Can Genetics Increase the Risk of Anxiety Disorders?

Do Genetic Factors Cause Anxiety Disorders in People?

Anxiety symptoms include thoughts and feelings of worry and tension. Some people even experience physical effects such as increased blood pressure and tensing muscles. Several events and circumstances can lead to anxious feelings. But what’s widely debatable – is anxiety genetic and can it be passed through generations? There are many studies that indicate that anxiety could be inheritable.

There is a significant scope of anxiety disorders being a heritable condition – mild to medium risk. Environmental factors along with genetic makeup of a person can shape the type of anxiety one experiences. Other influencing factors are stress life events, childhood trauma, traumatic life incidents, adverse or difficult situations, etc.

Let us explore different kinds of anxiety disorders, their treatment, and genetic effects involved in this psychological condition.

Types of Anxiety Disorders

Here are 5 major kinds of anxiety issues and how they manifest in individuals:

1. Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): The person may show anxiety symptoms for up to 6 months at least. The consequences are difficulty in assimilating information and concentrating, restlessness, muscle tension, sleep problems, and irritability.

2. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Due to a scary, dangerous, or shocking incident occurring in a person’s life, they may keep getting this event’s nightmares, flashbacks, or frightening thoughts once and again. This can lead to the individual reliving the traumatic experience and going through mental and emotional trauma every time. Some even get angered and agitated easily.

3. Panic Disorder: In this disorder, the person suffers from panic attacks which includes intense fear, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, heart palpitations, sweating, chest pain, or abdominal distress.

4. Social Anxiety: This is also known as social phobia disorder. The person experiences terror or fear of engaging socially with people or sheer anxiety of being involved with other individuals, or experiencing the world as it is.

5. Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): The individual remains in a mental state exemplified by unwanted or uncontrollable thoughts that keep repeating. The person is forced to engage in repetitive behaviors.

Treatment Options for Anxiety Disorders

While you may wonder is anxiety genetic or caused from external episodes, the treatment alternatives remain widely the same for any type of anxiety disorder, as follows:

1. Behavioral Therapy: The professional detects behaviors that are influenced by anxious thoughts and feelings. They try to ease the person’s psychological state as well as the corresponding anxious or nervous acts and habits. The therapist then formulates methods to change and contain the behaviors and replace them with positive ones.

2. Humanistic Therapy: The medical practitioner reinforces behaviors and thoughts that enhance the mental state and fight anxiety. They impact rational choices to help one cope with their mental being and state.

3. Psychodynamic Therapy: The therapist devises ways to understand the mental and emotional response to the present and past. They try to analyze unconscious influences on the person’s daily life. This can help combat anxiety symptoms by taking practical steps

4. Group Therapy: Like the phrase, in group therapy, people who have the same mental challenges as the person with anxiety talk about their condition and symptoms. The session is monitored and facilitated by a trained medical professional. The talk therapy between people acts as a cathartic experience that grows on compassion and similar situations faced as a way of getting motivated to accept, learn, and move on.

5. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Here the therapist studies how behaviors and thoughts arising from anxiety work with and impact each other. Thereby they work with the person to overcome the anxiety-related thoughts and behaviors.

6. Mindfulness: Practising mindfulness is therapeutic in every kind of anxiety disorder. It helps calm your mind and body. Some examples of mindfulness are meditation, deep breathing for relaxation, listening to soothing music, having a warm bath, journaling own thoughts and experiences, and using guided imagery by closing eyes and imagining oneself in a happier place.

7. Medications: A psychiatrist can recommend antidepressants, beta-blockers, sedatives, and other medicines that ease anxiety and mental health conditions. They are different from psychologists. The latter cannot prescribe medicines but utilize other counselling and therapy techniques to help one deal with psychological issues.

8. Lifestyle Changes: Among efficient anxiety relief techniques, some are yoga (to treat your body with kindness by focusing on breathing and exercises), progressive muscle relaxation (helpful for sleep and panic disorders as the therapy is focused on relaxing muscles by breathing into them), and general exercise (workout schedules that reduce overall anxiety).

Conclusion: Inherited Anxiety or Not, What to Do Next

Several scientific studies prove that anxiety is inheritable. However, it is not mandatory that if a person’s parent/s have anxiety, they may necessarily pass it to their children. So, whether is anxiety genetic or not, there are several methods to treat the symptoms. Seeking help for anxiety from professionals is a good way to start tackling anxious thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and the disorder’s impact in everyday life.