Early 20th century psychologists viewed anxieties as actually stages of development that didn't so much go away as we graduated from one anxiety to another in life and that there were certain anxieties associated

with different stages of development, but the idea that we could get to a place in our life where anxieties would be completely removed was not actually part of the picture.

So I like the early categories that were used because I think that there's

uh...

categories that are entirely based on the way people present

or their symptoms

the original categories of anxieties were based on the underlying causes

and the underlying stages of development, and in a way, they created an entirely different expectation.

The expectation was not, how can I get rid of this,

but rather how can I learn to live with whatever stage of anxiety I'm at. So when people experience the

symptoms or the expression of anxiety in their life, they were less likely to be treated with a sense of oh, this is wrong and pathologist and more likely to be

greeted with a analyst who is or somebody they would work with who would be sympathetic.

Fortunately, Buddhist practice has a lot of tools that will also allow us to be with whatever anxiety we

experience in life.

So the first stage of anxiety that we have in life is called, or used to be called at least,

annihilation. Annihilation is the terror of an infant that fears something external will essentially

overwhelm

overcome at

engulf at

swarm at destroy it The vulnerability that we feel in our first months of life where we are

completely vulnerable and are still working through developing a secure reliable connection that we understand.

So the infant is associated with this stage of anxiety and in life

...