If your anxiety was not caused by learnt behaviour then it must have been caused by something else. This could be a physical impairment, a genetic predisposition, a trauma from a past life that still effects you (if you believe in that sort of thing) or a big T or little t traumatic event in your childhood.

Anxiety caused by physical impairment such as resulting from a serious head injury can, in some cases, still be treated by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. At the moment this kind of anxiety is beyond the scope of this website. I suggest you seek specialist medical advice.

                          

Genetic predisposition is dealt with here. To my mind people who claim to have a genetic predisposition are copping out, accepting their limited life condition and suffering it always. There is a famous story in anxiety research circles that goes like this:

A woman who spent much of her life in a state of anxiety visited her doctor for advice. The doctor looked through his record and found that the woman's mother had also complained of acute anxiety. A conversation with the mother confirmed that her mother, the original patients grandmother, had also suffered acute anxiety. "Easy." Said the doctor. "It's passed on genetically." The theory lost all credence when the patient pointed out that both her and her mother were adopted.

                          

There is some recent news of an over active fear gene being identified, and in the future perhaps genetic intervention will help some people. At the moment such a treatment looks a long way off and miracle panacea cures are never quite as good as the early researchers claimed.

What then of past life traumas? Past lives are not just the stuff of Buddhists. Now many people believe they can regress, under some kind of hypnotic trance, to past lives. I should point out that most scientific minded people think this is complete and utter nonsense. That said, there are people out there who will charge plenty to "take you back" for reasons of either curiosity or therapy. If you have money to burn and you think it might be helpful then give it a bash. You can find a therapist by clicking here.

Causes III looks at traumatic causes of Anxiety, phobias, and panic attacks.