It is a known information for many years that anxious dad and mom can pass anxiety disorders on to their children. Although this fact is well known, no one is prepared to say yes to this question 'is anxiety inherited'?.
But now, a recent research by the scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, came up with the result that a family-based program where father & mother and children are being treated jointly, can decrease the indications and risks of anxiety amongst these children.
Everyone can get fretful from time to time, but when the crisis starts taking over one's life, the condition is then called anxiety problem. It can be exceedingly stressful and inhibit people from living their lives fully. A lots of persons with anxiety problem may also have phobias and develop panic attacks.
For the research purposes, the Hopkins investigators looked at 40 kids with the ages between seven and 12 years. The children were not identified with anxiety disorder themselves but they all had minimum one parent who was identified with the condition. What other proof do we really require to answer the question 'is anxiety inherited'.
Researchers randomly split the participants into two groups, with twenty of the children and their families taking part in an eight-week cognitive behavioral therapy program, while the another 20 were put on a waiting list and did not receive any treatment throughout the period of the research, but were provided therapy one year later.
The CBT program, which consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was focusing on a development of problem-solving abilities, training about anxiety disorder, and also helped parents recognize and change behaviours alleged to contribute to anxiety in the children.
The chief researcher of the study, Dr. Golda Ginsburg, PH.D., a kid psychologist at Hopkins Children's Centre and an asso. professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that based on the records collected by the experts, the children of parents with an anxiety problem are up to seven times more more likely to develop the disorder themselves, and up to 65 per cent of kids who live with an anxious parent meet the criteria for anxiety disorder.
The results of the trial revealed that within a period of 12 months, 30% of the children who did not participate in the program, had developed an anxiety disorder, in comparison with none of the kids who were enrolled in the family based therapy. A 40% reduction in anxiety symptoms in the year after the therapy program were separately reported by parents along with investigators who analyzed the behaviour of the children and their parents. There was no fall of anxiety signs and symptoms observed among children on the waiting list.
The parental behaviours adapted with therapy program included overprotection, too much criticism and excessive expression of fear and anxiety in front of the kids. The program targeted childhood danger factors such as avoiding anxiety-provoking situations and anxious thoughts.
In accordance with a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, it's deterrence and not treatment, of childhood anxiety, that's of a primary importance, since anxiety issues affect one in every five children in the United States, but very generally are left unrecognized. If not addressed in time, the problem can lead to depression, substance abuse and poor academic performance during childhood years and way into adulthood.
Results of the research will be available in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The research was funded by the US government's National Institute of Mental Health. So 'is anxiety inherited', yes. Can we alter the pattern of behaviour yes!