Freud recognised the importance of anxiety. He was one of the first writers to argue that anxiety was a critical component of neurosis. Freud distinguished between ‘objective’ and ‘neurotic’ anxiety. By objective, Freud meant the reaction we have to external danger or expected injury. Neurotic anxiety was viewed as free-floating and something likely to hinder or even paralyse actions. Freud also wrote about a form of anxiety that was not groundless but was fairly focused on one or more...