Hw do you stop it carrying on in generatons?

[sharp]

Hiya every1,

I suffer anxiety and depression (as u will see iv left loadsa messages lol) anyway this is something that runs through my family as 1 of my aunts was put in a psychiatric hospital, another aunt suffered anxiety and my mother had had problems with depression. I just wanna know if there is anyway i can try and prevent it passing on to my children or is a case of theres nothing i can do about it.
As iv suffered from it i know how bad it is and im really terrified that i mite pass it onto my children. i have 2 children which i fear all kinds about and i would like more kids but i darent incase they turn out like me or incase my anxiety gets worse(more kids more worry).

[callmeshady]

I watched a documentary one time in which they were doing a study on dna in rats whose dna is said be very closley related to human dna. Basically, They did this study by teaching one group of rats a maze. They let the rats practice the maze until they knew how to get through it and get to the cheese that was at the end of it. They took a second group of rats and they didn't teach them the maze (control group). Then they let the rats breed (not interrelative but within there own respective group) The rats babies from the first group responded much faster and learned the maze alot quicker than the rats in the control group. This shows that life events are passed on through generations. So the things you do in your life can have an effect on your children. So what i'm saying to you is if you work on lowering your anxiety and deppression it will have a less effect on your children biologically. Also, if you learn as much as you can about your anxiety and deppression you will have more insight in as to how to help your children manage thier own anxiety and deppression. hope this helps

[derwalrus]

Life experiences and events don't influence genes on such a massive scale as you outline in your post. Plus to come to such a conclusion that learning to deal with anxiety will radically change your genetic code based on a single study is somewhat reckless. To answer the op's question I think the thing that would have the greatest impact would be to learn how to deal with anxiety and destructive thoughts now and to teach those strategies early to your child; basically what callmeshady was saying. Also remember that your child only gets 50% of their genes from you and you only got 50% of your genes from each parent so the likelihood of your child inheriting the specific genes related to anxiety are not 100%.

[Robbed]

Life experiences and events don't influence genes on such a massive scale as you outline in your post. Plus to come to such a conclusion that learning to deal with anxiety will radically change your genetic code based on a single study is somewhat reckless. To answer the op's question I think the thing that would have the greatest impact would be to learn how to deal with anxiety and destructive thoughts now and to teach those strategies early to your child; basically what callmeshady was saying. Also remember that your child only gets 50% of their genes from you and you only got 50% of your genes from each parent so the likelihood of your child inheriting the specific genes related to anxiety are not 100%.

Although the exact cause of anxiety disorder is unknown, epigenetics actually seem to be a MUCH more likely cause than simple genetics. Epigenetics refers to the EXPRESSION of genes rather than their actual content. So, for instance, if there is a lack of production of a certain chemical in the brain, this could very likely be due to underexpression of a gene rather than a problem with the gene itself. But the thing is, control of gene expression is VERY complicated. For instance, the manner in which a neuron receives signals can change the expression of various genes. And this change can result in more long-term changes in the way the neuron operates. When you look at what this means, you can REALLY see how such things as thought patterns (especially when practiced over the long term) can cause long-term changes in the way the brain operates.

What's also interesting about this is the way that it connects with the development of anxiety disorder as a result of negative thinking and stress. But it also shows that the opposite can happen. Specifically, that changing thoughts for the better can lift one out of problems like depression and anxiety disorder. And even if there is possibly some genetic problem that might cause susceptibility to anxiety disorder, positive epigenetic factors can likely keep it in check.

So what does all this mean? It means that you should do what you can to reduce your anxiety levels. This can help reverse the epigenetic factors that are causing you to have anxiety disorder. And it has been proven MANY times that the various different forms of CBT are VERY effective when it comes to treating and overcoming anxiety disorder. Furthermore, if you don't display the behavior of anxiety disorder, you are less likely to 'flip those switches' in your children's brains which cause them to develop anxiety disorder. In a way, it all kind of sounds very much like what the first responder of this thread has said.