Genetics?

[myra]

So does anxiety/panic attacks run in anyone's family?

When this all started I found out that my paternal grandmother has been on anti-depressants and anxiety meds since my father was a child (he's 57) and just found out my brother was getting them as well.

It does make me feel better knowing that I'm not the only one in my family going through this, but I do wish I would've known about it before hand. I would've avoided certain things.

[juliana]

Hi Myra. If you don't mind me asking -- what sorts of things would you have avoided if you had known? Perhaps knowing would have increased your anxiety because you would have been worried about developing it. There's nothing more anxiety-inducing than worrying about things that are beyond our control. If I had had any notion that I might develop agoraphobia and panic attacks, it would have just given me one more thing to worry about -- and I'm a natural worrier.

I feel that conditions such as anxiety and depression can't be prevented. We can keep ourselves physically healthy, get lots of exercise and take care of ourselves, but if we're wired for these conditions, I think they're liking to appear eventually. The only sort of avoidance I ever did was avoiding things that caused me anxiety. That turned out to be a big mistake. I eventually started avoiding EVERYTHING and became severely agoraphobic. Rather than facing the things that caused panic attacks and learning how to calm myself down, I just ran away from everything and spent 3 years in seclusion.

Depression runs in my dad's side of the family -- big time. I also have aunts with anxiety problems. When I became an adult, I realized that all of my alcoholic great uncles had depression problems but were just self-medicating by being stinking drunk all the time.

I don't know if knowing beforehand helps. Even as a child, I knew that my dad had a problem with depression and I remember some of my aunts being referred to as "high-strung." They didn't have panic attacks, but they were very emotional and kind of erratic. I've always had a lot of anxiety, but I tend to internalize my emotions and I'm rather calm, pleasant and self-assured on the outside.

Since my dad and I look so much alike and have such similar personalities and talents, I wasn't all that surprised when I started developing bouts of depression in my early 20s. Knowing about it before it happened didn't really help. My dad actually feels guilty about passing it on to me -- something else for him to feel depressed about. I have told him many times that it was beyond his control. We don't control which genes we pass along to our children. I've told him he may as well apologize for giving me green eyes. ;-)

I don't know of anyone in my family who has had agoraphobia like me. I don't know if it would have helped if I had known of someone, though. There can be some solace in shared experience, but beyond that, I don't know how much knowing about the genetics of this sort of thing would help. All we can do is take what we were given and find ways of of overcoming and coping as best we can.

Case in point: I have a friend whose mother had severe bipolar disorder and my friend knows that it's genetic. She worried constantly about developing it from the time she was a teenager onwards. She's 40 now, and is fine. It looks like she didn't inherit that from her mother. It caused her a great deal of stress and worry all those years, though. So, having that genetic information wasn't helpful. It turns out that her niece has it. It skipped a generation. Her niece doesn't find it all that helpful knowing that there was a family history. The disease is just as painful regardless.

[myra]

I wouldn't have done drugs in my teenage years....haha!

I wouldn't have avoided stress, because it never bothered me before. If I would get stressed at worked I would just say "I'll go home and have a warm bath and feel better" and I would. Now, I'm so anxious I can't even relax when I get home. I've become quite the hypochondriac as well, which I've never been before.

My brother received therapy and that helped him a LOT. So I'm starting to go next week.

My mom just told me that my grandma takes Ativan, too.

[stillfighting07]

yea it can be genetic from what I have read and I also have people in my family that has it bad. My mom has nerve problems also.

[juliana]

I wouldn't have done drugs in my teenage years....haha!


LOL. Too late now. ;) I probably shouldn't have dated so many effed up musicians in my 20s, but c'est la vie. Life's too short for regrets and who knows if drugs in your teens had any effect on you developing anxiety later on. How many people DON'T do drugs in their teenage years? :roll:

I'm glad to read that you're starting therapy. I hope it's helpful. Good luck and keep us posted!

[MikeMarcoe]

I think there's a very strong genetic link. On my dad's side, 3 of his four sisters have anxiety, and he does to some extent. My sister and I both do, and my brother has some form of it. Anxiety is a physical condition as well as a mental one, so it makes sense that there would be a genetic link.