The Chemistry of Anxiety
Chen (2013) defines anxiety to be a state of negative mood that is characterized by fear about the future and symptoms of physical tension. Imbalanced brain chemicals can contribute to mood and anxiety disorders. According to the chemical imbalance theory for panic disorder, chemical messengers known as neurotransmitters are responsible for sending messages throughout the brain, which can lead to anxiety if one or more is not balanced (Colckovic & Nazir, 2019). These neurotransmitters include;
- Serotonin- controls sleep, appetite, and mood.
- Norepinephrine- controls movement, energy, and attention.
- Dopamine- controls flight responses and how a person responds to stress.
- GABBA- balancing relaxation, excitement, and agitation.
How Anxiety Involves Chemistry
Chen (2013) suggests that among students, chemistry has a reputation for being a boring, complicated, and highly theoretical science. As a result, many students resort to memorization instead of seeking to understand concepts. This negative attitude causes chemical anxiety in them (fear of chemicals or chemistry as a subject/ course). Students perceive the subject to be too abstract, challenging, and only for the bright students resulting in pre- university-level students only choosing the discipline to attain degree requirements to enable them to get into courses such as medicine or engineering. Evaluations in chemistry such as tests, quizzes, and end of year semester examinations are the primary cause of anxiety among chemical activities. This anxiety is caused by the fear of learning, evaluation, and chemical handling. In his study, Chen also concluded that chemistry anxiety is higher in female students than male students.
References
Chen, H. (2013). Assessment of Chemistry Anxiety Among College Students. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-4860-6-_3
Colckovic, C., & Nazir, S. e. (2019). Panic Disorder (Attack). StatePearls. Retrieved February 11, 2020, from https://googleweblight.com/i?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ncbi.gov%2Fbooks%2FNBK430973%2F&geid=NSTNR