Anxiety isn’t a come-and-go situation - it’s a medical condition that affects one out of every 20 people around the world. Women are more likely to suffer from this condition than men. But what exactly is anxiety, what causes it, and what are the ramifications of leaving it untreated?

Anxiety can be caused by a variety of different factors. Whether part of a more significant mental disorder or a problem in itself, typical causes are:

- Genetics. If you’re related to anyone who has experienced the different kinds of this mental disorder, was depressed at one point in their lives, or is suffering from any kind of fear, then chances are you’re predisposed to be anxious about certain things.

- Stress and serious problems in life. It’s normal to feel anxious whenever we’re faced with some major challenges in life. But this usually isn’t classified as a medical condition, especially if the anxiety goes away after the stress is relieved or when the problems are resolved.

- Going through traumatic episodes in life, like losing a loved one to death, a debilitating sickness, or violent means can trigger anxiety attacks. These post-traumatic events in a person’s life can also be the main reason for other mental disorders as well. Anything that happens out of a predisposed individual’s ordinary routine can cause this mental disorder.

- Drug use can cause anxiety attacks, and withdrawing from these drugs can likewise cause bouts with anxiety in an individual.

Anxiety can go to have a variety of effects and implications for our psychological health. Anxiety results in a variety of problems like loss of sleep, nausea, headaches and inability to breath.

One of the more severe symptoms of anxiety include panic attacks. Such attacks can look like a heart attack, since sufferers of panic attacks often exhibit difficulty breathing. These attacks can last as short as a few seconds, or much longer. To treat such mental conditions, it’s important to know their causes and effects.

Emotional anxiety can also play a part in the disorder, and the emotional effects can be just as profound as the physical and mental ones. Depression, obsessive-compulsiveness, not being able to cope, and a lack of interest in most things are common examples.

Another sad reality of anxiety is that sufferers of these kinds of emotional disorder will tend to shy away from loved ones, making themselves feel as though they’re all alone in this battle. Since they can’t understand their own feelings and why they’re going through these situations, pushing away their family and loved ones will just make the situation worse, because this is the time when they need love, affection and care the most. What’s more, anxiety is sometimes labeled incorrectly as social phobia, rendering most treatments ineffective.

If you think you are going through these emotional disorders or if you know somebody who is, then now is the best time to ask for help from a reliable medical practitioner to help fix the problem. If left untreated, anxiety can destroy the sufferer’s relationships with their loved ones.

Tags: Mental Health