Anxiety is a physiological state characterized by somatic, cognitive, emotional and behavioral components. As per the literature of Unani Medicine, anxiety belongs to infia’lat-e-nafsaniyah which is a part of ajnas-eashrah (ten parameters) for the assessment of mizaj (temperament) of an individual. According to ancient physicians, infia’lat-e-nafsaniyah are higher in the persons of bilious temperament than the persons of phlegmatic temperament. The present study was designed to assess the level of anxiety during normal and stressful conditions in persons of bilious and phlegmatic temperament by using Anxiety State Test (AST).
Volunteers were selected randomly from the student fraternity of Aligarh Muslim University and Aligarh city. 100 male and female volunteers of 18-35 years of age of both the temperaments were selected for the study and the AST score was determined. In normal condition the mean AST score was found to be 28.24 ± 3.998 and 25.30 ± 2.915 in bilious and phlegmatic subjects respectively. During stressful condition, the mean AST score was recorded as 44.40±7.149 and 35.64±3.729 of bilious and phlegmatic subjects, respectively. A significant difference between the two groups in both the conditions was recorded.
The individuals of bilious temperament have higher anxiety than their phlegmatic counterparts both in normal as well as stressful conditions.