Causes of Anxiety Attacks

Though anxiety attacks, also known as panic attacks, are relatively rare, they do occur often enough to be studied and considered a serious health issue when occurring frequently enough. When anxiety attacks happen often, this is said to be a symptom of panic disorder. There are a number of causes of anxiety attacks, ranging from mental illnesses to heredity, vitamin B deficiency, and general environmental factors.

Panic attacks have a variety of very frightening symptoms, and can be severe enough to seem like a heart attack due to the chest pain often associated with anxiety attacks. As its name implies, panic attacks fill victims with overwhelming feelings of panic and distress. Biologically, the causes of anxiety attack are based on a reaction by the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for most involuntary actions), which results in symptoms like shaking, hot flashes, and hyperventilation. Many of these symptoms are also related to a biologically-induced flight or fight response, and, in this case, the victim's body decides to flee.

The flight or fight response can be triggered, and thus be one of the causes of anxiety attacks, due to a hereditary predisposition. If parents or siblings experience anxiety attacks, other members of the same family are also likely to experience them. This also coincides with the environment in which adults or children live in. Stressful, unsafe environments are more likely to cause anxiety attacks, especially if a child has learned from a parent or other adult to be overly fearful of their environment. However, other causes of panic attacks do exist, including using certain types of antidepressants, vitamin deficiencies (especially vitamin B), phobias, or even withdrawal. Finally, one behavioral characteristic that is consistently linked with anxiety attacks is a lack of assertiveness. People that lack assertiveness may also feel a lack of control in their lives, therefore causing anxiety and potentially leading to anxiety attacks.

Though only 1-2 percent of people have anxiety attacks each year, anxiety attacks can disrupt ordinary life and, potentially, even be fatal. Menopausal women who experience a number of panic attacks are claimed to be more susceptible to having a heart attack or stroke. Whether this is simply because menopausal women are generally more likely to have heart disease remains to be seen. Regardless, the causes of anxiety attacks should be eliminated or prevented if possible, as they are truly a horrifying event.

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