Why Do We Get Anxious?

To people who work in the medical profession, anxiety is a psychological state characterized by cognitive (mental), somatic(physical), emotional, and behavioral components. These components join together to create feelings we normally call fear, apprehension, and worry. To normal people devoid of medical technical knowledge, anxiety is the distress or uneasiness of mind caused by fear or danger or misfortune. Everybody feels it, but what causes anxiety?

There isn't a specific cause for anxiety, it is possible that a lot of different factors have contributed to a person's vulnerability to anxiety. But more often than not, anxiety is triggered by stressful events in our lives. Anxiety levels vary from person to person as we react to stress differently from each other. Some are more vulnerable to anxiety than others, but even those who easily succumb to anxiety may learn how to get around and manage it.

Recent studies have narrowed down the causes to three groups:
1. Brain biochemistry. The brain contains neurotransmitters which are chemical messengers that relay impulses to different sensory receptors. These chemicals regular how a person think and how he feels. When there is an imbalance or an abnormal level of certain neurotransmitters, the brain intercepts the wrong messages. Two of the neurotransmitters that affect a person's feelings are serotonin and dopamine. An imbalance of these chemicals may cause depression or anxiety.
2. Genetics and early learning. It has been noted that anxiety runs in families. So it is highly likely that when a person has a parent who has an anxiety disorder, he or she may inherit the condition as well. Also, a person who grows up exposed to people who are fearful and always anxious, chances are they learn to be overly cautious and anxious as they grow up. This is the same principle as learning from a “role model”.
3. Fight or flight mechanism. When a person senses an impending danger, the body prepares itself to either run away from the situation or defend itself. This mechanism causes a multitude of changes in the body, like increased heart rate, dilated pupils, as the body prepares to take action. These responses allow the person to protect and defend himself. These responses are helpful, however there are times when the body misunderstands situations and thinks that the person is in danger even if he is just resting.

Anxiety is usually signaled by a lot of physical manifestations such as:
l heart palpitations
l nausea
l chest pain
l shortness of breath
l stomach aches
l headache
l increased blood pressure
l increased heart rate
l sweating
l pale skin
l trembling
l dilated pupils

The good thing about anxiety disorder is that it is completely treatable. With the cooperation of the sufferer and his family, developing a more advanced anxiety disorder can be stunted. Medications are used to work out brain chemical imbalance to prevent anxiety attack. These medications require prescription and it is important that one sticks to the prescribed dosing amount and schedule so as to finish medicating as planned. Counseling, or cognitive-behavioral therapy, reduces anxiety by seeking out the root cause of the problem and devising a way to combat anxiety attacks.

Given that we live in a stressful environment, it is but normal that we experience anxiety. But it is also important to keep close watch of how we are reacting to regular stress. What you think may be normal fear may already be an obsession over unfounded fears.

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