The busyness of today’s lives creates a ripe environment for anxiety, which is why most of us experience its effects at one time or another.In many cases, we can pinpoint exactly what causes anxiety, because it is the result of a specific event or time of life that is unusually stressful.When anxiety becomes a chronic condition however, it becomes much more difficult to pin the anxiety down to a specific cause or reason.We will attempt to answer the question, what causes anxiety, when the condition becomes chronic and a precise cause-and-effect relationship cannot be easily determined.

Before we begin, it is important to state that medical professionals are not entirely certain what causes anxiety over the long term.They do, however, have a number of theories that have been shown to be contributing factors in the development of an anxiety disorder.It is actually not unusual for anxiety sufferers to possess more than one factor that could be identified as contributing to the anxiety issues.So when researchers are studying what causes anxiety, they are really looking more at some of the possible risk factors than addressing the specific causes of the disorder itself.

One of the possible causes of anxiety might be genetics.Genetics are passed down from parents to their offspring, so if you have a parent, grandparent or sibling that has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you might be more likely to be diagnosed with one as well.The bad thing about genetics is that a genetic predisposition to a specific condition doesn’t give you much control over whether you will be diagnosed with the condition or not.The good news is that knowing you have a family history of an anxiety disorder will make it more likely that you will seek medical help quickly if you begin to exhibit any of the symptoms of anxiety.

For additional insight into what causes anxiety, we don’t have to look any further than the brain.Specifically, the neurotransmitters in the brain that send messages to the rest of the body may provide information about why anxiety disorders occur in some.If messages in the brain cannot get through properly because the neurotransmitters become off balance, the result is a body that cannot respond normally to certain situations.If the balance gets off in a particular way, the person may realize he is dealing with the symptoms of an anxiety disorder.The best solution for treating a chemical imbalance in the brain is a medication like an SSRI that can correct chemical imbalances and minimize symptoms.

It is difficult to know what causes anxiety, but researchers are discovering more and more possible factors.These factors help medical professionals know who is at greater risk for an anxiety disorder.This information helps doctors to diagnose and treat anxiety disorders as quickly and effectively as possible.