Educating Anxiety

Educating Anxiety explores how anxiety can be transformed from a debilitating force into a creative and formative presence in students' lives and offers practical ideas for doing so in the context of higher education. Taking anxiety as an intrinsic part of the human experience, the book examines the impact of neoliberal pressures, social media and institutional structures on students' anxiety. Through five insightful essays, it provides readers with concrete frameworks to understand anxiety's creative potential, drawing on philosophical insights from Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and others, as well as theological perspectives, psychological analysis and pedagogical strategies for helping students channel anxiety into intellectual and personal growth. This volume is essential reading for educators, professional psychologists and counsellors at colleges and universities seeking to address student anxiety through a deepened understanding of the teaching and learning process. It is also a vital resource for researchers and scholars in psychology, philosophy, theology and education interested in exploring how anxiety can be reimagined beyond pathology as a formative presence in human lives.

Mark Freeman is Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society Emeritus, Psychology, College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA, and is also Senior Fellow in the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics at Boston College. Peter Joseph Fritz is Professor and Edward Bennett Williams Fellow in the Department of Religious Studies, College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA.