Anxiety causes (List)

Anxiety causes

In this brief article, we will be tackling anxiety causes, what triggers anxiety, different situations that become anxiety causes and more information about anxiety causes.

What are the anxiety causes for each anxiety disorder?

The anxiety causes of each anxiety disorder can be a multiplicity of physical symptoms, emotional trauma, and genetics.

The doctor who will be diagnosing this kind of psychological disorder will be figuring out if the anxiety is caused by a physical condition.

The common anxiety causes that will be mentioned in this article will be the following anxiety disorders:

  • Panic disorder: In relation to anxiety, typical symptoms and signs of panic disorders are heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and dizziness. These same kinds of symptoms also can be triggered by coffee, an overactive thyroid, amphetamine medications, abnormal heart rhythms, and other heart complications like mitral valve prolapse.
  • Generalized anxiety disorder
  • Phobic disorders
  • Stress disorders

Typical anxiety causes that are present in the outside world are the following and some of these will be discussed in the lower sections:

  • Stress at work
  • Stress in school
  • Stress in an intimate relationship such as marriage
  • Financial stress
  • Stress from a traumatic event such as the loss of a loved one
  • Stress from a chronic medical condition
  • Adverse side effects of medication
  • Use of an illegal drug such as cocaine
  • Excessive use of caffeine (leading to caffeine-induced anxiety disorder)
  • Symptoms and signs of a medical condition such as heart attack, hypoglycemia or heat stroke
  • Loss of oxygen in situations as varied as high altitude sickness, pulmonary embolism which is a blood clot in the vessels of the lung or emphysema

The doctor will be experiencing the most rigorous task if the anxiety cause is found out to be a symptom of underlying physical condition.

For instance, a patient will be suspected of having panic disorder due to the existence of panic attacks but it was later found out that the patient had heart complications that may trigger these kinds of attacks.

Past or experiences in the younger years

Distressing experiences can be strong anxiety causes to people who may have experienced these events in their early years.

Case studies have found the distressing events in the early years would have a big effect on the afflicted child who is all grown-up today. 

Watch 10 signs of hidden Anxiety on full video player

These experiences that are considered as anxiety causes are the following:

  • physical or emotional/psychological abuse
  • neglect
  • Death of a parent
  • being bullied or being socially isolated
  • Having parents who don’t care for you warmly, are overprotective or are emotionally inconsistent or unsafe can also be an anxiety cause.

You can learn more about the effects of child abuse in children with a different religious orientation by buying this book on this website.

Anxiety causes (List)

Your recent life circumstance

Recent issues can also act as anxiety causes that may debilitate you.

Here are the possible recent issues that may warrant anxiety:

  • fatigue or a build-up of stress
  • prolonged working hours
  • being relieved from work
  • feeling pressured by the demands while studying or in work
  • having money concerns
  • homelessness or housing issues
  • Death of someone intimate to you
  • feeling lonely or excluded
  • being bullied, abused or harassed

Physical or mental health concerns

Physical or mental health concerns can also be considered as anxiety causes.

The following are physical health and mental health conditions that can cause anxiety:

  • Physical health concerns – living with a chronic, recurrent or life-threatening physical health issue (such as eye floaters) can sometimes be an anxiety cause.
  • Other mental health concerns – it’s also typical to get anxiety while going through other mental health issues like depression

You can learn more about how physical conditions are considered as anxiety causes by buying this book on this website.

Anxiety causes (List)

Drugs and prescribed medication

Another kind of anxiety causes is the side effects of the following medications:

  • some psychotropic medications
  • some medications for physical health concerns
  • recreational and illegal drugs or alcohol

Risk factors that make a person affected by anxiety

Anxiety causes are not always determined by one factor to cause such varied symptoms in anxiety disorders.

Although psychologists have found risk factors that make some people more likely to these kinds of psychological disorders and these are the following conditions:

  • depression
  • irritable bowel syndrome
  • a background of substance abuse
  • Being diagnosed with another anxiety disorder

Here are other anxiety causes and risk factors that make someone have an anxiety disorder:

  • Stress: All of us encounter stress. However, extreme or unsolved stress can maximize your potential of developing severe anxiety.
  • Genetics: If a member in your family has an anxiety disorder, you have a greater potential of developing one as well. Your tendency is especially great if one of your parents have anxiety.
  • Personality type: Some people are more susceptible to anxiety. Busy and temperamental people with type A personalities have a greater tendency to developing an anxiety disorder.
  • Trauma: Chronic trauma like child abuse or military combat enhances your potential of developing anxiety. This can involve being the victim and survivor of trauma, witnessing something traumatic or being intimate to someone who has gone through trauma.
  • Sex: Women are more likely than men to have a generalized anxiety disorder and other anxiety-related disorders.

You can learn more about generalized anxiety disorder by buying this book on this website. 

Anxiety causes (List)

Identifying possible anxiety causes through diagnosis

A mental health professional is authorized in diagnosing anxiety disorders in patients and find possible anxiety causes.

This kind of professional could use psychological assessment, physical assessment and history, and laboratory tests if necessary. 

These kinds of tests can give the mental health professional information about having physical conditions that are possible anxiety causes.

This kind of professional will also consult the diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder to assess if the patient really has this kind of disorder such as the following criteria for generalized anxiety disorder:

  • experience extreme worry and anxiety about a few various experiences or activities on more days than not for the last six months
  • have complications managing worry
  • have at least three symptoms that warrant anxiety on more days than not in the past six months

To identify that the patient has generalized anxiety disorder, the mental health professional will be checking if the patient has the following anxiety symptoms:

  • restlessness
  • fatigue
  • irritability
  • muscle tension
  • difficulty sleeping
  • difficulty concentrating

The mental health professional will also take account if the anxiety disorder has caused distress and dysfunction in the affected patient’s life such as being persistently absent in work or school.

