What Causes An Anxiety Attack?
We take A Look At What Causes An Anxiety Attack
An anxiety attack is more commonly known as panic attack and can be a very unsettling experience for the sufferer to endure. Typical symptoms of an anxiety attack are: trembling, hot flushes, chills, shortness of breath, chest pain, a sensation that your heart is beating irregularly (palpitations), sweating, a choking sensation, dry mouth, a need to go to the toilet, ringing in your ears, a feeling of dread, or a fear of dying, dizziness, feeling faint, a churning stomach, nausea, numbness or pins and needles, a tingling sensation in fingers, shivering and also shaking.
So, what causes and anxiety attack? Well, the deep rooted underlying causes are generally thought to be due to a combination of one or more of the following 4 factors:
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A neurotransmitter imbalance. Neurotransmitters are chemicals that occur naturally in the brain but need to be at the correct levels. Individuals in whom the chemical levels are not within normal ranges appear much more likely to have anxiety attacks. Many of the medications for anxiety attacks which ease the symptoms attempt to alter the levels of neurotransmitters.
The flight or fight response. This is the bodies most effective defence mechanism and can be triggered inappropriately in certain people. When a person is faced with a potentially dangerous situation hormones such as adrenalin are secreted into the blood stream which essentially prepares the body for exercise by increasing the rate of breathing and increasing the speed of the heart. The following conditions can trigger this flight or fight response and therefore an anxiety attack may follow: claustrophobic conditions, illness, acute stress, habitual hyperventilation, chronic stress, excessive caffeine intake, strenuous physical activities and/or an abrupt change of environment.
Feelings of general anxiety and panic can erupt at any point to become a full blown anxiety attack. Certain life experiences produce an underlying feeling of unease which could be the root cause of this. Common examples of this include: bereavements, loss of a spouse, becoming a parent, employment issues for example loss of a job, or the continuing participation in a stressful career.
Genetics. There may also be a hereditary predisposition to anxiety attacks. It will often be the case that other family members both from within the same generation and from above may also have experienced at some point an anxiety attack. To what extent anxiety attacks are hereditary has not yet been fully determined.
Often just before a panic attack occurs the sufferer themselves or a bystander may notice one or more of the following signs or symptoms: withdrawal from groups and social interaction, communication difficulties, irritability, becoming easily exhausted, insomnia, over eating or loss of appetite, and restlessness. If these symptoms are noticed appropriate prevention measures can be taken to try and prevent the attack, you can find more information about this here: help with panic attacks.
So, ‘what causes an anxiety attack?’ is actually a tough question to give a specific answer too with there being so many potential different causes, however, what we do know is that there are many effective treatments that you can try and in many cases anxiety attacks can be effectively overcome.