The Teen Zine 

Anxiety - I am sure you have heard this word before. But, do we really understand what it means? Let’s
try to find an answer to this question. Anxiety is defined as the anticipation of a future concern or threat
by the DSM-5-TR. Now you might wonder how it differs from fear. Fear is the emotional response our
mind has to an immediate threat but talking about anxiety, there isn’t any threat at the present moment.
It’s just our nervous system feeling unsafe and threatened. I’d like you to know that anxiety is normal.
Everyone feels anxiety at some point of their lives. It’s very common that you feel anxious about a big
exam or an important presentation. But, if we were to talk about anxiety as a mental illness we need to
look deeper into it. Persistent feelings of anxiety, inability to control your thoughts, restlessness and
impairment in important areas of functioning like social or occupational are what we consider as anxiety
disorder. It’s important to remember that not only we must identify it but also be kind to ourselves or
others suffering from it. We must remember that anxiety is just like any other illness and it’s no one’s
fault. It should be given equal consideration as any other illness.
It’s natural for many questions to arise in your mind. Like, why does our brain feel threatened? What is
the cause? I’d like to take a pause at this question and introduce to you the main theme of this article
which is, “The Causes of anxiety”.
There are numerous causes of anxiety. Let’s divide them into three categories for easy understanding :
biological, psychological and social.
Starting with biological reasons, it’s important to understand the neuroscience behind anxiety. There’s a
specific cluster of neurons present in our brains whose main function is to detect threats, that’s amygdala.
It signals the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline when it feels threatened. You must
keep in mind that the threats sensed by amygdala may not necessarily be true. That’s where our prefrontal
cortex comes into the picture. It is the part of the brain responsible for rational thinking and decision
making. It distinguishes between real and imaginary threats, and hence regulates the functioning of
amygdala. In chronic anxiety, the amygdala becomes over active and the connection between prefrontal
cortex and amygdala gets weakened. This causes the inability to distinguish between real and imaginary
threats. Neurotransmitter imbalance also plays a role in it. Some of the main neurotransmitters are
serotonin, dopamine and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA). Serotonin and dopamine have both exciting
and inhibiting effects on our nervous system while GABA primarily has inhibiting effect.By exciting
effect, it is meant that when these neurotransmitters are received by the neurons, an action potential is
likely to be generated in it which causes the nervous system to shoot up. The inhibitory effect is just the
opposite of the exciting effect. It calms the nervous system down. The receptors of dopamine and
serotonin decide whether the effect will be exciting or inhibitory. Low levels of these neurotransmitters
definitely cause anxiety but change in activity of receptors also plays a key role in it. Anxiety disorders
can also be genetic.
Many psychological reasons also play a part in causing anxiety. Some of these are low self esteem,
childhood trauma and reactions to certain situations. Low self esteem is basically having a poor or
negative opinion of oneself. It can be directly linked with many mental illnesses. Lack of self esteem
signals lack of safety and trust to our brains, which can then cause anxiety. It’s important to fix your self
concept in order to have a good self esteem. Childhood trauma can lead your brain to become more

sensitive and prone to threats. The slightest glimpse of something disturbing may make you anxious. It’s
like your brain gets trained to be in survival mode 24/7 which can be very exhausting. Your brain will try
to look out for threats that may not even be present just to make sure you’re safe. This effort of your brain
to keep you safe doesn’t really help most of the time. It just keeps you stuck in a loop of feeling anxious
about one thing and then the other. The effect of childhood trauma differs from what a person faced and
how they decided to react or cope with it. Many people choose isolation while others choose to avoid
their emotions. In short, there are numerous ways we choose to react and that also plays a role. Choosing
isolation may lead you to feel uncomfortable around people and loneliness. It can also be tied to social
anxiety. Avoidance may lead you to feel empty. It may also make you feel as if your emotions and
thoughts aren’t valid even when they are. It’s just like a heavy baggage of emotions that you have no
choice but to carry around without letting a single soul know about it. If you are feeling anxious without
any reason, maybe you should take a look at the baggage you are carrying all alone.
There are certain social reasons in the picture too. The most important is the effect of childhood trauma,
which we have already discussed. Controlling parents and lack of being able to make choices for yourself
may lead you to feel a lack of power you have over your own life. It might also be related to indecisive
nature. It might also take you into a rabbit hole of believing that you are worthless, which just worsens the
anxiety. Experiencing loss of a loved one can also affect your nervous system negatively. It can leave you
with a feeling of helplessness and sadness. It can also cause you to always be anxious about whether the
people you love will be by your side forever. If you were always surrounded by people who would blame
you for everything, there are high chances that you would always blame yourself too. Again, it’s also
linked to feeling unsafe and restless. To just summarise social causes real quick, it would be that the
environment and the people you surround yourself with play a huge role in how you view yourself and
your perception of yourself is very much reflected in your mental health.
These are all the major causes of anxiety. Remember, there is no “one size fits all” cause. It’s essential
that we understand how important our mental health is and pay more attention to it. Let me just take you
through a quick discussion on how to deal with anxiety. Journalling is one of the best methods to try. It’s
like the emotional baggage that you have carried all along comes in front of you and it’s just more easy to
sort your feelings out that way. Therapy is also a great tool as it gives room for unbiased and helpful
feedback on your situation. Meditating helps to calm your nervous system down. If you’re suffering from
chronic anxiety, medications can also help you. Changing your environment, surrounding yourself with
good people and just being kind are good ways to get out of it. I know this advice sounds cliché but it’s
helpful. In your life, even if everyone believes in you, it’ll be meaningless if you don’t believe in yourself.
You can all get better just believe in it.