Three factors contribute to the development of anxiety disorder, your heredity, your personality, which is influenced strongly by your upbringing and childhood experience, and cumulative stress, the amount of stress you experience in your adult life.
Common personality traits in people struggling with anxiety:
- Excessive need for approval
- Insecurity and overdependence
- Overcontrol
- Perfectionism
- Overcautiousness
- Confinement phobia
- People prone to anxiety disorders have plenty of positive traits such as creativity, intuitive ability, and emotional sensitivity
- Anxiety prone personality characteristics tend to be associated with specific deep-seated fears. For example
- Anxiety prone trait Core Fear
- Excessive need for approval Fear of rejection
- Insecurity and overdependence Fear of abandonment
- Overcontrol Fear of losing control
- Perfectionism Fear of rejection and losing control
- Overcautiousness Fear of illness, injury, death
- Confinement phobia fear of being stuck, confined
Effective Cognitive Behavioral Therapy will help you deal with some of these issues indirectly. For example, changing self-talk and underlying beliefs that cause social anxiety may help you to overcome your fear of rejection. Taking out for meditation or relaxation may help you with the overcontrol and perfectionism.
CBT tends to address the cognitive aspects of your personality as well as the emotional factors that influence your traits and fears.