Causes of anxiety

[damianjmcgrath]

Does everyone know what causes their anxiety? I don't mean the target of your anxiety, i.e. heart worries, but I mean the actual base cause.

Personally, I have no idea but there are a few things that trigger it worse:

- being on my own
- being in situations I can't escape from, such as work presentations or driving on the motorway when the hard shoulder is closed. I think it's situations where I think help couldn't reach me.
- watching medical things on TV.
- being in family social events because I think it'd be embarrassing to faint or ask for help etc.

The anxiety of being on my own is relatively new, not sure where that's come from. I used to love being on my own but now I worry that I'll get a massive problem and no one will save me.

Perhaps it's a fear of a lack of control with me. I'm not sure. I also don't know how to get over that.

What are other people's triggers or causes?

[Alexalex]

The thing that makes me the most anxious is being somewhere thats outside my comfort zone that i cannot escape. Trains, planes, meetings. Every time I have a meeting (they usually take around 6 to 8 hours) I get bad IBS.
Being on my own or just me and my son also triggers my anxiety as there would be no one to help me if anything happened and I worry that my son would hurt himself if I was unconscious and no one to watch him(he's nearly two).
Even going shopping can make me anxious or going for a walk.
Reading news about someone dying from some disease or someone telling me a story about someone dying.

[damianjmcgrath]

Where do you think that has come from? Do you think there is an underlying psychological cause?

[FeelLikeNeo]

Much like you really

- Places that I can't escape from if anything were to happen
- Medical things e.g ambulances going past
- Being *with* people. I don't have social anxiety but it's more the embarrassment. I'm okay alone.
- Watching TV. When things change quickly it sets me off.

The root? No idea - probably genetics. I've had it as long as I can remember. Literally one of my first memories is a panic attack. My Dad is as bad. My mum not much better.

[Iblametheparents]

Guilt is what causes it. Anything I can attribute to something I did wrong, however tenuous the link. I am very hard on myself all the time. Everything is my fault and that is why I'm anxious. I can't even #blamecorbyn.

---------- Post added at 22:14 ---------- Previous post was at 22:11 ----------

I assume people won't like me, that's why I take forever to feel OK in a group.

[FeelLikeNeo]

I can't even #blamecorbyn.[COLOR="blue"]



:roflmao::yesyes:

[Iblametheparents]

You're welcome

[somdayillbeok]

I like this post. Should be a poll.

My triggers are:

--> Cancer commercials
--> The Internet
--> Being Alone At Home
--> Social Situations
--> Awkward Situations (Some make me cry on the spot.)
--> Not Being Able To Pin Point Whistling Noises (Childhood thing)
--> Having no one to talk to..

[ricardo]

I have been asking this question for thirty years and have been asked by many psychiatrists,doctors,family the same question and there is no definite answer in my case and even if I knew for sure would it really help or possibly make things worse.

[damianjmcgrath]

I've always thought that my triggers were caused by a single issue - and if I could find it and deal with it somehow, I could stop the anxiety. Hypnotherapy didn't uncover it. I know what some of my triggers are but sometimes it's random too. I think I'd like to find out the cause because that'll sit better with my logical brain.

I thought it might be interesting to see other people's triggers so we could maybe psychoanalyse each other and get some useful tips.

The most common trigger seems to be home alone and seeing reminders of illness on TV or Facebook.

I wonder why being home alone triggers it. After all, if you need to relax, that's easier on your own. Obviously it's a feeling that no one can help but it would take a rare illness to make you pass out for hours on end. 99% of illnesses, even heart attacks, will give you enough time to phone for help. Even phoning and not saying anything will enable them to trace you and get to your house quickly. Most mobiles are traceable too.

Being reminded of it is also a strange one. My brain is permanently thinking about it so I don't think I need to be reminded! Maybe it's evidence that some people do have bad illnesses out of the blue that scares me. I have to force myself to think that there are 70million people in this country and I've read about 3 or 4 people on Facebook. And the reason sudden illnesses are on the news is because it's incredibly rare. And actually most of them survive with no real problems - for example, the footballer Fabrice Muamba had a sudden heart attack and it was all over the news and he's relatively fine now.

