Have you ever had trouble with anxiety before? Absolutely, every human being who ever lived has experienced anxiety before: the quickened heart beat, the dizzy spells, difficulty breathing evenly, and even numbness in their extremities. But what is it exactly, and what are the causes of anxiety?
First off, too many people look at anxiety as a negative thing, something that takes away from your life and makes you miserable. Anxiety is a natural part of your senses reacting to the ever changing environment known as the world around us.
Without anxiety, we would feel no fear. Without fear, we would blindly put ourselves into situations that could be dangerous or even life threatening and not take care to keep ourselves safe.
There are two kinds of anxiety: good anxiety and bad anxiety. Good anxiety is the kind of anxiety that is present to help keep you safe, for instance, if you are going to be driving home through a snowstorm. You will be naturally anxious at the state of the roads, and drive more carefully as a result.
Another example is if you are a student and an important test is coming up. You are, of course, anxious about how you will do on this test. As a result, you study so that you will do well on the test.
Bad anxiety is a different matter. Bad anxiety is fear about things that either are not immediate threats or possibly not even real at all. The kind of anxiety that most people need help treating is actually part of a bigger problem known as an anxiety disorder.
There are no limitations to this kind of fear because they do not have a foothold in the rational world. A good example is being afraid of the bogeyman that lives under your bed when you are a child.
Obviously, no such bogeyman exists, but we as children continue to be afraid of it regardless. When you are an adult and you still have irrational fears, it can get in the way of living your life and can cause you to damage relationships, lose your job or even get yourself hurt.
The causes of anxiety therefore can be many. Typically, if it is a destructive sort of anxiety, it is linked to a disorder. There are many sub-disorders that can become problematic as well, including but certainly in no way limited to obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks.
External And Environmental Causes
Anxiety disorder in most cases is caused by external factors and environmental factors, which can trigger different types of this disorder such as:
1. Trauma as a result of events related to victimization, death of loved ones, abuse bullying, etc.
2. Stress in any relationship, that is, marriage, divorce, friendship, break up or any other similar condition.
3. Stress at school, workplace or any other similar place.
4. Stress due to financial problems or any natural disaster to which a huge amount of destruction and life loss takes place.
Medical Causes
Several people face anxiety disorder due to medical factors, which include asthma, anaemia, heart problem and infection. Other medical factors can be different such as: Stress due to any serious type of medical illness
Due to the side effects of any strong medication
Due to disturbing symptoms of any illness or disease
Genetically
It has been researched and established that a family having a long or strong history of anxiety disorders, makes it possible for the coming generation to develop it. This increases the chances of developing this disorder, as the carriers are present and high level of stress can lead to this kind of disorder.
Brain Chemistry
Research was done on a group of people suffering from anxiety disorder and it was found, that they carry a large number of neurotransmitters. This increases the chances of being effected by high levels of this disorder. In case the neurotransmitters do not work properly, they can affect the brain and this will lead to strange signals and eventually result in anxiety disorder.
The good news is that if you suffer from such a disorder, you are not the only one. Millions of people world over continue to battle their own disorders and some have even conquered them. If you know someone who has a disorder like this, the only way to treat them is with compassion and respect for their condition, and to acknowledge that this will be a lifelong struggle and that there will be good days and bad days.