Anxiety disorder is a common mental disorder in clinical practice, which imposes a heavy burden on families and society. Currently, commonly used anti anxiety drugs in clinical practice have slow onset, significant side effects, and slow drug development processes. The core bottleneck lies in the lack of animal models that can accurately simulate the characteristics of human anxiety disorders. Acute stress is a key environmental factor that triggers anxiety disorders, and can restore the initial stage of anxiety disorder onset. Acute stress animal models provide a key carrier for exploring the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders and screening anti anxiety drugs. This article systematically elaborates on the concept and clinical significance of acute stress, the preparation method of animal models of anxiety caused by acute stress, the testing techniques for model effectiveness, potential biological mechanisms, and the application directions and future prospects in this field. The aim is to provide theoretical references and experimental basis for the basic research and clinical translation of anxiety disorders.