Christian Counseling Online is your resource for information on the cause of anxiety attacks, as well as for all kinds of emotional and mental health information. We're glad you located us and hope we or our web site can help you out.
The Cause of Anxiety Attacks
Anxiety is the number one mental health issue today. Panic attacks are the number one mental health issue for women in the US. But what causes anxiety?
There are different theories. Dr. Archibald Hart in The Anxiety Cure states that "Humans were designed for camel travel, but most people are now acting like supersonic jets." It is likely that most doctors and therapists would agree with Hart that much of the cause of anxiety is due to high adrenaline, caused by a high stress life-style, which results in a depletion of the brain's natural tranquilizers.
In The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook there are several contributing factors that are outlined. Dr. Edmund Bourne sites the following factors as the cause of anxiety attacks:
- Heredity
- Childhood Circumstances
- Biological Causes
- Triggering Causes like acute stressors
- Trauma
- Imbalances in neurotransmitters like norepinephrine, serotonin and GABA
He also sites the very important aspects of maintaining cause of anxiety attacks:
- Avoidance of Phobic Situations
- Anxious Self-talk
- Mistaken beliefs
- Withheld Feelings
- Lack of Assertiveness
- Lack of self-nurturing skills
- Muscle Tension
- Stimulants and other dietary factors
- High-Stress Lifestyle
- Lack of meaning or sense of purpose
No matter what the cause, there is much you can do to help relieve your anxiety. An important approach to therapy is to identify and address your maintaining cause of anxiety.
