I have panic disorder and nothing "triggers" it like most people. Not certain places or people or situations. It just happens when it happens. It's not always linked to thoughts. Well mine isn't and my anxiety isn't either. When I have bad anxiety it just comes and i don't have triggers for that either. Maybe u have general anxiety disorder. Have u seen a psychiatrist?

I guess I have triggers for some things but I also have a general sense of anxiety that hardly ever goes away. I am currently seeing a psychiatrist. I actually have been diagnosed with GAD but I think my psychologist was referring more to my social anxiety stuff like what’s the worst thing that could happen if I’m around other people or something, though a bit to the generalized anxiety as well, she wants to know why I feel that way... I just have no idea...?

I also have the anxiety you describe.
It is so difficult to even express to anyone.
Yesterday I woke up and started trying to get ready for work and I was just so totally unorganized because I felt that horrible pressure mounting in my chest .
I really think it's not cool for your therapist to ask you "what's the reason for this feeling ".
I had a coworker yesterday say "are you okay today? Only after dealing with a bunch of negative customers keeping the smile on my face and feeling tight and sick inside. I turned to her and said " wow Sometimes this place is SO stressful don't you think? Her response was " I should slow down ! ( now I don't know her to well , but I walked away and thought, oh right I shouldn't have mentioned the stress.
People don't get it. Some do . I have had to finally come to this conclusion.
I'm trying to find some happiness and peace finally in my life and it's been along road, and I'm still trying to get ahold of this .
I'm sorry you have to be put in a position to have to give a reason for your anxiety. Keep telling them you don't know . Let them do their work . I'm the meantime practice self soothing things. I do that when my stress gets physical.
Affirmative statement s to yourself like"I'm okay", "I'm safe" ," this will pass". . Take 5 minutes to sit close your eyes and take some deep breaths, blowing out from your stomach, that helps me . And think like this " I'm going to make it out of this timeframe and feel better soon".
Depending on your medication you might try "Rescue Remediy". It's a flower essence to buy at most health food stores. It comes in spray, tablets . It helps me.

I recovered from my anxiety and I will only speak from my own experience and what I know about how the brain operates.
First off the brain is a VERY powerful instrument that runs the show......if you let it.
For the most part, we want the brain to run most of the show such as keeping us breathing, moving, thinking, and our heart beating. However, we have been taught early on to think "too much". Therefore kicking our adrenaline and other "fight or flight" survival mechanisms into high gear or the "on switch" gets stuck on "on".

The brain is so powerful that it can mimic heart attacks, strokes, and other destructive health issues you can think up......yet only mimic the symptoms and not the actual illness itself.
Soooooooooo if your brain can cause the symptoms.....it can also cure itself. However, if you are looking for a quick fix or not look for the cause......just take a pill and cross your fingers it covers up the symptoms. Orrrrrrrrrrr.......go for the cure.
The cure consists of you uncovering the "secret" trigger and retraining your brain (look up neuro plasticity).
It takes some time and needs consistancy in retraining your brain, but in the long run......life without anxiety and constant medication is WONDERFUL!

Your doctor is not trying to be helpful in finding the reason behind having anxiety.
You don't have anxiety for no reason.......you have it becuz you have had some sorta trauma or injury........or something from years or decades ago that was reinforced with a negative reaction. It may be buried and forgotten and that is what your doctor is trying to get at.

I too could not think of any one thing that made me have anxiety.......even tho I had a VERY ABUSIVE background......I shut so much of it out. Not to mention my mom was very anxious/anxiety ridden which was taught to me by her.......and so was my dad. Therefore I was conditioned by my caregivers as well as my environment.
I thought I was a very positive person.....always joking around.......the "class clown" so to speak.
However, when I started on my journey to recovery, I found out that I was VERY negative and hard wired for anxiety.
I had to work on observing my thoughts and actions. My self talk was just horrible.
I observed myself ALL day and caught myself hundreds of times a day saying such negative things about myself and living in fear of "what if's" to the point I was so paniced all the time that I ended up in the ER 3 times thinking I was stroking.
I learned not only did I have to observe my thoughts, I needed to question my fears and interrupt my thinking whenever I heard myself say something negative and counter it with something positive (this is where you need to be consistent and keep it up for like 3 months straight until it becomes a habit).
It was hard to stop the panic once it started, so I carried gum balls with me (I kept them in my car, in my desk, and any where I else I frequented). I also would automatically do my deep breathing to slow my heart rate down (deep breath in through the nose. Hold it several seconds, and slowly blow out through pursed lips). I recommend several breaths like that. You will be dizzy at first, but your body will adjust and your heart rate will slowly come down.
Whenever I started getting feeling panic or a negative thought arise that started snowballing......I popped a gum ball into my mouth to distract myself or interrupt my thought and started looking around the room/surroundings and told myself I was not in any danger and started looking for positive things such as a sunset......a pretty landscape........babies......etc.
I started meditating and listening to peaceful meditative music while doing stretches and doing deep breathing (when we panic we shallow breathe in preparation for fight or flight). I also walk and garden. Getting out in nature is awesome in fighting anxiety.

