Causes of Anxiety: Top 9 Reasons

Anxiety is a natural response to stress, but some people have anxiety disorders in which anxiety is a part of their everyday life. An anxiety disorder can often make normal daily routines hard or even impossible.

There are certain factors that may make someone more prone to anxiety, such as genetics and personality type.

• Stress

Since stress in general can cause anxiety, it can be easy to become a victim of anxiety during very stressful times. If someone is experiencing ongoing stress, for whatever the reason, it is possible for an anxiety disorder to develop. A sudden and unwelcome change can trigger anxiety and even panic attacks.

Although it is normal to experience anxiety during stressful times, it can become a more serious condition during times of excessive stress.

• Trauma

Any type of trauma, including an accident or illness, can trigger anxiety. Sometimes children may develop an anxiety disorder after suffering from an illness, a loss of a loved one or other traumatic events. This is true for adults too.

• Genetics

There is still more research to be done around genetics and an the incidence of anxiety disorders, but there is some information to suggest that they are linked. It has been shown that if someone has a family history of an anxiety disorder, that this person will be more prone to developing one at any point in their life.

• Brain Chemistry

One cause of anxiety can actually be an imbalance in the brain. That’s why it is really important to go to a doctor if you are experiencing higher than normal levels of anxiety. If it’s something that is occurring in the brain, then that would need to be addressed to relieve the anxiety completely.

If there is an imbalance in the neurotransmitters, which regulate your emotions and thoughts, then a chemical imbalance can be present in the brain. This could cause severe anxiety and depression. Some research also suggests that there could be a genetic predisposition for an chemical imbalance in in the brain.

• Family Life

Besides genetics, certain emotions, including anxiety, can actually be taught to children. If a child is raised in a very stressful environment where the parent or caregivers are anxious and anxiety-ridden, the child will learn that that is how you cope with stress. Also, being raised in an abusive environment can induce anxiety and teach the child to expect the worse in life.

• Fight or Flight

When we experience danger or stress, the body either responds with fight (defense) or flight (escape). This mechanism is not limited to just a dangerous life-threatening situation, as most of us experience it with simple things like anxiety over a job interview or an exam. The part of the brain that triggers this flight or fight mechanism is called the amygdala.

This part of the brain actually remembers situations that trigger this response in attempt to protect the person from future danger. But since it records certain triggers (exam, interview, etc) it can cause the fight or flight mechanism to be triggered in instances where it’s not really needed. This trains us to become more anxious during events that aren’t actually dangerous to us.

There are some treatments, such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy, that attempts to re-train the brain to not react in this way to situations that aren’t life-threatening or harmful.

• Personality

Some people have certain personality types that make them more prone to anxiety and to being anxious in general. Psychologist’s have also proposed that there are some personality traits that make a person more prone to panic attacks and anxiety.

Some of these traits include: low self esteem, emotionally sensitive, critical, irritable, obsessive thinker. Through research, psychologist’s have also concluded that some people who experience anxiety have not been properly taught how to deal with stress, conflict and unpleasant emotions.

• Job Loss

The loss of a job can cause someone to go into a downward spiral, creating excessive worry and anxiety. The worry over finances in general can be very stressful and even cause an anxiety disorder to develop if the stress is excessive and lasts for long periods of time.

• Lack of Confidence

Some research has actually shown that an individual may be more likely to experience low self-esteem later in life if they experienced an anxiety disorder as a child. Anxiety and lack of confidence seem to be linked because they are often found together.

If someone is experiencing anxiety, lack of confidence can result and vice versa. A lack of confidence can cause someone to over think and over prepare for social events and activities, leading to worry and anxiety.

Life experiences, especially in childhood, can have a serious impact on how we deal with stressful situations later in life. Because of this, it is important to teach children how to manage emotions and deal with unpleasant situations. Even if we are taught how to manage anxiety properly, certain traumatic events can trigger a serious case of anxiety in anyone.

It’s important to rule out any internal causes of anxiety and also address severe cases of anxiety so that the individual does not have to suffer with an anxiety disorder.