What's the root of your anxiety?

[socal21]

Hey everyone.. As the title states, what is the root of your anxiety?

Mine is caused by several things. I can't find work since I graduated, my father is in Iraq, and also I am afraid I have something wrong with me physically(like a bad heart or something) that the doctors can't figure out.

That's basically it, even though little things can set me off now that the anxiety has progressed.

[jencrippen]

There are many root causes!!! Thanks for asking though :)

Here we go:

Adrenal Fatigue
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar spells)
Mismanagement of stress
Lack of sleep
Caffeine
Nutritional deficiencies

Jen

[bluebell07]

I'm not sure,

I think I have really irregular or bad sleep, I'm always up tossing and turning at night, gritting teeth.

I drink tea every day so the caffeine probably doesn't help.

Also, I am CONSTANTLY worried that I have some terrible disease.. hypochondriac.. I dont know if this is what is causing anxiety, or if the anxiety is what is causing this.

[maymaymeemers]

My roots are:


Moved
Lost my job
Not working
Lost a pregnancy Friday
bored mentally

and not sure what else.
I know that tramatic things in life cause panic attacks.
I just cant get rid of them now!

[Beachgirl]

Not sure where mine originated and all examples listed are good ones. Bottom line is if you want to get better it does not matter what triggered it but how you attack the problem which is the way we started to think and react to things after the trigger happened regardless of what triggered it initially. That's why I am such a big proponent of cbt. It taught me how to counter the thoughts that caused my anxiety probs and now I am back into enjoying my life again. It was not easy learning to counter my thoughts but now I use the TEA form exercise daily to keep my anxiety under wraps.

[seizetheday]

I think a lot of it is not what happens but how we react to what happens. If i get dumped, lose my job, fail a test, etc.. the only reason why i let that have an effect on me is because i let it have an effect on me. I think the root cause of a lot of anxiety is simply the way you think and the way you perceive your reality. If you lose a job but think of it as an new opportunity to find something wonderful and new, losing your job will be a wonderful experience. thats just my thought.. easier said than done but i really think that to get over anxiety you just have to learn to "think properly"... if that makes any sense..?

[user38]

"seizetheday" has a great point. Learn to re-think and analyse your negative thoughts TEA (thought-error-analysis). It helps to write down your negative thoguhts and find and correct your error.
Example:
T- I can't do this
E- jump to conclusion, over-reacted
A - how do you know, if you didn't try

Good luck

[danstelter]

My two roots are probably fear of failure and fear of rejection. When I am afraid that I have failed or that I am taking actions that could lead to failure, then my anxiety goes up. But, when I am confident and feel like I am succeeding, then my anxiety goes down.

I am not sure where the fear of failure comes from, but I do know that in certain situations where I am expected to perform and I am not too sure how to perform then I get quite anxious.

The fear of rejection comes from my childhood. My mom hollered and screamed at me a lot and I took that as her rejecting me, so I formed the connection that whenever people are doing that kind of thing, then they are rejecting me. This is not actually the case, as I have found, but it does happen and it's hard not to believe some times.

In the end, I've learned that everything ends up okay as long as I let go and do the best I can.

[seizetheday]

danstelter, i used to have a fear of failure as well. It was hard to do, but trying to get into a different mindset about what failure is helps a lot. Basically, everyone fails.. no matter what. If you don't fail at anything, there would be no way to learn anything new. No one is going to get everything right the first time they try something, so they try it.. they fail.. and you learn from your failures. Thats how you succeed. Check out this video actually.. might help : )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6hz_s2XIAU

[niq]

My trigger was a cannabis overdose from a hash-brownie in Amsterdam. That caused my first panic attack - sadly, it wasn't to be my last.

It is the constant fear of brain damage (from the OD) that feeds my anxiety.

[seizetheday]

Niq, try researching a little bit about hash and i think it will put your mind at ease. Hash (which is basically concentrated marijuana) is impossible to overdose on and won't cause you any brain damage from just one use. What can happen though, which has happened to me as well, and i also thought i had OD'd is that it induces panic attacks because of the paranoia that is associated with it.

