View Full Version : Panic Attacks....Hereditary?
Hello
I suffer from panic attacks so does my mother so does sister. I have read a few other threads where people mention other family members as sufferers too. I know I am not the first to ponder this as there is also a plethora of scientific evidence that suggests this. I do not however discount the social element of having close peers that suffer from panic attacks and you acquiring these same disorders. For some people it comes as a bolt out the blue. Anyway I was just wondering how many of you have relatives or no realitives who suffer from panic attacks?
Hi, my mother did suffer from claustraphobia, and used to get herself in a state when travelling. However, she never liked talking about it, she just buried it and tried to pretend that it did not exist. I think it was her way of making sure I did not know. However, I believe that panic, depression, anxiety etc. is a learned behaviour. For instance, when my mother travelled on a plane, she was always hyper & very anxious. She would check her passport & money every 2 seconds, she would be agitated, she could not settle, and she hardly ate. She was always like this on the plane too. Now when I travel, I am exactly the same. I think she thought she was hiding it from me but I could see it and I believe that I believed deep down that this was the proper way to be when you travelled. I believed that travelling was stressful and that there was alot to worry about. When we travelled on motorways, (my mother did not drive), she would stiffen when we passed a lorry & she would say watch David, to my dad. They would fight in the car because my father would always get lost & my mother would freak out at him about getting lost saying he was stupid & he would shout back at her, so I belileved that travelling on the motorway for any distance was stressful. I also ended up believing that getting lost was stupid, and that something bad would happen if you did get lost.
So, as a result of this behaviour (I am not passing blame, just stating a fact), I now find flying & going on a motorway extremely stressful & suffer terrible panic & anxiety. Therefore, I believe that my mother's fears were passed on to me, not through the genes, but through learned behaviour.
Hi VocalLuke - none of my lot have any disorders at all. However my mums mum (my Grandma, although I never met her) was sectioned. Although I do have to say back in 1950 you could be sectioned for a major list of illnesses that are now treatable.
I think she was sectioned for depression - thank heavens we've come a long way from then.
Krakers.
Hi PanicDiva - I must agree and disagree at the same time.
While you may be able to learn behaviour from your parents, its usually the case that you stand on your own 2 feet. Yes, I can see how a phobia can be passed, but my father used to strike my mother, something which I find abhorrent.
My little girl is 5, and I make sure she never sees me down (a brave face can go a long way). While she understands I'm not well, if I though for 1 minute I was passing this on I'd leave tomorrow.
Parental uprbringing influences a lot, but to say its handed down ? I have to disagree.
Krakers.
While she understands I'm not well, if I though for 1 minute I was passing this on I'd leave tomorrow.
I'm 100% sure that your daughter would rather you were there with her with all your problems than not there at all.
My daughter has OCD and no way on earth would I leave her even if I have passed the anxiety onto her.
Quite a few members of my immediate AND extended family have anxiety/depression. But, also despite having the same upbringing/experiences, a lot of the family don't suffer in anyway.
Kate
yellowflower
27-10-07, 09:54
VocalLuke - this is a very good question. I am not sure whether behaviour is ALL hereditary (genetic). But having read a bit about sociology/psychology it seems that most scientistics think that our behaviour is a COMBINATION of our genes and our environment.
On days that I am stressed, my son (3.4 years) is visibly more hyper - there is absolutley no doubt about the fact that I have an impact on his behaviour. Our good days are when I am happy and active and spend a lot of time with him.
My father had a very hot temper, which manifested itself in shouting and getting angry, although I only lived with him for the first 9 years of my life and don't remember him shouting at me much. In fact dad and I were very close although we were separated for most of my life until he died. He was a very good father and I loved him.
My brother and father on the other hand used to have angry scenes which I still remember from childhood. On my mother's side of the family, most of them have temper problems and my uncles are abusive to their wives. I remember lots and lots of family trips with my mother's siblings ending in arguments. Most of them have anxiety, depression, tantrums of varying degrees which also seem to have effcetd my cousins. Thankfully, I don't see any of them much now as I have moved away.
In short, I think some of my temper tantrums are a "learned" characteristic from my own environment. I have seen others blow their top since I was a baby, so perhaps it has taught me that it is ok to behave that way ? This should not be used as an excuse and as adults I think we have a responsibility to our own families (in my case my husband and son) to change those learned pattens of behaviour. I have found this very hard to pratice, but I am desparately trying for my son to brought up in a relatively calm home.
My husband has the opposite family situation to mine. He has very calm and collected parents and siblings. It seems to me that again they have had that pattern of behaviour at home and when they do meet people like me who are anxious and not so laid back, they find it difficult to understand.
yellowflower
27-10-07, 09:58
Sorry, I forgot to say that my brother and sister also both suffer from depression, anxiety and stress of varying degrees. In fact our level of stress and anxiety is the only thing we have in common.