Apart from all the different causes mentioned above, the Holland and Barrett website lists a few more.

Treatment based on anxiety causes

Treatments for anxiety disorders are usually a combination of therapy, self-care, and medications.

As mentioned before, these kinds of psychological disorders can be comorbid with other psychological disorders such as depression and addiction where the mental health professional will first manage before going through the anxiety symptoms.


Some people are prescribed to take care of their anxiety symptoms through natural remedies that can be done at home.

Although these treatments are not very effective for people with chronic anxiety.

The following are several exercises that the person with anxiety can do to minimize his or her symptoms of anxiety:

  • Stress management: Learning and applying how to control stress can help restrict potential anxiety causes. You can organize any future demands and deadlines, compile lists to make rigorous tasks more controllable, and dedicate yourself to taking a break from study or work.
  • Relaxation techniques: Simple and practical activities can help relieve the mental and physical signs and symptoms of anxiety. These relaxation techniques involve meditation, long baths, deep breathing exercises, resting in the dark, and yoga.
  • Activities to substitute negative thoughts with optimistic ones: Make an entry in your journal of the negative thoughts that might be lingering as an outcome of anxiety and write down another entry next to it including optimistic and attainable thoughts to substitute them. You should make a mental vision of achieving facing and overcoming a certain fear can also have advantages if anxiety symptoms connect to a specific anxiety cause like in a phobia.
  • Support network: Talk with familiar and intimate people who are supportive and accepting like a family member or friend. Support group mental health services may also be accessible in the local place and online.
  • Exercise: Physical exercise can enhance self-visualization and exert chemicals in the brain that cause optimistic emotions.

You can learn more about how you can care for your anxiety symptoms by buying this book here.


The most popular method of treating anxiety disorders and finding the underlying anxiety causes are counselling or psychotherapies.

Some of these therapies are cognitive-behavioural therapy, exposure therapy, and hypnotherapy.


Cognitive-behavioural therapy has a goal to exterminate the negative thinking patterns of the client which are possible anxiety causes.

This therapy will help clients in minimizing their anxiety symptoms by targeting their negative behaviours that only strengthen these symptoms such as overthinking and not taking a break.

For instance, a psychotherapist can convince the client that his or her panic attacks can be minimized by getting used to these attacks in a relaxed and non-judgmental manner.

This therapy also includes exposing the client to feared situations or objects. 

This technique helps clients to minimize their anxiety symptoms and minimize the effect of possible anxiety causes.


Clients can also manage their anxiety symptoms by taking psychotropic medications that have been effective for these symptoms.

Some fo the most prescribed medications are benzodiazepines, antidepressant medications, and anti-anxiety medications.

  • Benzodiazepines: A doctor may prescribe benzodiazepines for specific patients with anxiety but these medications can be greatly addictive. These medications tend to have several side effects aside from drowsiness and expected dependence. Diazepam or Valium is a part of a commonly prescribed benzodiazepine in this class.
  • Antidepressants: These antidepressant medications typically help with anxiety, even though these medications are initial treatments for depression. People typically use serotonin reuptake inhibitors which have fewer side effects than older antidepressant medications but are likely to trigger jitters, sexual dysfunction, and vomiting when treatment starts.

Other prescribed medications for anxiety are fluoxetine or Prozac and citalopram or Celexa.

  • Tricyclics: This is a group of antidepressant medications older than SSRIs that give advantages for most anxiety disorders other than OCD. These medications might trigger adverse side effects such as dizziness, dry mouth, drowsiness, and weight gain. Imipramine and clomipramine are two medications that are part of this class of antidepressant medications.

Other medications that have also been used for people to minimize their anxiety symptoms are the following:

  • monoamine oxidase inhibitors 
  • beta-blockers
  • buspirone

It is important that you immediately address your general practitioner if you are suffering from the chronic side effects of these medications.


In this brief article, we have tackled about anxiety causes, what triggers anxiety, different situations that become anxiety causes and more information about anxiety causes.

If you have any questions about anxiety causes, please let us know and the team will gladly answer your queries.

FAQs: Anxiety causes

How does stress cause anxiety?

Stress can cause anxiety by feeling frustrated or nervous about the distressing event that has caused stress.

Anxiety is considered as a response to stress.

This kind of cause and effect situation only happens when the affected person isn’t aware of his or her triggers in life.

How can I stop anxiety?

You can stop anxiety by taking a break, avoid taking alcohol or caffeinated drinks or food, eat healthy meals, getting the required amount of sleep which is 7 to 8 hours, do deep breathing exercises, exercise regularly, counting from 1 to 10 if you feel the anxiety kicking in, and do your best to conquer any stressful situation.

How long can anxiety last?

Anxiety can last for 30 minutes but the duration usually depends on the person’s fear of a situation or an object.

Sometimes, people would feel anxiety for only a few minutes, especially if it’s a panic attack.

Can anxiety make you feel go crazy?

Anxiety doesn’t make you feel go crazy.

Although the physical symptoms that come with this kind of condition can make you feel like you are going insane.

Some people would even go as far as interpret that they feel like dying.

What is a nervous breakdown?

A nervous breakdown is an intense episode where the person feels distressed and disabled to function in important areas in life.

This is also where people feel that they have no sense of what they are doing and who they really are.


Healthline. Anxiety Causes.

MedicalNewsToday. What causes anxiety?.

MedicalNewsToday. What to know about anxiety.

Mind. Anxiety and panic attacks.

WebMD. Causes of Anxiety.

Anxiety causes (List)

Juanita Agboola
