Anxiety can be either a short term "state" or a long term "trait". Whereas trait anxiety is a worry about future events, close to the concept of neuroticism, anxiety disorders are a group of mental …show more content…
According to Tillich, the last of these three types of existential anxiety, i.e. spiritual anxiety, is predominant in modern times while the others were predominant in earlier periods. Tillich argues that this anxiety can be accepted as part of the human condition or it can be resisted but with negative consequences. In its pathological form, spiritual anxiety may tend to "drive the person toward the creation of certitude in systems of meaning which are supported by tradition and authority" even though such "undoubted certitude is not built on the rock of