Everyone experiences anxiety. At times, being anxious is an appropriate response to events in the environment. For example, the anxiety that you feel before a first date motivates you to bring out your best behavior. Perhaps the anxiety you feel about an important assignment at work. Anxiety can be diagnosed as a disorder when it occurs continuously for a period of time or when it rises to the level of causing distress or impairing a person’s ability to function in everyday life—for example, in relationships, at school, at work, and so on. The disorders in this course all share anxiety as a symptom.