What Can Cause an Anxiety Attack?

It seems that, these days, everybody has either experienced an anxiety attack or has an anxiety disorder. What’s going on? What’s with the increase in anxiety attacks and stress related disorders? Is our fast-paced, 24 hour, go-go-go world really enough to cause a weekly anxiety attack? Do we really suffer from that much stress? Maybe.

It would be easy if we could just say that stress causes anxiety attacks because stress is something we can control. If that were it, we could help anxiety attack sufferers by just teaching them how to reduce and cope with stress. Unfortunately, while it may play some role in causing an anxiety, high levels of stress are not the sole cause of anxiety attacks. Biochemical reactions are also part of the cause of an anxiety attack, making treatment somewhat more difficult.

Indeed, biochemical reactions are probably the primary cause of an anxiety attack, with stress simply serving a role that allows the physiological reactions to express themselves. This is most easily seen when a person experiences an anxiety attack in response to a sudden threat. When this happens, the body is said to have triggered the “fight or flight response” which is a chemical imbalance triggered by stress. The chemical imbalance is too much adrenaline in the bloodstream, which the brain causes the adrenal gland to release when faced with it perceives as a threat. Adrenaline causes the typical symptoms of anxiety attacks such as increases in heart and respiratory rate, trembling and dizziness. So you can see that stress, per se, doesn’t cause the attack. Rather, stress allows for a change in biochemistry which is what causes the panic attack.

Brain chemistry is also the cause of anxiety attacks associated with generalized or specific anxiety disorders. When a person has an anxiety disorder, he or she experiences so much anxiety that it causes frequent anxiety attacks. Excessive anxiety is thought to be caused by irregular levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry signals from nerve endings to the brain and vice versa. Neurotransmitters that are associated with anxiety include norepinephrine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and serotonin. Abnormally high levels of these neurotransmitters interfere with the way the brain receives and interprets external stimuli, causing generalized anxiety and anxiety attacks. Stress is thought to allow the expression of anxiety resulting from abnormal chemical levels, and it is sometimes thought to cause the abnormalities.

The cause of an anxiety attack is complex; it is the result of both internal biochemistry and external stimuli. The complexity of the cause is often why treatment for anxiety disorders can be difficult – ranging from medicine to therapy to some combination of the two. If you’re suffering from anxiety and it seems not to have a cause or an end, you’re probably dealing with more than just daily stress – you’re probably dealing with an anxiety disorder. Seek medical help to deal with the cause of your anxiety attacks.