An anxiety threshold is the level of anxiety that, when reached, will affect a person's performance. Anxiety is a distasteful emotion, similar to fear, that is created by insecurities in one’s abilities, concerns for the future, such as financial or situational circumstances, or past memories of frightening experiences. Anxiety can affect all age groups and if fears are irrational may cause mental disorders. An individual's anxiety threshold can be measured by the amount of anxiety consistently manifested from situation to situation.
Subthreshold anxiety traits can be mild, atypical, or masked and therefore present a negative result for tests such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). These subthreshold symptoms are therefore often overlooked as early signs of more serious anxiety disorders.
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the most frequent anxiety disorders. Both threshold and subthreshold SAD is associated with a higher risk for many other disorders.
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a characteristic that can be described as the fear of anxiety. AS is an integral factor in the development and maintenance of anxiety.