It is a known information for lots of years that anxious mother and father can pass anxiety problems on to their children. Although this fact is well known, no one is prepared to say yes to this query 'is anxiety inherited'?.
But now, a new research by the scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, came up with the result that a family-based program where father & mother and children are being treated jointly, can reduce the symptoms and risks of anxiety amongst those children.
Each person can get fretful from time to time, but when the crisis starts taking over one's life, the situation is then termed anxiety disorder. It can be exceedingly stressful and inhibit people from living their lives fully. Many persons with anxiety problem may also have phobias and develop panic attacks.
For the research purposes, the Hopkins investigators looked at 40 kids with the ages between 7 and 12 years. The children weren't diagnosed with anxiety disorder themselves but they all had at least one parent who was diagnosed with the condition. What other proof do we really require to answer the question 'is anxiety inherited'.
Research workers randomly split the participants into 2 groups, with twenty of the children and their families taking part in an 8-week cognitive behavioral therapy program, while the another 20 were put on a waiting list and did not receive any treatment during the period of the research, but were provided therapy one year later.
The CBT program, which consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was focusing on a development of problem-solving skills, training about anxiety problem, in addition to helped parents recognize and change behaviours alleged to contribute to anxiety in the kids.
The chief researcher of the research, Dr. Golda Ginsburg, PH.D., a child psychologist at Hopkins Children's Centre and an asso. professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that based on the records collected by the specialists, the kids of parents with an anxiety problem are up to 7 times more more likely to develop the problem themselves, and up to 65 per cent of kids who live with an anxious parent meet the criteria for anxiety problem.
The outcome of the trial revealed that within a period of 12 months, 30% of the kids who didn't participate in the program, had developed an anxiety disorder, in comparison with none of the children who were enrolled in the family based therapy. A 40 per cent reduction in anxiety symptoms in the year after the therapy program were separately reported by parents together with investigators who analyzed the behaviour of the children and their parents. There was no fall of anxiety signs observed among children on the waiting list.
The parental behaviours adapted with therapy program included overprotection, excessive criticism and extreme expression of fear and anxiety in front of the kids. The program targeted childhood danger factors like avoiding anxiety-provoking situations and anxious thoughts.
In accordance with a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, it is deterrence and not treatment, of childhood anxiety, that is of a primary importance, because anxiety problems affect one in every 5 children in the United States, but very generally are left unrecognized. If not addressed in time, the problem can lead to depression, substance abuse and poor academic performance during childhood years and way into adulthood.
Results of the study will be available in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The study was funded by the United States government's National Institute of Mental Health. So 'is anxiety inherited', yes. Can we alter the pattern of behaviour yes!
