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It has been a known fact for quite some time that restless parents could pass panic disorders on to their kids. Although this truth is well known, nobody is prepared to say yes to this query "is anxiety inherited". However, a new research by the experts at Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, put together the conclusion that a family-based program where parents and kids are being treated together, may reduce the symptoms and risks of anxiousness among these kids.
Each one can get anxious from time to time, however when the problem starts taking over one's life, the problem is then called anxiety disorder. It can be extremely stress filled and stop people from living their lives wholly. Some individuals with anxiety disorder may also have phobic disorders and develop anxiety attacks. For the study purposes, the Hopkins researchers looked over 40 children from the ages between 7 and 12 years. The children were not diagnosed with anxiety disorder themselves but all of them had at least one parent who was diagnosed with the problem.
What other evidence do we really need to answer the query "is anxiety inherited". Researchers randomly split the participants into two categories, with 20 of the kids and their families taking part in an 8-week intellectual behavioural treatment program, while the other 20 were put on a waiting list and did not receive any treatment during the period of the research, but were offered therapy one year later. The CBT program, that consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was centering on an improvement of problem-solving abilities, instruction regarding panic attacks, and also helped parents find out and change behaviours thought to contribute to anxiety in the children.
The chief researcher of the study, Dr. Golda Ginsburg, PH.D., a child psychologist at Hopkins Children's Center and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that according to the figures gathered by the analysts, the children of parents with an anxiety disorder are up to seven times more prone to develop the disorder themselves, and up to 65 per cent of kids who stay with an anxious parent meet the criteria for panic attacks.
The actual outcome of the research discovered that within a period of 12 months, 30 per cent of the children that did not participate in the program, had developed an anxiety problem, in comparison to none of the children who were engaged in the family based therapy. A 40 per cent decrease in anxiety symptoms in the year after the treatment program were independently reported by parents along with investigators who assessed the behaviour of the children and their parents. There was no drop of anxiety symptoms observed among children on the waiting list.
The parental behaviors personalized with treatment program included overprotection, excessive criticism and excessive expression of fear and anxiety in front of the children. The program focused on childhood risk factors like avoiding anxiety-provoking circumstances and anxious thoughts. According to a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, it is deterrence but not treatment, of childhood anxiousness, that is of a primary importance, since anxiety disorder affect one in every 5 children in the United States, but very often are left unrecognized. If not treated on time, the dilemma can lead to depression, drug abuse and poor academic performance all through childhood years and way into adulthood.
Results of the research will be published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The study was funded by the US government's National Institute of Mental Health. Therefore "is anxiety inherited", yes. Are we able to change the pattern of behavior yes!