Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects to anxiety is that there appears to be a common thread between the people who suffer from it and their personal experiences regarding their background. Statistical data indicates that sufferers of anxiety seem to share similar backgrounds or childhood and adolescent experiences. These seem to include:
·- Constant instability or conflict within the family unit
·- Alcoholism within the family
·- Any seriously negative emotional environment
·- Parents with high expectations and low tolerance for failure or mistakes
·- Older children in the family bring up younger children
·- A strict upbringing controlled through fear or guilt
·- An environment in which feelings were stifled or criticized
·- Dominant, controlling or over-reactive parents of other family members
·- Feeling never good enough or have to prove themselves
·- Divorce of parents of loss of one or more parents during childhood