Anxiety is what we call a negative but also future-oriented mood state which is characterised predominantly by physical symptoms of tension and apprehension about what the future holds. That being said, anxiety can show overt or covert signs – for some it is simply a feeling of unease, for others it may be a set of behaviours like not making eye contact, biting of nails yet others again may display even more physiological symptoms such as elevated heart rate, sweating, muscle tension and more.

Some of you may consider anxiety to be an irritating facet of day to day life while others consider it completely maladaptive but the truth of the situation is that a little anxiety is good for us as we perform better, both mentally and physically, when we are somewhat anxious.

Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
This disorder is exactly what it sounds like – sufferers worry excessively, uncontrollably and usually irrationally about things in everyday life where the actual source of worry is disproportionate.

Panic Disorder (With or Without Agorophobia)
Panic disorder is comprised of recurring panic attacks that are sometimes coupled with agoraphobia. Although people commonly associate agoraphobia with ‘fear of open spaces’ that is actually the primary result, not the symptom – the fear is actually of having a panic attack in a place that there is no easy escape from. Panic disorder itself, weather agoraphobia is involved or not, is the fear or ongoing worry about the implications or concerns about having another panic attack.

Specific Phobia
Marked by fear about specific objects or situations. Generally adults understand that these fears are irrational yet they continue to avoid the stimulus or endure it with great difficulty.

Social Phobia or Social Anxiety Disorder
Characterised by excessive anxiety around social situations creating considerable distress and impaired function in a number of areas of daily life.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
This is one of the more recent anxiety disorders to be formally recognised and it develops after extreme events that result in psychological trauma. Generally said threats involve the possibility of death to oneself or someone else where it overwhelms their psychological defences.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This particular disorder is well documented in popular culture but in the scientific realm it is a mental disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts that create excessive amounts of anxiety. The repetitive behaviours undertaken by people with this disorder are actually aimed at reducing anxiety. Ultimately the disorder comprises of the ‘obsessions’ (thought processes) and the ‘compulsions’ (resulting behaviours).

Biological Causes
When it comes to biological causes of panic and anxiety there is no simple or single cause. It is what we call multidimensional in that there is not a single gene that has been purported to actual cause anxiety. Research suggests it is actually many genes on multiple chromosomal locations collectively that make us vulnerable to anxiety or panic however there is much more going on in cases of anxiety disorders than just this – both psychological and social factors are known to contribute to anxiety.

Research suggests though that there is a possible genetic component to disorders that involved anxiety (among other disorders). It tends to run in families, that is, if you experience panic attacks or anxiety disorders there is a much higher chance of someone else in your family suffering from the same (mother, brother etc.) While these gene contributions to panic or anxiety disorders differ the affect is still a genetic one and those with a predisposition to anxiety or panic become more vulnerable when they are under a large amount of stress.

A number of new techniques have been developed over the past few years and one of the most interesting and groundbreaking ones is referred to as quantitative trait loci. This has helped researchers to identify a number of chromosomal areas in animals that have an effect on said animals tendency to be uptight, overemotional or anxious. With every leap and bound scientists are also getting much closer to pinpointing small groups of genes that play a role in our vulnerability to anxiety or panic, coincidentally these same researchers are managing to make ground on depression also as the underlying makeup of both types of disorders is the same.

There are a number of associated brain circuits and neurotransmitter systems that are specific to disorders of anxiety or panic. There is a somewhat direct relationship with GABA depletion in the GABA-benzodiazepine system while the noradrenergic and serotonergic neurotransmitter systems have also been implicated. Recently research into corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) has brought forward the idea that it is central to expressing anxiety but how does that work exactly? The corticotropin realsing factor activates what is known as the HPA axis and it also affects the limbic system (emotional brain), hippocampus, amygdala as well as the locus cerelus in the brain stem. In addition it also has an effect on the prefrontal cortex and the dopaminergic neurotransmitter system.

As mentioned previously the limbic system plays a role in these types of disorders and is seen to be most active in anxiety as it is the mediator between the cortex and the brain stem. The brain stem, being the more primitive of constructs, monitors and senses change in bodily functions before relaying that information to higher cortical processes through the limbic system.

A well known British neuropsychologist by the name of Jeffrey Gray has identified a brain circuit in the limbic system of animals that evidence suggests is heavily involved in anxiety. Coming from the septal and hippocampal areas in the brain to the frontal cortex Gray refers to it as the Behavioural Inhibition System or BIS. It seems to be activated when unexpected stimuli causes a message to be sent from the brain stem. Threat signals that are created from visual danger descend from the cortex to the septal-hippocampal system also cause it to be activated. The BIS gets a big boost from the amygdale from both ascending and descending signals and this creates a situation where individuals have a tendency to freeze, become anxious and conduct an apprehensive evaluation of the situation to confirm the presence of danger. This system is very different to the one involved in panic which Gray refers to as the Fight/Flight System (FFS).

