Between 0.1% and 0.2% of surgical patients given general anesthesia remember having been aware during the procedure. Not all, but some of these patients have experienced pain, anxiety or both while being aware. In addition, there is a risk for developing anxiety symptoms. These symptoms can constitute a posttraumatic stress syndrome or parts thereof. The anxiety symptoms may be transient, but can persist in some patients. The majority of available studies on suffering due to awareness are retrospective, and potential selection bias in the studied cohorts should be considered when the likelihood for negative experiences of awareness are discussed.