---
title: "1 Chronic Anxiety Quotes By Edwin H. Friedman"
description: "1 Chronic Anxiety quotes by Edwin H. Friedman. Plus more from Edwin H. Friedman and more Chronic Anxiety sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fec/edwin-h-friedman-25568_anxiety_chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper_1882333.jpg"
---

> [“Chronic anxiety is systemic; it is deeper and more embracing than community nervousness. Rather than something that resides within the psyche of each one, it is something that can envelope, if not actually connect, people. It is a regressive emotional…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper-and-more-embracing-than/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fec/edwin-h-friedman-25568_anxiety_chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper_1882333.jpg)

## More by Edwin H. Friedman

> [“It may be in the ubiquitous phenomenon of terrorism that one can most easily see how universal emotional processes transcend the conventional categories of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/it-may-be-in-the-ubiquitous-phenomenon-of-terrorism-that-one-can-most/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“The more my perspective broadened, the more confirmed I became in my view that contemporary leadership dilemmas have less to do with the specificity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/the-more-my-perspective-broadened-the-more-confirmed-i-became-in-my/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“I will begin by describing the nature of an emotional regression and showing how in any society, no matter how advanced its state of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/i-will-begin-by-describing-the-nature-of-an-emotional-regression-and/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“By the term regression I mean to convey something far more profound than a mere loss of progress. Societal regression is about the perversion…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/by-the-term-regression-i-mean-to-convey-something-far-more-profound/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“The colossal misunderstanding of our time is the assumption that insight will work with people who are unmotivated to change. Communication does not depend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/the-colossal-misunderstanding-of-our-time-is-the-assumption-that/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“The focus on “need fulfillment” that so often accompanies an emphasis on empathy leaves out the possibility that what another may really “need” (in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/the-focus-on-need-fulfillment-that-so-often-accompanies-an-emphasis/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“Although the social science construction of reality tends to emphasize how families differ from one another, I began to see that knowledge of what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/although-the-social-science-construction-of-reality-tends-to/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“It was then, after my presentations to thirty-two generals, that I first began to see how similar the approach to leadership problems was throughout…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/it-was-then-after-my-presentations-to-thirty-two-generals-that-i/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“Those five characteristics are:    1. Reactivity: the vicious cycle of intense reactions of each member to events and to one another.    2. Herding: a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/those-five-characteristics-are-1-reactivity-the-vicious-cycle-of/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“Chronic anxiety is systemic; it is deeper and more embracing than community nervousness. Rather than something that resides within the psyche of each one,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper-and-more-embracing-than/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“the extent we function and grow within the context of our own souls (a lifetime project) and abet the emergence of our own selves…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/the-extent-we-function-and-grow-within-the-context-of-our-own-souls-a/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“In 1970, an experiment was conducted in a French laboratory in which two organisms from the same species that had not developed immune systems…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/in-1970-an-experiment-was-conducted-in-a-french-laboratory-in-which/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“The second attribute of imaginatively gridlocked relationship systems is a continual search for new answers to old questions rather than an effort to reframe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/the-second-attribute-of-imaginatively-gridlocked-relationship-systems/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“One of the most extraordinary examples of adaptation to immaturity in contemporary American society today is how the word abusive has replaced the words…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/one-of-the-most-extraordinary-examples-of-adaptation-to-immaturity-in/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

> [“I want to stress that by well-differentiated leader I do not mean an autocrat who tells others what to do or orders them around,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/i-want-to-stress-that-by-well-differentiated-leader-i-do-not-mean-an/)

[Edwin H. Friedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edwin-h-friedman/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "ItemList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/#itemlist",
            "name": "1 Chronic Anxiety Quotes By Edwin H. Friedman",
            "numberOfItems": 1,
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "item": {
                        "@type": "Quotation",
                        "text": "“Chronic anxiety is systemic; it is deeper and more embracing than community nervousness. Rather than something that resides within the psyche of each one, it is something that can envelope, if not actually connect, people. It is a regressive emotional process that is quite different from the more familiar, acute anxiety we experience over specific concerns. Its expression is not dependent on time or events, even though specific happenings could seem to trigger it, and it has a way of reinforcing its own momentum. Chronic anxiety might be compared to the volatile atmosphere of a room filled with gas fumes, where any sparking incident could set off a conflagration, and where people would then blame the person who struck the match rather trying to disperse the fumes. The issues over which chronically anxious systems become concerned, therefore, are more likely to be the focus of their anxiety rather than its cause. This is why, for example, counselors, educators, and consultants who offer technical solutions for how to manage whatever brought the family in—conflict, money, parents, children, aging, sex—will rarely succeed in changing that family in any fundamental way. The anxiety that drives the problem simply switches to another focus. Assuming that what a family is worried about is what is “causing” its anxiety is tantamount to blaming a blown-away tree or house for attracting the tornado that uprooted it. As”",
                        "creator": {
                            "@type": "Person",
                            "name": "Edwin H. Friedman"
                        },
                        "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edwin-h-friedman/chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper-and-more-embracing-than/",
                        "image": {
                            "@type": "ImageObject",
                            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fec/edwin-h-friedman-25568_anxiety_chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper_1882333.jpg",
                            "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fec/edwin-h-friedman-25568_anxiety_chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper_1882333.jpg",
                            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fec/edwin-h-friedman-25568_anxiety_chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper_1882333.jpg",
                            "width": 1080,
                            "height": 1080,
                            "caption": "“Chronic anxiety is systemic; it is deeper and more embracing than community nervousness. Rather than…” — Edwin H. Friedman",
                            "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                            "creator": {
                                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "CollectionPage",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/#webpage",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/",
            "name": "Chronic Anxiety Quotes by Edwin H. Friedman",
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "mainEntity": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/#itemlist"
            },
            "primaryImageOfPage": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/fec/edwin-h-friedman-25568_anxiety_chronic-anxiety-is-systemic-it-is-deeper_1882333.jpg"
            },
            "description": "1 Chronic Anxiety quotes by Edwin H. Friedman. Plus more from Edwin H. Friedman and more Chronic Anxiety sayings from other authors.",
            "breadcrumb": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/#breadcrumb"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/#breadcrumb",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "Topics",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/categories/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "Chronic Anxiety",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 5,
                    "name": "Edwin H. Friedman",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/chronic-anxiety/edwin-h-friedman/"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```