View Full Version : Are you the only anxious one?
I was just wondering and would like to know if you are the only anxious one in your family.(as far as you know)
Did your parents/carers suffer from panic attacks or have an anxiety disorder, even if they didn't recognize it, did you?
:)
Yep.im the only one thats got mental health in my family
My mom had bad health anxiety. My sisters both have anxiety, as do my aunts. My dad does but hides it. He used to have an eating disorder.
No, both my mum and dad have anxiety. My dad has health anxiety whereas my mum is a complete worrier and it brings anxiety on. I was once told that anxiety wasn't hereditary but I'm not so convinced, if we can inherit other illness then why not mental illness. I think it makes us more susceptible to it.
I couldn't say about hereditary but we definitely pick up traits and develop core beliefs from an early age, my mum has always suffered with anxiety but never actually accepted she has an anxiety disorder. My dad was not like this but i know my childhood(even though it was good) contributed to my anxiety.
Growing up hearing my mum worry over every little thing, and my dad having slight OCD as well as being very critical.
We can't inherit anxiety ot any disease but our DNA comes from our parents so we can inherit a tendency.
I'm the only one in my immediate family, I have two cousins though.
My Mum has suffered from anxiety off and on since 1999. Nobody else in the family.
Most of the research done shows a combination of genetic and environmental contributors. Basically it isn't nature or nurture, it's nature and nurture :)
MyNameIsTerry
21-05-15, 07:04
Most of the research done shows a combination of genetic and environmental contributors. Basically it isn't nature or nurture, it's nature and nurture :)
In terms of inheritance of a gene, this is what I have been reading too.
Where a parent has suffered mental illness there is the possibility that their altered genes can be passed on to the child. The parent may recorrect that gene by returning it to its previous state and after a certain period this is then not passed on. I can't remember the time length without checking though.
However, that gene remains dormant in the child until something causes the methylation process to change it by switching it to the "on" position. The same principle applies in cancer where a trigger causes a cell to switch to growth instead of its off state hence you get the abnormal growth of cells associated with cancer. (they are even working on medication to use the methylation process to reverse it completely and several drugs are on the market).
This is covered in "epigenetics" if you want to read about it. There is also study of children with anxiety where they have reduced it through manipulating methylation. This is as far as I have read though.
According to this it said that the environment for anxiety has to be created to switch that gene on and it can be reversed through the same process. The environment was all related to the things we already know e.g. exercise, diet, stress, vitamin deficiency, gut health, certain physical disorders like thyroid, etc.
However, I don't think its going to be as simple as using methylation to address the negative thinking patterns that we have created through neuroplasticity and the issues with memory/core beliefs that Davit is talking about. So, I'm less sure on this part.
I'm also not clear on a non anxiety sufferer with no parental history of mental illness and how methylation makes changes for them. I would assume (I shouldn't do) that it could be a matter of alteration of a specific gene to change how it to be a higher anxiety one. I need to do more reading to piece this together as the articles tend not to consider the other factors mentioned above, only the genetic end and how our genes are no longer considered as fixed blueprints which older scientific theory believed.
In my case, my dad had depression in his thirties for 2 years. I was born in his thirties but my older brother & sister were born in his twenties. They have no issues with anxiety or depression. I haven't followed this up to see if I was born close to this period, before when he was ok or even before when he was on the downslide to his depression. But it remains a possibility.
Eitherway, whilst I can see the odd period of a few weeks of anxiety as a child and various lesser OCD-like behaviours (which caused me no anxiety back then), the issue still remains that I lived a common lads drinking lifestyle with all the dramas that brings and held down various stressful jobs until my thirties hit and my anxiety came.
Why? Preordained to only have it around the same age as my dad? I don't believe this because when I have looked back and assessed what I was doing in the year up to my first breakdown I can see a decline in my physical health, cutting of social outlets, a far greater prioritisation of work and greater responsibility, etc. Simply put, I burned myself out and this happened. Maybe I did awaken a dormant gene, eitherway it doesn't state I can't be anxiety free because I was for many years hence the only thing that matters is recovery.
It is in attachment theory, and it takes three generations to change from one category to another gene wise but the original person can change attitude faster, it just doesn't get passed on totally unless the second generation sticks with it. At that I don't consider it a cause for no hope since it can be changed mentally where other genes such as build and eye colour can not.
Two of my brothers have suffered anxiety, as well as my dad.
theharvestmouse
21-05-15, 20:57
Just me in my family, both my sisters are living 'normal' lives. I suspect my Dad has some sort of social anxiety but he's never admitted it and it didn't seem to affect his job. My mum has also always been a worrier, I think all these things have lead to what's happened to me, but up to the age of 19/20 I was a very capable person who didn't really know about anxiety/depression.
