This document summarizes a model of how early experiences with diminished control can foster anxiety later in life. It reviews evidence from studies on anxiety, depression, learned helplessness, locus of control, explanatory style, animal learning, biology, parenting, attachment theory and childhood stress. The model proposes that early experiences without control may lead to a cognitive style of interpreting later events as uncontrollable, representing a vulnerability for developing anxiety. Animal research on uncontrollable events is cited as supporting how these experiences can stably produce anxious responding. The role of control in conditioning history and how stored regularities are accessed is discussed in relation to Gray's behavioral inhibition system model of anxiety.