General anxiety disorder is a common form of anxiety. It's characterized by excessive or unrealistic worry or concern. This worry is normally associated with a persons life and life situation. There are many theories as to the cause of anxiety but no clear reason has emerged as the primary cause of the disorder.

There are many theories as to the cause(s) that surround the identification of anxiety disorders.

1. Certain medical conditions that can cause hormonal imbalances has been known to cause anxiety symptoms
2. Stress is a suspect in the development of anxiety. Though associated with anxiety, stress may also be simply a symptom or greater underlying problem
3. Some people may simply have the type of personality that's more easily identified or associated with anxiety.
4. It seems to run in families. That is, anxiety may be hereditary

As you can see, the ideas offered as potential causes of anxiety are very weak. Experts tell us that an anxiety disorder can be recognized as more than normal worrying by how long it lasts and how it is allowed to affect your life.

This is problematic given the fact that the cause has not been identified. Consider someone who is under a lot of stress at work, and believes they are at risk of losing their position and that is critical to their families economic situation. It could be considered quite normal for someone in that position to be constantly worried and concerned.

A person in this situation could be considered having an anxiety disorder. While medication may help stabilize the general mood, it's only by changing modifying or removing the root cause of the anxiety can someone be expected to return to a previous state of "normality".

So often we treat the symptoms of an issue without understanding the underlying cause. The rapid growth of people suffering with anxiety disorders seems to suggest that possibly our society and lifestyles are not conducive to good mental health. There are simply too many of us suffering from a variety of anxiety related mental disorders to easily fit into the series as to what causes anxiety in the first place.

With tens of millions of people diagnosed and suffering with anxiety related disorders, along with millions more who are suffering in silence, other answers as to the cause of this anxiety epidemic need to be found. Abigail Franks