ABSTRACT
Anxiety. For a long time Mrs. Robertson2 had experienced a sense of dread. It felt as if, out of the blue, something started her heart beating fast. Her chest became tight, her mouth dry, and her swallowing difficult. If it happened during the day, she tried to reason with herself. What was she worried about? Usually she could figure out that it was something to do with her health or the safety of someone in her family. She told herself the doctor said she was all right, or that if anything had hap-
pened to the airplane her husband was on she would have heard. In any case, it was easier to hold her anxiety down during the day, when she could distract herself. At night, however, she sometimes woke up terrified, a fragment of a dream halfremembered, half-shrouded in mist. Sleep was through for the night. She tried to read, or write letters, hoping that with morning the feeling of dread would abate. But the nights got worse. And that made the days worse, too. Mrs. Robertson decided she had to find out what her anxiety was really about.
