Anxiety: A Short History

Anxiety is particular among most mental disorders in that it exists both pathologically and colloquially: to be “anxious” can connote a psychological condition, but it can also refer to a more commonly emotional or situational state. Both definitions are dealt with in this broad history of anxiety. Rutgers sociology professor Horwitz largely shies away from modern tendencies toward biological explanation and treatment, instead covering the sociocultural aspects of anxiety’s past, present, and future. He begins in the classical period with Hippocrates and proceeds up to the present. Almost an entire chapter is devoted to the rise of Freud in the 20th century, when the modern definition of anxiety developed. In these respects, the book might not differ from histories of other illnesses. However, Horwitz’s priorities lay less in innovation than in clear, readable organization: each short chapter is punctuated with a concise summary; all of this is wrapped up with a timely conclusion, wherein Horwitz argues for the necessity of balancing neuroscientific advances with the disease’s complex history in creating diagnostic criteria for anxiety. What is fascinating about this book is less the facts it presents than its ambiguities: anxiety will always force us to question the lines between the normal and the disordered, nervousness and depression, fears and pathologies. (Nov.)