ABSTRACT
It has been argued that the recognition of anxiety disorders in the early nineteenth century can be seen in the context of the reduced level of threat in society in general. It was only in the affluent and more predictable conditions of the industrial developed world that these symptoms can be seen as an abnormal response to a relatively unthreatening world. In these less threatening conditions, the minority who experience ongoing nervousness and paroxysmal anxiety attacks were then identified as worthy of treatment. Before that, anxiety had not been perceived as a mental illness in its own right, rather more as a social stress and a possible cause of mental illness (Berrios and Link 1995).
