Anxious Brains Are Inherited, Study Finds

The brain function that underlies anxiety and depression is inherited, a new study finds — but there is still plenty of space for experience and environment to reduce the risk of a full-blown mental disorder. The research focused on rhesus monkeys. Like humans, some young rhesus monkeys have what's called an "anxious temperament." Expose them to a mildly stressful situation, like being in a room with a stranger, and the monkeys will stop moving and stop vocalizing while their stress hormones skyrocket. Extremely shy children do the same, said Dr. Ned Kalin, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.


http://www.livescience.com/51477-anxious-brains-are-inherited.html

My brother suffers anxiety and some depression (thankfully through the worst of it).
I believe he may have got that from my mum, who is anxious (though never depressed until my dad died)

Is it learned behaviour though - that children pick up on? Or in the genes?

My brother always said he was very in tune to my mums anxieties and very susceptible to them.

I, on the other hand, took after my dad and have never got anxious, apart from normal anxieties like kids starting school etc, and thankfully, have never been depressed.

So did I shy away from how how my mum was and take after my dad, or is it in the genes?

eddie wrote:My brother suffers anxiety and some depression (thankfully through the worst of it).
I believe he may have got that from my mum, who is anxious (though never depressed until my dad died)

Is it learned behaviour though - that children pick up on? Or in the genes?

My brother always said he was very in tune to my mums anxieties and very susceptible to them.

I, on the other hand, took after my dad and have never got anxious, apart from normal anxieties like kids starting school etc, and thankfully, have never been depressed.

So did I shy away from how how my mum was and take after my dad, or is it in the genes?

I once believed that to, and gave my self a lot of guilt. Now i believe that is complete BS, just told to us to deter us from knowing the true reasons, such as air quality due to all the air traffic we keep on having, bad water and contaminated foods. It so easy to put all the blame on the parents, this blame thing is just another way to harm us all.

captainJane wrote:

eddie wrote:My brother suffers anxiety and some depression (thankfully through the worst of it).
I believe he may have got that from my mum, who is anxious (though never depressed until my dad died)

Is it learned behaviour though - that children pick up on? Or in the genes?

My brother always said he was very in tune to my mums anxieties and very susceptible to them.

I, on the other hand, took after my dad and have never got anxious, apart from normal anxieties like kids starting school etc, and thankfully, have never been depressed.

So did I shy away from how how my mum was and take after my dad, or is it in the genes?

I once believed that to, and gave my self a lot of guilt. Now i believe that is complete BS, just told to us to deter us from knowing the true reasons, such as air quality due to all the air traffic we keep on having, bad water and contaminated foods. It so easy to put all the blame on the parents, this blame thing is just another way to harm us all.

Its not blaming the parents, its blaming the genes passed down from generation to generation Captain Jane.
I am not sure myself on the findings and clearly far more work needs to be researched here.

Good points Jane, it's more than possible that crap in the air we breathe can cause severe mood-altering and mind "fug"

Perhaps with some people it is inherited (perhaps people that show early signs?) and others it's down to environment.

I have two relatives (a grandmother and a sister) who seem to live in constant fear of pretty much anything outside their comfort zones. It's sad to see people you care about go through that and maddening at times, too.

Ben_Reilly wrote:I have two relatives (a grandmother and a sister) who seem to live in constant fear of pretty much anything outside their comfort zones. It's sad to see people you care about go through that and maddening at times, too.

Ben my mum is like that. Worse since my dad died.

She only learned to drive when he died - 12 years ago - and isn't a confident driver.

She won't drive:

Anywhere she's never been before
In the snow
In the heavy rain
In the intense heat
At dusk
On a motorway
On a country lane
In a car lark which hasn't massive spaces

There may be more but I can't remember



She's anxious about everything and knows it. But she can't change.

I actually think its natural that mothers do have some levels of anxiousness, which will vary between mothers. Not saying Fathers do not either, but I think you see this more with mothers with how they worry far more than dads do, when we are growing up. The fathers can and tend to be more relaxed and sometimes take the view more of learning by your mistakes. Where as many mothers would try to prevent them even happening in the first place. I think its a natural process for Mothers to be anxious for their children. Again not discounting men, but so many species it is mainly the mothers that raise the children. I think being a parent naturally induces anxiety more so than on non-parents.

Look how many posters are saying about their mothers being anxious? This includes mine also, where her levels of anxiousness are considerably high from having had 11 children. She certainly had eyes in the back of her head that is for sure and had to be. I always laugh at the story she tells me of one of my brothers, who was an exceedingly quick learner to crawl and walk. They not only had to put his cot by the wall, but their bed on the other side, as he also seemed to be spider-man and climb out. It comes as no surprise that he had many accidents an was completely fearless of anything as a baby. She says one day when she left him in his cot. She went down the garden to put out the washing on the line. He managed to again climb out and descend two flights of stairs and push the front door shut. Leaving my poor mother locked out lol. I think examples like this and any near misses or accidents children have, will clearly raise the anxiety levels in parents and even more so mothers due to the maternal instinct they have.

In my view I just think its natural mothers will become more fearful whilst raising their children. Clearly parenting clearly increases the parents chances of suffering from anxiety and fear.