After studying psychology and training as a psychoanalyst, Fritz Riemann (1902-1979) became one of the founders of the Institute for Psychological Research and Psychotherapy in Munich, Germany (today, known as the Academy for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy). He was a lecturer and teaching analyst and had his own psychotherapeutic practice. He was also an honorary member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis in New York (today, known as the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry). Anxiety - originally published as Grundformen der Angst - has been considered Riemann's best-known work. In this first English translation, Fritz Riemann succeeds in presenting his thesis convincingly, that anxiety is human. He gently leads the reader to recognize his/her own anxieties and onesidedness. The confrontation with personal problems which can be raised onto the level of consciousness helps the reader to understand himself/herself, as well as fellow human beings, better. The book is a source of encouragement and instruction in the art of perceiving and accepting one's own anxieties, and, if possible, modifying them in a productive way. The book discusses: the character of anxiety and life's antinomies, various types of fear (fear of commitment, fear of self-becoming, fear of change, fear of necessity), and various personalities, including biographical backgrounds and examples of experiences (schizoid personalities, depressive personalities, compulsive personalities, hysterical personalities).
