Some things that can cause anxiety are:

• Stress 

  • Stress would cause us to rely on unhealthy coping mechanisms such as drinking alcohol, not enough sleep.

  • Stressful events such as financial issues and troubles in school can cause anxiety. E.g. grades, friendship problems

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• Past medical history of mental health condition

  • Family history of a mental health condition can be passed down from parent to child. One has a higher risk of developing anxiety if their parents suffer from it as well. In fact, many mental illnesses have some genetic predisposition such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, to name a few.

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What can lead to stress? 

Stress is the body's reaction (physically, mentally & emotionally)  to any change that requires an adjustment or response. These are some factors that can cause stress:

• Excessive alcohol consumption: Approximately 2 Litres for female/week; approximately 4 Litres for males/week

  • Alcohol is a depressant, which causes people who drink to feel depressed 

  • This can, thus, lead to more unwarranted stress. 

• Insecurity and high expectations: 

  • Insecurity causes one to have low self-esteem. This can, in turn, lead to one being more self-critical and can cause them to over worry about what every task was given to them.

  • High expectations are when one feels they don’t measure up to where they “should” be, based on the influence of people around them and society.

  • When one is unable to meet the high expectations set either by themselves or the people around them, the outcome can lead to disappointment and cause a drop in self-esteem

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Low self-esteem can lead to stress due to the person’s self-critical nature and can cause them to over-worry about every task given to them.