The reason for the initial experience of anxiety

varies significantly from the cause of the subsequent anxiety that is felt.

The first time, it’s an accumulation of negative signals in the body, due to one’s life situation, that triggers the irrational anxiety. Afterward, it’s the fear of experiencing anxiety again that triggers the anxiety. Anxiety is uncomfortable because it is not acted upon as with genuinely rational anxiety. There’s no action taken because there’s no real danger present in our surroundings, hence it’s called irrational anxiety. One seeks medical help because the experience of irrational anxiety was unpleasant, not because of the anxiety itself, just as we don’t seek medical help when we experience rational anxiety, meaning anxiety that has a clear cause.