Review of The Psychology of Anxiety.

Abstract

Eugene E. Levitt's "The Psychology of Anxiety" is reviewed by two experts. In 11 chapters, Levitt scans much of the attempt by the psychological sciences (broadly defined) to know the nature of anxiety. Glimpsed are (a) the definition and measurement of anxiety, (b) the physiology of anxiety, (c) theories of anxiety, (d) the effect of anxiety upon psychological functioning, (e) the anxieties of everyday life, and (f) the defenses against anxiety. The four chapters on the experimental effect of anxiety, the physiology of anxiety, anxiety and learning, and anxiety and cognitive processes provide, in one reviewer's opinion, the substantive contribution of the book. In these chapters, Levitt presents a comprehensive overview of important developments in the area of anxiety research. No author could do more than highlight the key concepts and empirical work in each of these subareas and provide an integrated view of research on anxiety, no mean task but However, Levitt's work is further complicated by his decision to write for a relatively general audience. Because of the assumed psychological naivete of the general reader, he ends up with a book that presents an overly rigid, simplistic view of the scientific method. Despite these caveats, one reviewer believes the book will be useful to some professionals and students, probably to those people who either require an introductory level synthesis of events in the field of anxiety research or to those, for instance, who have been out of graduate school a number of years and who wish to catch up on new developments in the area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)