In medicine, anguish is similar to anxiety. According to Sigmund Freud, the symptoms of anguish are , anxiety, crisis, nightmares, phobias and .

People with mental illnesses like melancholia or depression may feel anguish. Anguish may be a factor in a mental breakdown. can cause anguish.

The brain disease dementia can cause those who have it to experience anguish.

In dying patients, anguish may be , , or . They symptoms of physical anguish are  pain and anxiety. The symptoms of emotional and spiritual anguish are crying, , , or talking about fears or .

Anguish is sometimes a cause of suicide or homicide.

Researchers found a  treatment for the pain of anguish: a non-prescription medication (or over-the-counter drug) called paracetamol (or acetaminophen).

## Anguish in psychology
Mental anguish can have significant as physical symptoms. Psychological suffering from anguish can be just as significant as physical pain.

## Anguish in philosophy
Anguish is an idea in philosophy.

;Existentialism:

Anguish is an important concept in existentialism. Existentialists believe that freedom causes anguish.

French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre talked about anguish in his book ''L'Être et le Néant* (1943) (in English: *Being and Nothingness*) (1956).

"It is certain that we cannot overcome anguish, for we are anguish."

For Sartre and Heidegger and Kierkegaard anguish is an important emotion.

Another French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, said that anguish is a basic human emotion. He said that people feel anguish when they understand that they cannot escape from evil and pain in the world.

;Nihilism:

Anguish is an important concept in nihilism.

## Anguish in theology
Søren Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher. He wrote about religion, or . Kierkegaard talked about anguish in several of his books: *Fear and Trembling* (1843), *Either/Or* (1843), *The Sickness Unto Death* (1849), and *Two Discourses of God and Man* (1938). In the book *Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses'' (1843), Kierkegaard talked about Paul the Apostle. Paul felt anguish because he persecuted Christians.

## Anguish in movies
Anguish is feeling common for characters in Woody Allen's movies. Marion feels anguish in *Another Woman*. Alvy feels anguish in *Annie Hall*. Mary fakes feelings of anguish in *Manhattan*. Elliot causes anguish for others when he falls in love with one of his wife's sisters in *Hannah and Her Sisters*.

## Related pages
*Distress
*Sadness
*Suffering

## References