My mother never told me about her panic attack history until at the age of sixteen I began to have them also. Though I did also notice that my mother was an anxious person generally but I never realised that she had a full blown disorder. I had never heard of panic attacks until I was told that is what had occurred after I had my first few.
However I would have to agree that it is the combination of both genes and environment. As even unconsciously I think children do pick up on the behaviour of there peers.
It is interesting though how all of the people here have family members with mental illness but perhaps by chance at least one of your family members will have some form of mental illness. Not that anyone is to blame I do not care that my mother has a disorder I am just glad she is my mother
Hi Kate - thanks for the reply.
I appreciate that all people are different and the absence of a parent can also have a negative effect.
However I intend on getting better, and don't think it would be forever. If I'm gone for a month or a year I would return. While it may be detremental in the short term, I wouldn't wish this on anyone especially not my daughter. If I believed that I was running even the slightest risk of passing this on, then I have to stand by my earlier assertion.
Krakers.
gretta2007
29-10-07, 22:36
my mother, brother(22) sister(28) and myself(23) all suffer from panic attacks. i don't know why i felt the need to include our ages LOL.
my mother has severe anxiety and agoraphobia, my brother has OCD and social anxiety (he paces and throws up everytime he has to go out, but he still goes out on a regular basis) my sister and i just have your general panic disoreder symptoms along with OCD as well. i think that i may have a touch of agoraphobia, but i still go out everyday. i hate leaving the house because i constantly feel like something bad will happen, but i've got to go to school and work and to the grocery, so i just deal with it.
Hi all :hugs:
This is what I would LOVE to know the answers to, CAN it be hereditary?
Yes, there is a line of family memebers with anxiety, will not go into that, but the reason I find this thread very intresting is this.
I myself did not suffer pa's untill, mmm age 38 I think.I am, 43 now. I do remember as far back as a very young child feeling unsafe, shy, lack of confidance.
As soon as I had my first child, ( a son ) I worked dame hard with his confidance, helping him get out more, go places with other people, letting him stay at his nans, leaving him at partys, ohoo well suppervised of course. I started this at a very, vary young age. I did NOT, want him to lack confidance like me. He started his first day at school with nooo probs, when he was young he was an outgoing child, living a normal life, even at age 3, oh you know what boys are like LOL
My son was 3 and I had another child ( a daughter) ohh sooo cute, my son loved school, his new sis, life was great. I did the same routine with my daughter, ohh she was great, even on her 3rd birhtday, she was soo full on confidance, she would sing and dance in fornt of anyone, and made everyone laugh, she was a show girl LOL
September came, her first day in her new school, this is the week I will never forget, the week it change all our live's and hers :weep:
I will not go into everything, it would take forever, but she started being sick in school, her teacher said "she vomited like the execist" :ohmy: she is having funny turns and is scaring all the other kids. This was the begining of a nightmare. These funny turns would only happen when going to school at first, then they started happening, anytime, anyplace anywhere.
Ohhh, I will cut this story short. It took 3 years of for them to tell me what was wrong with my daughter. PANIC, ANXIETY.
So, peeps, could it be Hereditary? How can a child at age 3 be fine one week, full of confidance, want to go place's, be with people, then, the next week not want to do anything, to pull in on herself, how can panic happen like that. I have asked myself this for many years. SHE JUST CHANGED. Her whole personalty changed. :weep: I do know now, that after her first pa, everything that happend after that was learned behavour, fear of another panic.
I was told by a child Psychologist when my daughtger was 6, it was in my daughters make up to be this way, she would grow out of it, or learn to live with it :ohmy:
By the time we as a family went to see this psyc, I had noticed myself what was triggering my daughters, mmm, I used to call it back then, funny turns, I had been working dame hard to change my daughters thought patten on each and every problem she had.
Ohh I will stop there, I have woffled enough, as I said, I know that everything AFTER my daughters first panic was leanred behavour, we as a family let her learn them for the first year of her illness, only because we did NOT know what was wrong with her. This is a long winded story with twist and turns, BUT, what I want to know is, what triggered the first PA???? I thought I'd covered everthing, tought her well, but something was amiss, I did not teach her the coping skills to go to school.
I Seen a programme once, it had a famous child psychologist in ,ohh can't remember his name, it was very intresting, he said that all kids are born with coping skills, it us adults and people around them that help nurture there coping skills, (make them stronger) BUT, there are some children that are born with a falty gean, these type of children have to work harder and need more help with there coping skills. eg, to deal with the outside world and other things.
My daughter is 14 now and doing well, each day, each month each year, she moves on sooo much, but has hiccups from time to time. She did have a large blip awhile ago, we got help for her on this, but as always, she moved on, got better and said, I don't need help now, I'm better. Given her age we have to go with her wishes. She did something new last week, she went into town for the first time with friends, she did have an anxiety attack before she went, she vomited,but went anyway, I don't know if she had a pa, because the way I deal with her is to focus MORE on the postive on what she has done, ask her what she has leaned, ask her how her day went, talk about how she had a great time, Hay, no stopping her now, she been 3 times since :yesyes:
My son is fine with now probs.
