Some behavioral signs and systems of anxiety include:

There are over 100 anxiety symptoms and signs for anxiety, anxiety attacks (panic attacks), and other anxiety disorders including symptoms:

Anxiety is defined as:

In other words, anxiety occurs when we behave (think and act) in an apprehensive manner, such as when worrying about an event or situation.

With this in mind, anxiety is not a force or 'thing' in itself. It's a state of uneasiness that results when we worry. More about this in a moment.

Because imagining the future in an apprehensive manner is a behavior, it's not caused by a biological, chemical, or genetic problem with the brain. Anxiety results from a certain style of behavior.

Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. This is normal. This is why anxiety is not a medical, biological, chemical, or genetic problem.

Anxiety turns into a 'disorder' - disruption to normal functioning - when anxiety and its sensations and symptoms interfere with a normal lifestyle.

It's important to keep in mind that anxiety disorder should NOT be equated with a medical condition or serious mental illness (when there is a medical, biological, chemical, or genetic cause). Unfortunately, the term mental illness is used to refer to any problem caused by behaving in an abnormal way (what is considered to be outside of the 'norm'). All of us have behaviors that fall outside of the norm, which is why all of us could be categorized as having some type of mental illness.

While you may have or have been diagnosed as having anxiety disorder, this means you have overly anxious behaviors (tendencies). It doesn't mean you are somehow mentally deficient or have something medically, biologically, chemically, or genetically wrong.

Behaving in an overly apprehensive manner creates the physiological, psychological, and emotional state of anxiety. Anxiety activates the stress response, which stresses the body. A body that becomes overly stressed can exhibit symptoms of stress.

So anxiety symptoms are actually symptoms of stress. They are called anxiety symptoms because behaving apprehensively is the main source of the stress that overly stresses the body, which then, causes the body to exhibit symptoms.

Because each body is somewhat chemically unique, the type, number, intensity, duration, and frequency of anxiety symptoms will vary from person to person. For example, one person might have just one mild or a few anxiety symptoms, whereas another person might have all anxiety symptoms and to great severity. All combinations and variations are common.