Causes

Anxiety disorders are intense, excessive, and persistent worries and fears in everyday situations that can peak within minutes. The symptoms interfere with daily activities and are difficult to control. Common anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, specific phobia, and separation anxiety disorder.

Disease type

Panic disorder

Unexpected, intense, repeated feelings of fear or discomfort that peak within a few minutes.

Agoraphobia

Anxiety occurs when patients are away from home, in crowds, or in environments where it is difficult to leave.

Social phobia

Significant fear or anxiety due to one or more social situations in which others might scrutinize them.

Specific phobia

Significant fear or anxiety about specific things or situations (such as flying). What the patient fears is not the thing itself, but the terrible consequences that the patient thinks may occur when he comes into contact with the thing or is in a certain situation.

Generalized anxiety disorder

Excessive anxiety and worry about many events or activities for at least 6 months.

Separation anxiety disorder

Excessive fear or anxiety asymmetrical to developmental stage of separation from an attachment figure.

Etiology

So far, the etiology of anxiety disorders is complex, and its pathogenesis is still unclear. There are both physical and mental pathological processes, which are the result of the comprehensive effects of biological, psychological, and social factors.

Basic cause

Studies have shown that people with a family history of anxiety disorders are at a higher risk than the general population.

Neurochemical factors

Studies have found that γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is one of the basis of pathogenesis. In addition, it may also be related to the hyperfunction of the norepinephrine system and the abnormality of the 5-hydroxytryptamine system.

Neuroimaging factors

The emotional control loop in the brain is composed of the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus, anterior cingulate gyrus, etc. Abnormal structures, functions, or connections in these areas can cause emotional control disorders and constitute the pathological structural basis of anxiety disorders.

Psychological factors

Anxiety disorders may occur when external and self-induced factors make patients depressed, excessively worried and fearful, and if effective defense mechanisms cannot be used.

For example: generalized anxiety disorder is caused by unresolved subconscious conflicts and persistent distortion of information processing; social anxiety disorder is caused by patients' excessive attention and care about other people's evaluation, and it may also be related to some negative Experience-related; specific phobias may be related to both the feared object (ie, the conditioned stimulus) and the traumatic experience (ie, the unconditioned stimulus).