happens when we worry about and anticipate and 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 known for a long time If 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 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 fear of risk in your immediate environment Anxiety is maladaptive when it becomes a chronic state of tension worry 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 Fear is and generally rational in that responding to a threatening situation or event Anxiety is and can easily become