Table 2.

Common expressions and themes of anxiety and their clinical manifestations

Expression of anxiety	Common clinical presentations
Fearfulness	Often characterized by apprehension and dread When severe, may become even more exaggerated and manifest as panic or alarm
Physical reactions not attributable to organic disease or drug reactions	Hyperventilation Sensation of lump in throat Palpitations Tightness in chest or stomach Nausea
Thought confusion	Difficulty in concentrating Difficulty in assimilating or recalling information Altered perceptions such as seeing the environment, procedures or treatments as threatening
Restlessness	Hyper vigilance about new treatments or symptoms Phobic avoidance of feared procedures or situations Paralysis of effective coping Indecision and poor sleeping Poor sleeping
Themes of anxiety	Common clinical presentations
Uncertainty	Anxiety about outcome of treatments Anxiety about likelihood of cure or relapse Anxiety about duration of survival Anxiety about unfamiliar treatments and procedures
Life under siege	Fear that their lives have been surrounded and overtaken by forces that threaten both the present and possibly the future too
Fear of progression	Fears with respect to the progression of their illness and its possible sequellae38