What causes my anxiety? Why am I so anxious? As if anxiety itself weren’t bad enough, not knowing what causes anxiety can make matters even worse. It’s natural to want to know just what is making you feel the worry and fear of generalized anxiety disorder, the dread of people and social situations of social anxiety disorder, the unease of separation anxiety disorder, the frights of phobias, or the death-grip of panic disorder/panic attacks. Knowing what causes any type of anxiety can be an important part of the puzzle and can help you move forward. 

Anxiety disorders and mood disorders are two separate experiences. While both involve thoughts, feelings, and actions that are disruptive to life and disproportionate to circumstances, they have different symptoms (they do often occur together, though). Because these are different disorders, anxiety disorders and mood disorders often have different treatment approaches. What should you do, then, when your anxiety behaves like a mood disorder?

If you live with anxiety, chances are pretty good that you’ve heard a well-meaning family member or friend tell you, “Just get over it,” "Just get over anxiety." If it were that easy, no one would have anxiety because we’d all get over it and move on (‘Get Over It’ Is Unhelpful Advice for Mental Illness Sufferers). Unfortunately, the idea of just getting over it doesn’t help anxiety, and being told to do so can make it worse. Why doesn’t hearing “Just get over it,” fail to help anxiety? What can you do about it?

Anxiety manipulates you. It’s not just you, of course, but anxiety would like you to believe that it’s only you. Anxiety is insidious, creeping and crawling through your brain, your mind, and your body. Anxiety causes its own symptoms but blames them on you. When you live with anxiety, you are dealing with this thing that takes on a life of its own and controls how you view yourself, others, and the world in general. There are things anxiety does to manipulate you and cause symptoms. 

Do you hate the phone (or, more specifically, talking on the phone) or experience phone anxiety? If so, you’re not alone. I loathe talking on the phone, and I’m always surprised by the people I encounter who confess the same thing. Aversion to the phone exists on a spectrum, ranging from a simple dislike to a much more complex reaction involving full-blown anxiety, with all of its physical and emotional symptoms. Continue reading to learn some facts about phone anxiety as well as ways to deal with hating talking on the phone. 

I used to be certain that nothing--not even mindfulness--would quiet my anxiety. I found it difficult to be still because of anxiety's constant stream of racing thoughts, tumultuous emotions, and halting actions. Not only could I not be present in each moment, I didn't want to be present in each moment. I worried that if I stopped being anxious, I wouldn't earn success in any of the areas of my life. Anxiety had tricked me into believing that without it, I couldn't move forward into a quality life. I used to listen to anxiety, but no longer. I found success once I used mindfulness to quiet my anxiety. 

When dealing with a crisis, it can be difficult to stay calm and anxiety-free. After all, “crisis” implies catastrophe, disaster, and sometimes even near-Armageddon. In reality, a crisis can be of any size or nature and is something that causes distress to those involved. Facing any type of crisis can create new anxiety where none existed before, and it can aggravate existing anxiety and anxiety disorders. While it’s natural to experience heightened anxiety during a crisis, it’s not a rule. You can stay calm and anxiety free in a crisis. Here’s how to do it. 

Anxious thoughts act like a broken record. An anxious thought will start to play in the mind, and once it does, that obsessive thought plays over and over and over again. Listening to our anxious thoughts nonstop can make them grow ever bigger and stronger, and we come to believe them. Our worries feel real when anxiety is a broken record. When this happens, it's time to change our tune. 

The human brain has a negativity bias, and it is partially because of this negatively skewed view of our world that we experience anxiety. Studies have shown that the brain notices the negative more quickly and more frequently than it notices the positive.1 Not only that, it reacts much more strongly to negative stimuli than to positive. When our brain automatically, on its own, gravitates toward the negative and focuses its attention there, we feel stressed and anxious. Are we doomed to anxiety because of the negativity bias?

Anxiety and panic can overstimulate the brain, rocket our senses into hyperactivity, and make us feel wired. When we feel keyed-up and on edge, it can feel as though nothing will help. Here we are at risk of jumping right out of our own skin, which would do nothing more than increase both anxiety and panic, and there’s not a thing we can do to settle down. Or is there? It can seem counter-intuitive, but practicing mindfulness when we’re at our most agitated can help when anxiety and panic overstimulate your brain.