Each of human emotions has its own name, but if joy or sadness can still be clearly defined, then some sensations are a complex combination of signs. Often they even contradict each other, because the psyche is a very complex system. If you are experiencing a strange mixture of mental torment that seems to clutch in a tight embrace of despair, most likely this is Angst. Where did this term come from and how does it differ from fear or longing? Psychologists distinguish several gradations of negative emotions, they differ in the presence or absence of a cause or object, because of which these feelings arise. How to determine what specifically oppresses the soul?
Meaning of the word angst
This term can be found in the writings of Sigmud Freud and Søren Kierkegaard. Unlike ordinary fear or fear, we are talking here about a complex interweaving of depressing emotional shades. Kierkegaard believed that this phenomenon is unique to humans and inaccessible to animals.
By and large, angst is a feeling of anxious longing, a feeling of hopelessness of being. Often, the term is used to denote the blurred boundaries of ill health, because this feeling, unlike ordinary fear, cannot be caused by any one specific object and phenomenon.
Youth subcultures
Borrowed foreign words have always been woven into slang, and this is especially typical of rebellious teenagers. The period of fascination with all kinds of fashion trends is the best time for subcultures, informal societies. Traditionally, when a term is migrated to the slang category, its meaning is somewhat transformed. In subcultures, angst is, rather, suffering and despair in general, this does not imply any specificity or psychoanalysis. A similar phenomenon is observed with the term "depression" - so began to call the usual seizures of spleen, which have nothing to do with the clinical picture inherent in this disease. So they began to call the banal “sufferers” for any reason, the usual chagrin due to some mundane reason.
In youth slang, "angst" is most often found in conjunction with depressive subcultural movements, but is erroneously attributed to the Goths. This term could be found, rather, in the communication of emo, but their popularity has long been in the past. All other attempts to “insert” angst into a subculture come, rather, from a desire to splurge.
Fanfiction
Another slightly changed use of this word can be found in fanaticism, and more often in its literary part, as the name of the genre. If the characters throughout the story experience all kinds of suffering, moral torment and other negative emotions, then this is definitely ang. For some reason, it is believed that this genre is completely incompatible with the happy end, but in practice it all depends on the literary talent of the fixer. It is not necessary to kill or forever separate the characters in order to write a full angth.
It is advisable to indicate this type of genre in a fan fiction hat - not all readers enjoy the sufferings of their favorite characters, many are so imbued with empathy that they seriously and permanently spoil their mood. If, in addition to the Angst, there are still some important nuances, the death of a character or serious injuries, this should be indicated in the warnings.
