A phenomenological approach to the phenomena of anxiety: a scoping review.
Eduardo Silva, Willyan da Costa Mota, Camila Souza, Lucas Guimarães Bloc
Frontiers in Psychology 2026 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1921674 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Scoping review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind Anxiety |
| Keywords | Anxiety disorders Clinical phenomenology Phenomenological psychopathology Scoping review Social anxiety |
| Key findings | Across 36 articles (2014-2025), the authors identify a tendency to understand anxiety as a way of inhabiting the world, spanning phenomenological psychopathology (anxiety as altered temporality, spatiality, and intersubjectivity), specific conditions like social anxiety and OCD (anxiety as a way of dealing with anguish and uncertainty), and phenomenological philosophy (anxiety as an existential confrontation with incompleteness and freedom). They identify a gap in linking these conceptions to contemporary sociocultural contexts. |
Abstract
The increasing number of diagnoses of anxiety disorders has highlighted the need for discussions about anxiety in its affective, psychopathological, and mundane dimensions. This scoping review mapped 36 scientific articles (2014-2025) to analyze how Phenomenology contributes to the understanding of anxiety as a global phenomenon. The results highlight trends in the field in 4 discursive categories. For authors of Phenomenological Psychopathology, anxiety is understood as a global alteration of being-in-the-world, characterized by disturbances in temporality (dysrhythmia, narrowing of the future), spatiality (feeling of invasion/avoidance), and intersubjectivity (hypervigilance towards others). In specific conditions such as social anxiety and OCD, anxiety appears as a way for the subject to deal with anguish and uncertainty. In phenomenological philosophy, anxiety (or anguish) is considered a human and existential phenomenon, enabling a confrontation with incompleteness and freedom. The clinical directions of the collected articles point to the ways in which clinical contact can, by enabling contact with uncertainty, pave the way for a creative production of meaning. The review concludes that, although the articles start from different focuses on anxiety, there is an observable tendency in strands of production understanding anxiety as a way of inhabiting the world. However, a gap is identified in the literature regarding the articulation of these phenomenological conceptions with the specific sociocultural contexts of contemporary times.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on anxiety, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness-based interventions: an overall review General (healthcare, schools, workplace) | 2021 | Review | |
| A Consensus Statement on the Use of Ketamine in the Treatment of Mood Disorders | 2017 | Review and consensus statement | |
| Sudarshan Kriya Yogic Breathing in the Treatment of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: Part II—Clinical Applications and Guidelines | 2005 | Review | |
| Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology | 2018 | Review | |
| Management of Treatment-Resistant Depression: Challenges and Strategies | 2020 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 4
- The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2013
- Between Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology Psicopatologia Fenomenológica Contemporânea August 8, 2026
- Obsessive-compulsive existential type: a dialectical-phenomenological approach. Frontiers in Psychology 2023
- Temporal experience as a core quality in mental disorders Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences March 12, 2020