Sooo, is it in the geans, I thinks so, is it possible to get better, defo on that one. I myself have not had a pa in a long time.
Good for you if you have read this far, thank you for reading
TAKE CARE ALL
WISHING YOU ALL WELL
LOVE JILLXX
Hi all - just a side note and a follow up on what I wrote earlier. Its not really that on topic or relevant for today.
I had a chat with my dad tonight and found out my grandma was sectioned for melancholia. This followed her dads death a few months earlier.
What I never realised was that the husband could have his wife sectioned 60 years ago by his consent alone. Absolutely appalling. Chances are that she was just depressed, however as my dad tells it he was a womaniser and it was an easy get out for him.
Its amazing what you can learn from just a chat, and I left my dads place gob smacked.
I'm tempted to give even less credence now to earlier stories I've been told and also to the fact my condition may be inherited. I acknowledge that this isn't the same for all. The tale did make me exceptionally sad though, and as my mother outlived two of her children I can now start to begin to piece together the picture that must have hurt her so badly.
Krakers.
I'm sure it can be hereditary. My grandfather, mother and now me have all had problems. But you can also be 'conditioned' by how you are brought up.
anx x
HI There:)
I suppose all things vary and maybe these are hereditary, but i have had them absolutely years and no one else in family has ever suffered from them.
So why have they picked on me:D :D
Lilith1980
01-11-07, 14:40
My Father was apparently a "worrier" as my Mum puts it and my Nan (Father's Mum) is a worrier too although I'm wondering whether it goes beyond that with them. My Nan used to take Calms tablets and my Mum has said how worked up she gets over things.
I have anxiety and used to suffer badly from panic attacks - don't get them so frequently now though but not sure why they have diminished because my anxiety levels have risen.
So if it is hereditary, does that mean that there is some sort of chemical inbalance in our brains that causes PAs and anxiety?
bottleblond
01-11-07, 19:16
Hi Monica,
I think there could be something in this too. My mum did suffer quite badly with her nervs a good few years ago but only gets mild symptoms now.
Lisa
xxx
I firmly believe mine are hereditary because so many of us have it in my family and it may sound extreme but I have decided not to have kids.I'm cutting it off :closedeyes:
Ohhh Eva May, :hugs:
**it may sound extreme but I have decided not to have kids.I'm cutting it off**
I read this and my heart sank, I felt that what what I have written in my reply was SOOOOO negative.
YES, my daughter HAD, panic, high anxiety, BUT, she has moved on soooooo much, she even went with friends tonight to get her cd signed by McFly. I have LOTS AND LOTS of great memories about her past.:yesyes:
I have 2 kids, my son is fine and doing great, he has NEVER had probs.
As I said, I myself never suffered pa's, high anxiety untill many years after my daughter problem. (There was a reason for that) I have NOT had a pa, high anxiety in a long time.
Her story CAN be heart breaking, but remember, when I talk about her on here, I SHOULD, put how far she has come and what she has achieved. I could write a list as long as my arm, she is doing great :yesyes:
Please, please, always keep in the front of your mind, IT IS, possible to get better, with alot of hard work time and support.
The last time my daughter had a blip with panic, was awhile ago, but hun, there was a reason for her blip, it DID NOT, just happen out of the blue.
What I will say is, I have been a memeber of this site for mmm many moons, LOL and I am yet to come across another parent that has had a child sooo young as mine was. with panic, high anxiety. Even though I think myself its hereditary, my son is fine, sooo, mmm, I can't be 100% certain, can I. I have stopped looking into this now, I feel, its time for me to move on with this subject, to look more to my daughter future, see her happy, the more she grows the more she understands, the better she feels. She has alot of knowledge about herself, her feelings, she is growing and learning to understand herself more and more and this to me, is soo important, for her to understand herself, to get to know herself.
Please don't robe yourself of a Preciouse gift and that is, giving life to a child.
You take care hun :hugs:
WISHING YOU WELL
LOVE JILLXXX
I have two children and they have both had prblems. The main thing you have to do is to take the fear out of what ever their problem is, and in that way, hopefully it wont register in the brain and cause long term problem.s
Hi Tom,
Sorry to hear you have had probs with your children, :hugs:
I will agree with you on this Tom, you are sooo right, learning your children to change there thougt patten on what they fear, learning them to change negative thought patten to more postive reasuring one's. This can be dame hard work, BUT, worth it in the long run :yesyes: :yesyes: :yesyes:
It took me along time after my daughter first pa, to change her thought pattens, it took them 3 years to tell me what she had, soo, learned behavour, eg, using avoidence, ohh boy, even now typing this, I feel a little angry that it took them soo long, BUT, the past is the past I cannot change that, what is important now is, she has moved on. :yesyes:
I do hope that things are not to bad for your children, You did say, HAD, so this says to me that things are fine now :yesyes:
You take care
LOVE JILLXXX
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