It has been a known fact for many years that anxious parents may pass panic disorders on to their kids. Although this fact is well known, no one is prepared to say yes to this question "is anxiety inherited". But now, a new study by the scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, put together the conclusion that a family-based program where parents and kids are treated together, can reduce the symptoms and risks of anxiety among these children.
Each person can get fearful every once in awhile, however when the problem starts taking over one's life, the problem is then called anxiety disorder. It can be extremely stressful and stop people from living their lives fully. A lot of people with anxiety disorder might also have phobic disorders and get panic attacks. For the study purposes, the Hopkins investigators looked at 40 children from the ages between 7 and 12 years. The kids 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". Scientists randomly split the participants into two groups, with 20 of the children and their families taking part in an 8-week cognitive behavioural therapy program, while the other 20 were put on a waiting list and did not get any treatment during the period of the research, but were offered treatment one year later. The CBT program, which consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was focusing on an improvement of problem-solving skills, instruction about anxiety disorder, and also assisted parents find out and change behaviours considered 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 obtained by the analysts, the children of parents with an anxiety disorder are up to seven times 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 actual outcome of the research discovered that within a period of 12 months, 30 per cent of the children who did not participate in the program, had developed an anxiety disorder, compared to 0 percent of the kids who were engaged in the family based therapy. A 40 per cent decrease in anxiety symptoms in the year after the therapy program were independently reported by parents along with investigators who analyzed the behaviour of the children and their parents. There was no drop of anxiety symptoms noticed among kids on the waiting list.
The parental behaviors personalized with therapy program included overprotection, excessive criticism and excessive expression of fear and anxiety in front of the kids. The program targeted childhood risk factors such as avoiding anxiety-provoking circumstances and anxious thoughts. As outlined by a recent article in The New England Journal of Medicine, it is deterrence and not treatment, of childhood anxiety, that is of a primary importance, because anxiety disorder affect one in every 5 children in the USA, but usually remain unacknowledged. If not addressed in time, the dilemma can lead to depression, substance abuse and poor academic performance throughout childhood years and way into adulthood.
Results of the study will be publicized in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The research was financed by the US government's National Institute of Mental Health. Therefore "is anxiety inherited", yes. Can we change the pattern of behavior yes!
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