You don't always have to find the root of your anxiety, but know.......it is there.
However, if you follow what I have laid out in the message, I promise you full recovery of anxiety.
There are a few exceptions and the only one I can think of is a serious sickness such as a thyroid issue or a medication to treat a sickness being the cause of anxiety.
However, I can almost guarantee you are conditioned to have anxiety, but can be fixed by changing your thinking.
I am proof that after almost 50 years of anxiety, I have been anxiety (and med) free (yes it tries to raise it's ugly head......but I know what it is and I nip it in the bud right away).
Oh......the other reason my anxiety tries to rise up again is I found out that I was diabetic and so when my sugars drop or get too high.......that is when the anxiety tries to kick in which is not often.
My diabetes is under control, so in keeping my sugar level.......voila......anxiety is not an issue!
Diet and exercise are very important even if you are not diabetic. Also, staying hydrated is key to combating anxiety.


I wish all of you the best and know.....anxiety will not kill you. It just feels like it and robs you of your happiness AND your life.
Pills have such horrible side effects and often stop working after awhile. I say my free advice is worth a try. You have nothing to lose.......except anxiety. Yes, it takes work on your part, but think of all the time you spend on doctors, pharmacy runs, and anxiety alone takes up a lot of time.
Work on your self esteem and do positive self talk. One last thing.....TURN OFF THE NEWS and stop reading it! It is all negative and keeps you trapped in the anxiety loop.

Take care and take the cure!

In the third paragraph. I didn't mean "your doctor was not trying to be helpful......."
I meant your doctor was TRYING to be helpful in finding a reason for you having anxiety.

I can't imagine that it would help you to keep questioning the why when you've already stated you don't know. If you knew then by 4 years in you would have mentioned it. Perhaps you're an introvert and aren't comfortable around groups of people. I would love to be more outgoing but I can't make myself be that way. I think life would be easier if I were more like other people. Maybe just tell the doctor to stop asking because you don't know but if you ever figure it out you will let them know.

Anxiety is an irrational fear. It is impossible to rationalize an irrational fear. There is always a trigger, but often it goes unnoticed or is extremely difficult to identify. I try not to focus on "why" do I have anxiety - but just the fact that here I am with anxiety - so I change that focus to "now what?". For my recovery I used CBT. And meditation - I absolutely recommend meditation in conjunction with any treatment options.
Wish you the best.

You don't have to have a reason to have anxiety. All you have to do is have adrenaline.

Adrenaline going round your body. Triggered by? Well heck. Can be anything. You can get to a point of reactivity that seeing a cat run up a tree can set it off.

You don't have to have a reason, and you don't have to have 'anxious thoughts' or OCD. you can just be labouring in a state of fight or flight, looking round for bears, and there can very easily be no bears.

If you have no bears then you may well be a naturally perceptive person. The problem for some is that a person can experience the bad panic, but have absolutely no idea how to access any ideas about why. they don't know how to look around, or what to look around for.

I have memories of my daughter being physically freaking out, miserable, and never realising it had to do with her boyfriend not calling her. When we talked, she was able to attach this sensation to her personal life, and this empowered her to process it.

So this is a problem for diagnosis.

And what I think it means is that you have to sit down and say 'do I have issues I'm not addressing, or do I have no issues?'

If you have no issues, go for a month long holiday at the beach. Take a suitcase full of books. See what you can do about resetting your trigger mechanisms.

I can relate to this. I feel anxious all the time. I may think one thing is making me anxious (like my car engine light is on) but as soon as that is resolved I am anxious about something else. There's always a reason even when everything is pretty much normal. I will worry about the future and what will happen if...... It's nothing specific and everything all at once. It sucks.