Читать книгу Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff - Группа авторов - Страница 109

Anxiety is the emotional response that occurs when there is the anticipation of future danger. What is critical for animal caretakers to be aware of is that the danger does not have to be real; it may be unknown or imagined. Equally important is that when animals perceive something to be dangerous or threatening, that is what they will respond to emotionally. The physiological responses to feelings of anxiety are similar to the responses that are seen with fear (see Box 4.2). Many of these behaviors can also be seen associated with particular medical conditions, further complicating some diagnoses.

In addition, it appears that some individuals have behavioral dysfunction due to pathological anxiety, and this results in maladaptive behavior. A definition for pathological anxiety has been proposed: “Pathological anxiety is a persistent, uncontrollable, excessive, inappropriate and generalized dysfunctional and aversive emotion, triggering physiological and behavioural responses lacking adaptive value. Pathological anxiety‐related behaviour is a response to the exaggerated anticipation or perception of threats, which is incommensurate with the actual situation” (Ohl et al. 2008).