My mother is a worrier and a complete control freak. My brother has had some anxiety and depression, but short periods.
My mam's a bit mad but I'm the only one in the family who has anxiety, others suffered from depression briefly. My uncle suffered with anxiety all his life before he died but that was triggered by an accident at work. There is a strong argument against the proposal that genetics define everything about the way we are. There is a strong argument that we are the product of our environment, our experiences and the culture in which we are accustomed too.
---------- Post added at 19:51 ---------- Previous post was at 19:48 ----------
we have this mentality that genes are solid building blocks that define who we are but alot of evidence shows that genes are changeable in relation to the surroundings we live in.
Rennie1989
05-07-15, 19:51
I was the only one with a recognised anxiety disorder but as I grew older and became more aware I noticed that my mum has an anxiety issue (but she has a high pressured job) and I've heard family members talk about feelings of anxiety. In terms of mental health, I have a few members who suffer from depression like myself, some blood related and some through marriage.
Just thought I would point that out because I think it is horrible thought to think that we can't change because of our genes, but it is a myth that they are the ultimate determining factor as to who we are.
it is horrible thought to think that we can't change because of our genes, but it is a myth that they are the ultimate determining factor as to who we are.
Agreed
Rennie1989
05-07-15, 20:18
They say you are more likely to have a mental illness yourself if someone in your family does, but that could depend on the illness and the 'nature v nurture' thing. I could be an anxious person because my mother was, because I learnt her anxious behaviours, or there could be some genes at play. Serious conditions like schizophrenia and BPD have stronger genetic links than anxiety and depression, mind you.
Definitely, i know my mothers way, although all with good intentions and the fact that she was unaware of the effects it would have, definitely played a big role in my anxiety. She saw negative's in everything, and worried about everything imaginable.
Yes, I couldn't comment on other mental illnesses as I'm not very knowledgeable about them but I'm very dubious about the suggestion that we become anxious or depressed due to genetics, it doesn't make sense in my opinion. It seems to come from a classical science view of the body that sees everything as a fixed mechanism rather than taking into account the complexities of the brain and functioning of the body. Not that I'm wholly confident in saying this either.
Have you read 'Beyond Human Nature' ?
---------- Post added at 20:25 ---------- Previous post was at 20:24 ----------
Yep Sam can totally relate to that. When you think about it, its like how can it not have an effect on me, isn't it ?
lindy lou 2
05-07-15, 20:36
My mother was completely chilled, never worried about anything, I don't know of anyone in my family who was anxious, except my gran on my dad's side was a bit of a worrier, but nothing major. My husbands mum could worry for England, so much so my husband left home at 16, just to get away from it, he had a period of depression after a break up, but never since, he cannot understand my anxiety at all. I was absolutely fine, like my mum, until the dreaded menopause, cue, panic attacks. So maybe for the women on here, hormones can play a part in it too.
So maybe for the women on here, hormones can play a part in it too.
That's interesting as i've always found my anxiety to be much worse around menstruation, unsure of what the link is.
My anxiety is def worse around my period. I believe it's the hormones. I'd get a bit anxious around that time anyway, but if my anxiety is playing up and I'm sensitised it's worse.
Genetics only play a part in it as a pre disposition.
I know testosterone effects anxiety.
My mother suffered anxiety and depression, which I think was triggered when my father died young. (?triggering genes to change or change in social circumstances.
Out of 7 siblings im the only one with full blown panic\agaraphobia. Two others have 'mild anxiety , the rest couldn't panic if their lives depended on it. Hence no understanding!
One cousin with panic out of family of 6
Doesn't that point to circumstance rather than genetics?
Attachment Theory on the net talks about this.
MyNameIsTerry
06-07-15, 04:54
Dormant genes require activation to the "on" position. Epigenetics explains how the methylation process is used to achieve this whether to switch to on or off. This just means a serious of issues whether diet, lack of exercise, deficiency, medical condition, medication side effects, ongoing stress or trauma can lead to the environment where the methylation process flicks the switch.
You cna go your whole life with an inherited gene that is never activated.
The rest is about learnt behaviour. A lot of this behaviour will lead up to the methylation process flicking the switch.
Just because a parent has an anxiety disorder doesn't mean they pass a gene on. I can't say I have read about all of that but it does mention how within so many lives of the disorder being cured that any gene involved is switched back to the "off" position and is not passed on.
Its interesting to me. My brother & sister have no anxiety issues and there is a large gap between them & me. I know my dad had depression for 2 years (cured and never came back and now in his mid seventies) in his thirties but I've never asked about whether I was born around that time.
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