In this article we are going to start a new phase in our efforts to understand what is anxiety. The previous phase which was the beginning discussed anxiety definition. In this second phase we are going to discuss anxiety causes. 

The information that we have got until now gave three different categories to anxiety causes. The first category discusses how a mental condition could be a cause for anxiety. A physical condition or effects of drugs are two different categories as well. 

We need to understand though that anxiety causes are not that simple or clear cut since anxiety can be causes by a combination of the above three mentioned categories and the symptoms are not necessarily different. In fact many symptoms are shared not only among the different categories but also with other medical problems.

In this article we are going to concentrate on the first category of anxiety causes which is the mental condition. Studying these mental conditions makes the reader realize they more types of anxiety rather than causes of anxiety. 

The reason why we are dealing with them as anxiety causes is because we feel that the trigger feelings are different. Yet we cannot deny the classification of them being types of anxiety. We are relaxed with both classifications.

Actually you can think of this article as a second thought of a previous article that we published that did not accept a lot of the below terms as types of anxiety. In this article we are discussing and analyzing each term so that we can arrive at a much safer conclusion. 

1- Panic attack: Some of the specific symptoms which can distinguish this anxiety cause is the feeling of the mind going blank or having a strange feeling that the sufferer is not real in his/her existence. It is described as being similar to an out-of-body experience, as if they are looking at themselves from the outside.

The occurrence of numerous panic attacks qualifies for a panic disorder diagnosis. To us this means a panic attack is an episode and to qualify for panic disorders there must be numerous panic attacks.

We have found that the term panic disorder is the closest synonym to anxiety. In a previous article in which we discussed the different anxiety synonyms we did not discuss this particular term. All the terms discussed in that article were found not to be exact synonyms although some use them as such. if you want to have a look at that article you can go to "What is Anxiety & its Synonyms."There is also another related article which is "What is Anxiety and Phobia." The latter is a continuation to the discussion of "What is Anxiety & its Synonyms."

Therefore, one panic attack can lead to another if the same circumstances that initiated the first happen. If this continues then we are well into the panic disorder definition and thus anxiety. The mind can also play the game of the possibilities with us. At an advanced stage the mind can create the trigger even if the circumstances are not similar. It will just create to sufferer the illusion that it could happen. That possibility can through the sufferer into a panic attack. Here the mind is creating events which are not happening which makes us at the center of anxiety definition.

2- General Anxiety Disorder: This term is usually given when the sufferer is experiencing numerous worries. Those worries are more often the creation of the sufferer mind than anything else. Notice two keywords here; worries and creation of the mind. Remember our deduced definition regarding phobia in the article "What is anxiety and phobia?" We have found that Phobia is the feeling of fear of things or situations that are usually not fearful to others.

What we are finding here is that worry has the same division as fear. There is worry of something that is universally worrying or universally agreed upon to cause worry. This part of worrying is tagged as positive.

The other type is worrying of something that does not deserve any worrying. This can happen to all of us and until now there is no disorder. But when the worrying becomes continuous regarding an issue(s) that in general does not deserve worrying then we are well within the above definition of General Anxiety Disorder which is also known as GAD.

In a previous article we have refused the fact that GAD is a type of anxiety and we looked at it as anxiety itself. If the definition in the current article stands strong and we don't find later definitions or strong opinions against putting GAD is such a limited scope then we feel relaxed having it as a type of anxiety. This definition of General Anxiety Disorder puts it within the scope of numerous worries of issues that are the creation of the mind rather than anything else which is generally viewed and recognized as worrying.

3- Phobic Disorders:  We have discussed phobia in the above mentioned article "What is Anxiety and Phobia" in which we have found that it is experiencing irrational fear of something or situation that rises to the level of a panic attacks.

We can now distinctly realize the difference between Phobic Disorder and General Anxiety Disorder. The former is related to irrational fear while the latter is related to irrational worry.

4- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: This is seen as a repetitive habit that causes worry and the sufferer will only be temporarily satisfied when the habit is conducted. The mind of a sufferer of obsessive compulsive disorder gets very creative and is able to increase the situations and areas where this habit is conducted. The more areas the mind finds the more the worry potential increases. 

5- Separation Anxiety Disorder: This particular anxiety cause focuses on children. Both fear and/or worry of a child anticipating or actually being separated from someone who they are attached to which is usually a parent play huge roles in creating and causing anxiety in a child. The separation does not have to be dramatic though. It can be as simple as the child going to school or going to be at night. 

6- Stress Disorders: Stress in its negative term can be described as a feeling of responsibility overload. We can see all the above causes are triggered by a certain situation which happens at a certain moment in time. While stress is mostly triggered by realizing a long term circumstance and our perception that we might not be able to uphold the responsibilities for a prolonged time. The perception will also install the reality that we cannot escape the responsibility. When stress reaches a certain threshold it can turn into anxiety.

Looking at the above mental conditions - regardless of their classification as anxiety causes or types - we can see two major triggers playing a huge role in creating these mental conditions; Fear and Worry whether they are short but numerous or one prolonged feeling. They can work independently or combined to trigger the above causes. 

We can also realize that in most cases especially when it is short time the feelings of fear and worry are irrational and not real. 

We hope that this article adds to your understanding of what is anxiety and its causes. We will continue our search to dig up more information about anxiety causes and its other categories.

We will continually introduce material for you to better understand what is Anxiety. We will continue our research and bring you more information to cover as many aspects as possible of anxiety. Meanwhile you can check the list of materials and tools that we gathered for you to tackle and solve anxiety for yourself and others at: 

1- BusinessFountains Store: This is the main area of Anxiety Material that we are collecting.

2- Anxiety Self Help Library: This section mainly includes anxiety related audio books and other audio materials. Audio books are very useful when you don't have time to read a book. For more audio book listings and categories you can go to our Audio Book Section.

3- Our channels for providing you with more anxiety information and solutions are increasing. It will be completely inappropriate to add links to all those sections in our articles. You can check out all our anxiety information channels at our Anxiety Centre by clicking on the red banner below.