Question

Angst is a term used to describe feelings people may have when they realize they are alone, and neurotic anxiety is a mechanism used to avoid these realizations. Give an example of angst and describe the neurotic anxiety that would be exhibited (that you would expect to see.) Discuss why you would expect a person to behave in this manner based on humanistic views.

Answer 1

Angst is an explicit emotion or a feeling, it is covert in nature. Anger can have positive aspect as well. When a person is angry he does not think of the consequences of his actions and act without thinking. Basically there is a tendency to react and not response in angst situation.

Angst is a feeling where the person experience excessive anxiety and worry related to any ongoing situation or event in their life. In case of neurotic anxiety, there is always a feeling that l cannot do it and a sense of fear is felt. Neurotic anxiety becomes a medium of escape where in an individual does not want to confront the reality and there is an unconscious dispute going on in the person's head.

For eg - A person feels fearful that his/ her teacher will slap him when he is in the class. Here the fear is creating angst feeling and the neurotic anxiety could be because of emotional distress back at home.

A person will behave in this manner due to unresolved conflicts . When there is fear of losing control over basic / primary instincts, it can result in the form of punishment. But, according to humanistic view or approach they see an individual as a whole meaning at his accomplishments,fullfil inborn potential and live a healthy well being. There focus is to help the people thrive self actualization ( achieving your highest potential).