Here are some alarming facts about anxiety: according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the number one mental health problem in the United States for women are anxiety disorders, and for men it is the number two problem behind alcohol and drug abuse.
Let’s look at that from another perspective: around 17% of the United States’ population (around 50 million people) has suffered from some form of anxiety attack in the past year alone.
Lastly, nearly a quarter of all adults will experience some sort of anxiety disorder some time during their life span. And what’s worse is, very few people will actually receive any sort of treatment.
What Are the Causes of Anxiety Disorders?
There are many variables that can lead to a person experiencing an anxiety attack. Stress, a shocking event (death, injury, divorce), getting laid off, etc. There can be numerous ways an anxiety attack can be triggered.
However, when it comes down to it, we can typically follow these problems down to a couple of root causes: hereditary and environmental causes.
Hereditary Cause
An individual may already be genetically predisposed to experiencing anxiety attacks. This is most likely due to a lack of GABA in the brain – a simple way to think of GABA is that it is a natural tranquilizer for the human body.
Some people may not produce enough GABA in the brain naturally, so they have a deficiency of GABA. A lack of GABA in the brain can lead to excitability and agitation which can cause nervous breakdowns and anxiety.
Environmental Cause
These are the external variables which can affect someone, causing them to experience anxiety. Most causes of anxiety happen when one is young and impressionable. Most causes of anxiety therefore are a result of the way parents treat their children.
For example, a parent who portrays the world as dangerous and unsafe will imbue that mindset into the child’s mind. When they grow up, they will live their life from a very risk averse perspective, seeing the world as dangerous and unsafe.
This can cause them to be susceptible to stress because they perceive many situations in their life as dangerous and this causes them to feel anxious.
Other environmental factors could be from traumatic events from childhood (e.g. bullying, a particularly embarrassing moment).
Some unlucky individuals may have both hereditary and environmental stressors in their life, and these individuals are the most likely to suffer from anxiety disorders in their life span.
Using GABA for Anxiety
Unfortunately, GABA can only assist with one part of this anxiety equation. GABA can be used effectively for those who have a hereditary predisposition to anxiety. That is, those individuals who do not produce sufficient GABA in the brain.
Those whose lives seem to be in check and stress-free yet are constantly feeling anxious and depressed are likely those who have a hereditary issue.
It is recommended to take natural GABA instead of synthetic GABA.
Photo Credit: Helga Weber
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