Cause of Anxiety

[Ruby77]

Ok so I know this is a very broad question but what is the root cause of anxiety? For those who have had counselling or dealt with it in some way, is there a common theme or is it more complex than that?

[Midnight-mouse]

Often the fear of death, or fearing being out of control have been considered to be commonly linked to anxiety. Ultimately it can be likened to faulty wiring where the brain considers something a threat and therefore triggers our fight or flight response. There is some theory that as we now in general lack predators that would naturally trigger this response that it gets distorted and happens over things that we are scared of.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ruby77]

Interesting. But why is it only some people who are prone to it? Is it a particular personality type?

I often wonder if it's down to low self esteem.

[Midnight-mouse]

Interesting. But why is it only some people who are prone to it? Is it a particular personality type?



I often wonder if it's down to low self esteem.



There’s discussion on nature vs nurture when it comes to mental illnesses, such as is it something we’re born with, more likely born with a predisposition that’s then triggered. Usually at critical stages such as certain points of childhood development or puberty or by a trauma (even just something that scares us) Or if it’s a learned behaviour, typically behaviours we observe during our early childhood etc.

Personally I do wonder if certain personality types are either a by product of the illnesses or if they pre date them again it depends on which theory that you follow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nomorepanic]

Interesting. But why is it only some people who are prone to it? Is it a particular personality type?

I often wonder if it's down to low self esteem.

Definitely not low self-esteem in my case

There is no answer sometimes and you may never find one.

[MyNameIsTerry]

There’s discussion on nature vs nurture when it comes to mental illnesses, such as is it something we’re born with, more likely born with a predisposition that’s then triggered. Usually at critical stages such as certain points of childhood development or puberty or by a trauma (even just something that scares us) Or if it’s a learned behaviour, typically behaviours we observe during our early childhood etc.

Personally I do wonder if certain personality types are either a by product of the illnesses or if they pre date them again it depends on which theory that you follow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Epigenetic research has been showing genes come through inactive and require the right conditions to switch them to on even if they are passed by a parent. It also said something about there being a window in the parents time where if they change their conditions it can prevent inheritance as the gene has been changed but I can't remember all of that without looking it up again.

Epigenetics is very important in cancer research, they have created some drugs to exploit it to treat the cancer in some cases, so we are all being pulled along with it.

Methylation happens millions of times a day in our bodies. It is about creating the right conditions for the methylation to influence it one way to switch an inactive gene on. I remember seeing a study where they even did the opposite in children with mental health problems.

But I agree with Nic, it's something that has a lot of environmental factors regardless of predisposition so anyone can experience it. Maybe some have a higher predisposition though like many other things.

[rcs]

I think the large problem that seems to come up constantly that the answers to anxiety and depression are within our own psyche and it is a mental tussle between our conscious and our subconscious behaviours . We have created this modern society especially since the industrial revolution and the great wars that is overtaking some peoples capacity to process all the intricacies that are involved in competing in what is a complex modern society .

We are evolved from apes with the basic survival behaviours that that they used such as dominance, food, shelter and sex. Modern society is probably a concept that evolution has not really adjusted to yet and may never. Men are losing there position in family groups where strength and aggression are not needed, women are fighting for equality from there traditional roles within the family group from child rearing and home keeping to parity with men. These roles have been developed from historical times wrong as they are they not easily changed in a generation.

The concept that interested me the most when reading about this is that through evolution human beings have evolved from reptiles with basic automatic responses (heat, cold, danger etc) to apes with more complex responses (food, shelter, fight or flight , sexual dominance etc) to modern human beings living with modern technology , computers , changing of gender roles, complex mixed race societies, large populations competing for limited resources.

Human beings are a slave to our instincts of survival ,dominance, sexual procreation and pathological consumption of things we perceive to make us look better or feel better.
Governments always go on about economic growth and success with employment and wealth being the main goals in life and quality of life and mental wellbeing coming a way down the list of priorities and that is a prime example of survival where the dominant member of society (alpha's) coerce the rest into basic short sighted greedy selfish life styles with no philosophical , humane or mindful principles at its core.

These problems do not excuse individuals responsibility to look after themselves mentally and to do there best to negate outside influences from the good and bad society has to offer. I think it is the age old battle and we will succeed in the end but suffering seems to be part of the process human beings endure before we solve problems .
Anyway this is what happens when you awaken during the night and drink too coffee. :mad:

[Ruby77]

Governments always go on about economic growth and success with employment and wealth being the main goals in life and quality of life and mental wellbeing coming a way down the list of priorities and that is a prime example of survival where the dominant member of society (alpha's) coerce the rest into basic short sighted greedy selfish life styles with no philosophical , humane or mindful principles at its core.
ad:

I'm interested in this position. Do you think mental health issues are a modern phenomenon where there is an expectation to earn more money / own a house etc?

I often wonder if those who live a simpler life where these expectations aren't present, suffer from anxiety or depression.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I'm interested in this position. Do you think mental health issues are a modern phenomenon where there is an expectation to earn more money / own a house etc?

I often wonder if those who live a simpler life where these expectations aren't present, suffer from anxiety or depression.

I can't see how they can be, particularly when you consider those connected to trauma & shock. People suffered a lot more hardship in their lives throughout history.

But I think rcs makes some great points and I agree. Too much mental pressure. Some of us become rudderless, perhaps even because we have much more freedom. Status anxiety because we learn we must achieve doesn't help at all.

But we also need to remember we have more defined conditions these days as well as better reporting and willingness to seek help.

It is an interesting question though whether mental health conditions have risen in recent centuries because of our changes. Have we evolved in a negative way? We will never know the answer to it though.

[pulisa]

I'm interested in this position. Do you think mental health issues are a modern phenomenon where there is an expectation to earn more money / own a house etc?

I often wonder if those who live a simpler life where these expectations aren't present, suffer from anxiety or depression.

My sister spends a lot of time in Cape Verde and says that the Cape Verdians have no real concept of mental health issues because their life style is very simple, their education is a bit patchy and very few people are given a visa to visit different countries so they all stay put on Cape Verde and are happy with what they have (not much in terms of the Western world).

Whether this is true or not in reality is debatable of course. I have a very simple lifestyle as well.

[rcs]

Yes I can see that anxiety is not a recent phenomenon and modern medicine is more aware of anxiety disorders and their diagnoses and treatment . Some professionals feel it is a excuse to use modern societal pressures as a reason for various anxiety disorders compared to reasons from previous generations. I am sure poverty, disease, war and starvation are anxiety ridden problems that where prevalent in previous centuries. I think with our greed and avarice we are heading towards a break down in society and a definite break down in our environment

I feel that modern life is a rather money and status orientated society where showing feelings is seen as a weakness and we are not as developed and intelligent as we think we are.
We are still ruled by our base instincts and are not that far removed from our homo sapien origins as we think we are and we are losing sight of that .

It is only part of the complexities that go into our psychological problems and maybe I am just catastrophizing and shifting the blame from myself but is just an opinion and better written down and maybe disproved by others . We are always looking for reasons and answers and maybe there aren't any just acceptance .