Anxiety Disorder... What Causes It?

Anxiety Disorders are the most common of all abnormal behaviors. Statistics show that 17% of adults suffer from some form of Anxiety Disorder at one time or another every year. Anxiety is intense emotional reaction to perceived events or should I say perceived outcomes of future events. These reactions are out of proportion with the actual threats in ones environment. Anxiety Disorders afflict both sexes although women suffer more than men.

We all need some anxiety to get through our day. It helps us to meet our challenges and deadlines and keeps us safe from harm on many occasions. But when it starts to interfere with our everyday activities it becomes a problem. When anxiety becomes more that normal worry and causes intense fear, it can take over your life and affect your physical health. If allowed to carry on, panic attacks can occur, which seem debilitating. Chronic Anxiety Disorder is often associated with other disturbances such as ‘obsessive compulsive disorder’, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and ‘phobias”.

Don’t let this account discourage you. Anxiety is reversible. There are excellent resources available.

Here is an excellent website on the subject http://www.anxietycentre.com/



The Story of My Mother

My mother has it. I love her dearly. I realize now that she has had it for most of her life. When we grow up with a family member that is suffering from a mental ailment, we don't know it. We think that it is normal because that's all we've known.

When things don't work in our life, we have a tendency to deny it and then carry on. Jack Canfield ( Chicken Soup for the Soul author) says that 85% of families are dysfunctional. I think the figure may be a little higher. I believe that I have known on some level for a while that my family was dysfunctional.

My mother has a comfort zone the size of a shoe box. She is afraid of everything. She seldom told the truth and unknowingly kept all of us from being close to one another. She even kept our father from having a close relationship with us. She wanted each one of us all to herself. She was afraid of being alone.

We were taught from an early age to take care not to disturb her or create chaos. We are all really good at taking care of the people in our lives.

After my father died, her panic attacks became noticeable and debilitating. My siblings and I went through a tumultuous time trying to help her and find a place where she felt safe. We were in disagreement a lot of the time. There are still hard feelings between us which are slow to heal. I believe that her self-esteem was so low as a child that she felt inadequate most of the time. If we think we can't do something, we are afraid to try. Fear is such a crippling thing.

Note: Looking back on my life now, I realize that my comfort zone is hard to define. I like change and I like challenge. I deal with problems really well and I have my family to thank for that. Dysfunction is normal. That is how we learn and grow. What would life be like without challenge and some conflict?



"Why do we have to work so hard to prove that we deserve to be here on this planet?"



Laughter Movie

I hope you enjoyed that little video. Did you know that stress is insidious. Sometimes we don't know that we have it until we get sick. So just to make sure that we are doing all that we can to keep our life stress free, I suggest we find a way to laugh everyday, and more than once. Let's make it a habit. There are a lot of ways we can bring enjoyment into our lives. Again, I repeat that when we live consciously, we can pay attention to those things.


Here is a natural technique to stop Panic Attacks and end General Anxiety in minutes

Click Here!




Return from Anxiety Disorder to Healthy Mind


Move from Anxiety Disorder to Building Self-Esteem

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.