How Anxiety Can Be a Secondary Emotion

Is anxiety an emotion?

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Anxiety is a common secondary emotion, one that you experience in place of another that's too difficult to feel or express. This differs from a primary emotion, an initial, direct reaction to something. For example, anxiety can be a secondary emotion for anger, jealousy, hurt, disappointment, embarrassment, or sadness. You can also experience two secondary emotions at once, such as anger and anxiety.

Theoretically, secondary emotions protect you from more complicated or painful feelings. it's easy to think that a situation or occurrence has made you anxious or angry when the true emotion is something different.

Learning about primary and secondary emotions can help you understand yourself and where your reactions are coming from.

Overview



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Generalized Anxiety Disorder

For people with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), this can become very complicated. They experience mPeople with chronic, uncontrollable anxiety that causes significant life problems often are diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). They see most of their life experience through a lens of constant worry, so anxiety is a relatively expected, familiar feeling.

GAD Symptoms

According to the DSM-5, a GAD diagnosis requires anxiety and worry that occurs for at least six months. Signs and symptoms of GAD can include:

  • Imagining every possible negative conclusion to a situation
  • Difficulty concentrating, or the feeling that your mind "goes blank"
  • Difficulty handling uncertainty or indecisiveness
  • Trouble making decisions for fear of making the wrong one
  • Inability to relax
  • Persistent, obsessive worrying about small or large concerns that are out of proportion to their importance
  • Worrying about excessively worrying

Physical Health Symptoms

Physical signs and symptoms of GAD can include:

  • Being easily startled
  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Irritability
  • Muscle tension or aches
  • Sweating
  • Trembling, feeling twitchy
  • Trouble sleeping

If you're concerned about your mental health or that of someone you know, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.

For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database.

Understanding Complex Emotions

To discover the true source—the primary emotion—of your anxiety, the first step is simply asking yourself that question. Be open to the possibility that you are hurt, disappointed, or grieving rather than anxious. If you sense actual fear, then your anxiety is likely in the right place. The goal is to make life changes that help alleviate your true negative feelings, so you don't miss out on experiences or continue to worry for “no reason,” as many people with GADdo.

By considering that other feelings might lie underneath your anxiety, you're taking a great step toward understanding yourself, having greater emotional intelligence, and improving your situation based on those underlying feelings.

2 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association; 2013.

  2. National Institute of Mental Health. Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out of Control.