All the "I thought I had anxiety but then it was a heart attack" things on Facebook don't help but I've found that most of those aren't true and are intended to get you to like a page or sign up to a anxiety help page or get some ebooks etc. The more reliable source is my doctor and in 30 years, he's never seen anyone have my symptoms for my length of time and for it to be related to the heart. He said the heart isn't clever, it's just a pump and it either works or it doesn't. It might suddenly stop or gradually stop over the course of a few hours. Either way, it won't be subtle. It'll be like your car engine stopping. It'll be very obvious. I've had my symptoms for 3 years, and I had a recent ECG which was fine so he basically laughed in my face. It's important to read Facebook horror stories and think "really?". It doesn't seem likely that Bob on Facebook has seen more cases than every GP in the country.

Social situations are more awkward, I guess it's an embarrassment thing. Obviously there's people around to help so that should be reassuring but for me, it's not wanting the sympathy or to be labelled as always ill. In work, if I went home with a suspected heart problem, I'd be mocked for months. I guess the only answer to that is just go with it and see what happens. A CBT therapist I knew actually took his client to a supermarket and "collapsed" so she could see what happened. Some strangers came to help, sat him down, gave him water. It wasn't embarrassing at all.

[ricardo]

I also think to a degree it may well be in ones genes but some may dispute that.

[Iblametheparents]

Getting older makes it worse. I thought I'd become more level headed about it, but knowing everything is more likely to go wrong with age is a bummer. However, once past 80, very few people die of cancer. They die of frailty instead. Not exactly preferable.

---------- Post added at 09:39 ---------- Previous post was at 09:37 ----------

Ricardo - there are twin studies on mental illness, worth a look at.

[damianjmcgrath]

As far as I can tell, my family going back generations are fine although I only know my mother's side. Perhaps something on my father's side has contributed.

I remember being fine for 16 years, then getting a stomach problem which no doctor could pinpoint so that was probably anxiety. That's where it started for me. Scared of being sick and being left alone in case I needed help. It went away for nearly 7 years between the ages of 22-29 and then came back shortly after the birth of my daughter and instead of stomach issues, it was heart issues. I still don't know why I reacted in such an anxious way to the stomach issues though.

When was the first time people noticed their symptoms? What was going on at the time? It'd be interesting to see if there is a common trend like a new baby, new job, change in some circumstances etc.

[ricardo]

No word of a lie, but having a panic attack (not knowing what it was at the time) driving through the City on my way to court to defend a sole custody appeal by my ex wife (which she lost) :lac:

[GingerFish]

I think the ultimate seed of my anxiety is my fear of death. Growing up with parents and family members who are also very highly strung and anxious wouldn't have helped either but I think what it all boils down to with me is my phobia of death.

[damianjmcgrath]

I'd have thought phobia of death would have been mentioned more. It is probably the ultimate fear for people. Personally, I seem to have a very strange fear - when I get my heart symptoms, I'm not sure if it's a fear of death. It might be a fear of being hospitalised, a fear of being ill. Maybe a fear of my child growing up without me. I'd like to say I'm more fearful for her feelings than my own death but I'm not sure that's true! I obviously care about her but I'm also selfish and definitely care about my life! I think I'm a bit afraid of being in pain, or having symptoms that I can't control.

I think that's why headaches don't really bother me because they tend to respond to painkillers. Dizziness is a big problem for me because I can't take anything for it. I can't control it.

Control is a big think for me, I think. With my stomach issues, I couldn't control when I'd feel bad so I'd live in fear. If people went out of the house and left me, I didn't now when they'd be back, and the not knowing worried me. I'd often text my mum and ask her to come home. If we were all out, I'd want to know the schedule, time of leaving, what was happening when. If I didn't, I felt trapped.

I think these feelings have intensified (and come back) following the birth of my daughter. I'm not in control of my own sleeping habits, or I can't play the Xbox in peace or I can't just go and see friends, or even eat in peace. When we go out to a restaurant, I'm nervous about when she'll start screaming or throwing things about. She never does but I'm always on edge.

Stress like that, which I'd never had before, probably caused the fatigue and maybe the palpitations, which has caused the anxiety, and got me stuck in the loop which has led me to today which is almost continual anxiety.

Whether I'm anywhere close to the reason or not - after all, it is my conscious mind trying to understand the subconscious - I'm still unclear how to resolve it.

I suppose the only approach is to actively seek out these situations where I'm out of control and try and get through them, hopefully building up experience to quieten my mind down.

[ricardo]

I think bereavment is a trigger for many people rather than a fear of death.If you lose a close member of your family it can affect one in many ways. Grieving openly isn't a bad thing as opposed to taking medication to calm you down, but each of us react differently.
You asked what was the first time we noticed our symptoms but there is usually a build up beforehand which can't always be measured in time before the anxiety begins.