Anxiety Causes

Anxiety attacks can strike almost anywhere, with or without good reason. They can make daily life nearly unbearable for sufferers. It is easy to feel overwhelmed once anxiety becomes a regular part of your life. If you experience frequent anxiety attacks, you may feel as if life has turned into a nightmare from which you can never wake up.

While there are many things that can bring on an anxiety attack, we do not yet understand why some people are more susceptible to them than others. There are a number of factors that contribute to an anxious personality and it is not clear exactly how they interact together.

Environment
Early exposure to anxiety provoking situations such as poverty or bad health; critical or strict parents; anxious parents; and lack of a strong support system are all environmental factors that can increase a child's natural response to anxious situations.

Personality traits
A pessimisitic person who sees the world as bad or threatening will be more likely to succumb to anxiety. Liewise, a person with low self esteem will not have the emotional strength needed to cope with challenging situations, and will fear them.

Neurology
An imbalance of neurotransmitters can contribute to feelings of anxiety. Serotonin, Gaba, epinephrine, and the hormone cortisol affect mood and anxiety. Many anxiety medications work by readjusting chemical levels in the patient's brain.

Heredity
Many people have a biological vulnerability to stressful situations. People with anxiety disorders tend to have a family history of anxiety disorders as well as mood disorders and/or substance abuse.

Trauma
A stressful event early in life such as a car accident or losing a parent, even divorce, can leave a child with a lasting sense of unease and helplessness that can develop into anxiety or depression later in life. 

Currently the most successful treatment for anxiety disorders is a combination of cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication. Doctors have learned that many medications such as Zoloft or Paxil have a calming effect on the processes that control or trigger anxiety and compulsions.  These medications keep the hormones and other elements responsible for anxiety attacks on an even keel, so to speak. They can keep someone more calm at all times, and work well regardless of the type of anxiety, be it panic attacks, social anxiety disorder, or even obsessive compulsive disorder.

Anxiety attacks are also helped with cognitive or behavioral therapy, meaning the learning of new ways of thinking or behaving.  If someone can learn that their anxiety attacks are the result of how they think or of how they view something, then they can lessen these attacks.  Learning how to talk themselves through a panic attack or how to calm their obsessive or compulsive behavior can go a long way toward keeping anxiety attacks at bay, or at the very least, keeping them in their place so that they have less of an effect on the sufferer.

If you or a loved one suffers from anxiety in any form you are strongly encouraged to speak with a qualified professional. This can include a medical doctor, a neuropsychologist, psychiatrist or other mental health professional with experience treating anxiety. Whether you are willing to try medications or not there is help available. You should try to get in touch with other people who are suffering from the same condition who can give you support and encouragement to cope with your anxiety attacks.