If you're still uneasy about brain damage, all of the evidence supporting it is based on research done during the second Reefer Madness Movement. A study attempted to show that marijuana smoking damaged brain structures in monkeys. However, the study was poorly performed and it was severely criticized by a medical review board. Studies done afterwards failed to show any brain damage, in fact a very recent study on Rhesus monkeys used technology so sensitive that scientists could actually see the effect of learning on brain cells, and it found no damage.

hope that might make you feel a little bit better! : )

[niq]

seizetheday, thanks for taking the time to post and sharing your insight. It sounds like you've done your homework on this subject, and your post does give me some relief.

Over-dosing on marijuana through oral ingestion is definitely possible. An OD does not result in death or serious physical injury - for most people it is just means they have a really unpleasant night that they won't soon forget.

[Beachgirl]

"seizetheday" has a great point. Learn to re-think and analyse your negative thoughts TEA (thought-error-analysis). It helps to write down your negative thoguhts and find and correct your error.
Example:
T- I can't do this
E- jump to conclusion, over-reacted
A - how do you know, if you didn't try

Good luck

I agree and example example in the TEA form :D

[Beachgirl]

niq,
I can see how you would fear that and i think seize did a great job alleviating some of your fears in their post. Bottom line it is the fear of these things that send us into the panic cycle that causes anxiety and panic attacks. If you can counter the thoughts regularly you can interupt the cycle and get past this :)

[hypnogood]

"seizetheday" has a great point. Learn to re-think and analyse your negative thoughts TEA (thought-error-analysis). It helps to write down your negative thoguhts and find and correct your error.
Example:
T- I can't do this
E- jump to conclusion, over-reacted
A - how do you know, if you didn't try

Good luck

I agree and example example in the TEA form :D

Somebody also believe anxiety disorder is caused by biological factors, which are strongly tied to genetic predisposition. That is why traditional psychotherapy fails to cure anxiety disorder. It has already been noticed that psychoanalysis only makes these disorders worse...

[jimbleroo]

i believe in most cases its a negative thought process of over analysis or self-checking often triggered by an event, but i think often too much emphasis is put on the event rather than the thought process that you've become accustomed too.

[simon..b]

The cause of my anxiety is predisinol , its a low dose steroid i was on for arthritus and with the long term use of it anxiety kicked in for me in august 2009.

[Beachgirl]

"seizetheday" has a great point. Learn to re-think and analyse your negative thoughts TEA (thought-error-analysis). It helps to write down your negative thoguhts and find and correct your error.
Example:
T- I can't do this
E- jump to conclusion, over-reacted
A - how do you know, if you didn't try

Good luck

I agree and example example in the TEA form :D

Somebody also believe anxiety disorder is caused by biological factors, which are strongly tied to genetic predisposition. That is why traditional psychotherapy fails to cure anxiety disorder. It has already been noticed that psychoanalysis only makes these disorders worse...

CBT and TEA form are the Antithesis to Psychoanalysis and that's why it is clinically proven to be the most successful form of treatment for anxiety disorders. Many believe the reason the biology is messed up is the symptom and not the cause. People using CBT see their serotonin levels and dopamine levels rise as their new ways of thinking take hold. Treating biology with pills masks the problem by raising those same levels but leave the problem that causes it in place.

[soJACKedup]

Oh wow, well I'm not sure how long this list will go, but here goes nothing.

Alcoholic mom
Alcholic dad
Mom abuses and cheats on dad, but he's too much of a pussy to divorce her
Can't afford school
Thousands of dollars in debt
Have done poorly in school, and now have to work twice as hard
Hate the town I live in
Hate being broke
Being gay in a homophobic society
Caffeine addiction
Natural, chemical imbalances
Not having any real guidance or support
Not being able to afford therapy or medication
Not knowing what to major in

There are lots of things.