So what do we know about environmental factors? What we do know is that they change the sensitivity of brain circuits over time to make people more or less susceptible to anxiety and panic. Experiments conducted in the past have demonstrated how smoking as a teenager significantly increases an individual’s risk of being anxious as an adult with higher instances of Panic Disorder and General Anxiety Disorder. Seven hundred adolescents were followed through to adulthood, all of whom ranged from non smokers to more than 20 cigarettes a day. It was found that the group of individuals who smoked twenty or more cigarettes a day were approximately 15 times more likely to suffer from Panic Disorder and 5 times more likely to suffer from Generalise Anxiety Disorder. It is theorised that the extended exposure to nicotine, which contrary to popular belief actually increases anxiety, creates among other things respiratory issues as well as sensitises brain circuits that are associated with panic or anxiety. Similar results have been found with other drugs, that is, the altering of brain chemistry/structures (Is Marijuana a Dangerous Drug?).

While an immense amount of research has been conducted already and great progress has been made that implicates two separate brain systems and confirmed the role of the CRF system and amygdala a large amount of research still needs to be conducted into biological causes of panic and anxiety.

Psychological Causes
We have now covered biological causes of panic and anxiety but what about other factors? Psychology also influences whether an individual will be susceptible to any of these type of disorders.

A personal favourite, and one of the best known behavioural theorists, Bandura suggested that anxiety is the result of early classical conditioning, modelling and even other forms of learning. While the evidence that is accumulating in the field of anxiety and panic research suggests an integrated model citing a variety of factors it is hypothesised that our parents can affect how susceptible to anxiety or panic we are through their interactions with us.

In childhood we reach a stage where we work out those events are not always within our control. This is part of developing danger laden beliefs and a general sense of uncontrollability may develop early on. But a parent’s responses and actions to their children’s behaviour can either influence their developing thoughts towards the positive or the negative

If a parent maintains a positive outlook fostering predictable interactions when responding to their children’s needs it teaches children that they actually do have control over their environment. For example, if a child begins to cry because they are wet, cold or hungry, and you as a parent come to the sound of the cries to make sure everything is ok then the child begins to learn environmental control. This is a very important aspect of life. Further to this, by allowing children to explore their world this helps them develop skills to handle unexpected events and learn to deal with adversary. An important aspect of this though is to ensure the child has a ‘secure home base’ – you are there for them if they need you.

The contrasting scenario is obviously parents who are either over-protective and/or over-obtrusive. In this situation the child never learns to cope with adversity and they definitely don’t learn to control their environment.

When it comes to panic and psychological factors it seems that the evidence available currently points to conditioning or cognitive explanations which are difficult to breakdown or separate. There is definitely a strong fear response during extreme stress or environmental danger, commonly referred to as ‘true alarm’ which becomes associated with both internal and external cues. The resulting effect is that the cues provoke the fear response whether they are real or not. This is also a matter of perception as in most cases individuals do not know what the cues are that trigger the fear response this is likely due to the fact that cues or triggers seem to bypass awareness, avoiding the thought centres completely (cortex) by going straight from the eyes to the amygdala.

To quickly define the two; external cues are anything that is external to the individual like a similar environment, time of day, the clothes a person are wearing, while internal cues are generally all physiological – even if they are normal day to day stimuli such as the physical response to exercise (sweating, racing heart beat etc.).

Social Contributions
While social triggers are the ‘lesser of three evils’ so to speak they still do play a role in anxiety and panic disorders. Stress is a well known catalyst and it has the ability to trigger biological and psychological vulnerabilities in any individual. Life events, social pressures and even physical injuries or illnesses can trigger not only psychological effects but instigate physical reactions also such as headaches, hypertension and panic attacks. As stated earlier there is a genetic contribution to these types of disorder even down to physical symptoms, for example if you have headaches when you are under stress then it is likely other family members will have the same symptoms to deal with when they are under stress.

We now have added the ‘Psychology’ menu option, which to start with will link to the various pages dealing with abnormal psychology, and over the coming weeks we will begin to add a vast number of articles relating to this field – this is, as of now, our number one priority/pursuit. Without sounding like a person on a mission (or maybe a cult leader?), there are, without a doubt, too many lives being lost, destroyed, damaged, or anything in between, for intelligent individuals to be standing by watching and waiting. We (and by this i mean everybody) need to open our eyes and begin to conquer the demons that destroy – ourselves, our friends, our family, everyone. Too many lives have already been lost.

To write at the personal level for a minute – i hope by adding articles on the various psychological disorders, and by personally relating to some of them, others may open up, or even offer to help. It is the least any of us can do.

Please bookmark this site, not necessarily for yourself, but for the person that some day may rely on the information you can provide. Questions, comments, personal experiences can all be left below, or emailed privately to me here. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any reason – my Blackberry phone is always on and i endeavor to reply to people as quickly as possible.