Posts Tagged ‘Anxiety Causes’

It has been a known truth for many years that anxious parents can pass anxiety disorders on to their children.  Although this truth is well known, no one is prepared to say yes to this question "is anxiety inherited”.

But now, a modern study by the scientists at Johns Hopkins Children’s Centre, came up with the deduction that a family-based program where parents and children are being treated jointly, can lessen the symptoms and risks of anxiety amongst these children.

Each person can get nervous from time to time, but when the crisis starts taking over one’s life, the state is then called anxiety disorder. It can be exceptionally stressful and prevent people from living their lives fully. Some individuals with anxiety disorder may also have phobias and develop panic attacks.

For the study purposes, the Hopkins investigators looked at 40 children among the ages between 7 and 12 years. The children were not diagnosed with anxiety disorder themselves but all of them had at least one parent who was diagnosed with the condition.  What other proof do we really need to answer the question "is anxiety inherited".

Researchers at random 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 receive any treatment during the period of the study, but were offered therapy one year later.

The CBT program, which consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was focusing on an improvement of problem-solving skills, schooling about anxiety disorder, as well as helped parents ascertain and change behaviours supposed to contribute to anxiety in the children.

The primary researcher of the study, Dr. Golda Ginsburg, PH.D., a child psychologist at Hopkins Children’s Centre and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that according to the records gathered by the experts, 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 results of the experimentation revealed 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 none of the children who were enrolled 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 kids and their parents. There was no drop of anxiety symptoms observed among children on the waiting list.

The parental behaviours modified 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 situations and anxious thoughts.

According to a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, it is prevention and not treatment, of childhood anxiety, that is of a chief importance, because anxiety disorders affect one in every 5 children in the United States, but very often are left unrecognized. If not addressed in time, the problem can lead to depression, substance abuse and poor academic performance throughout childhood years and way into adulthood.

Results of the study will be published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The study was funded by the US government’s National Institute of Mental Health.  So "is anxiety inherited", yes.  Can we change the pattern of behaviour yes!

For those of us who suffer with anxiety attacks, we know what it feels like. Our heart pounds. We get butterflies in our tummy. We agonize and fret over everything and anything.  We have hot and cold sweats.  Our throats go dry and we have difficulty swallowing, just to name a few.

If you are experiencing any of the above, then you may well be suffering with anxiety attacks.

Anxiety attacks can transpire out of the blue.  I have spoken with plenty of people who have said "my life is great; I don’t understand why I am suddenly suffering with anxiety attacks".  That’s the nature of the beast.  There is no designated format for anxiety attacks.  They can happen to people whose lives are going really well, as well, as those who lives are not going so well.

This is why anxiety attacks are so tricky to diagnose.  It’s not like having a cold or some other illness, where there symptoms are typical and simple to observe and diagnose.

Understanding what anxiety attacks are will assist you to have more control. It’s normal to worry and feel tense or scared when under pressure or facing a taxing situation. Anxiety is the body’s natural response to danger, an automatic alarm that goes off when we feel threatened.

From my personal understanding off living with anxiety attacks, I am aware of the fact that the more you think about the anxiety the stronger the symptoms become.  The stronger the symptoms, the stronger the anxiety attacks become.  Then you’re in the realms of a viscous circle.   This is when it becomes really tough to over come your anxiety attacks.

It’s not till you truly become aware of the fact that your thoughts have manifested your anxiety, so it stands to reason that if you have shaped the anxiety attack then surely you can UN-create the anxiety attacks.  This part is really hard for people to understand.  And I know precisely how they feel!  When I was told this, I rejected it.  Why would I want to do this to myself?  It did not make sense.

But at the end of the day no matter how much I tried to take no notice of that fact, it was true, my thoughts where the origin of my anxiety.  I experimented with it.  The more I focused my energy on the anxiety the stronger my anxiety attacks became.  So with the help of a therapist, I was able to work on my thoughts and beat my anxiety.

I am not anxiety free, although I am able to prevent my anxiety before it becomes a full blown anxiety attack.

Another thing to bear in mind, is that anxiety may be unpleasant, but it isn’t always a awful thing. In fact, anxiety can help us stay aware and focused, spur us to action, and prompt us to solve problems. But when anxiety is continuous or overwhelming, when it interferes with our relationships and activities-that’s when you’ve crossed the line from normal anxiety into the territory of anxiety disorders.

If you would like some help with anxiety? Then, please read on. Below are some very useful tips to help with your anxiety.

  1. Breathe Correctly

Researchers at The University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre have pinpointed one of the reasons why breathing is so important when we can be suffering from  anxiety. They found that we frequently hyperventilate when we are in an anxious state. This is correct, as you and I know. We are conscious of short and rapid breathing  which in turn creates small brainwaves, all contributing to our stressed state.

If we could do with help with anxiety, we will have to learn to breathe using the abdomen muscles. By doing this we create much longer breaths which produce slower  brainwaves. That is the kind of relaxed breathing we do when we are composed and serene. While we are conscious of this, we can learn this technique and it really  does calm us down, if done appropriately.

  2. Meditation
A large amount of people are put off by the idea of meditation and even yoga because they just feel it is too complicated to learn and that they will never have the time to do it.  All you have to do is to find the quietest place in your home.

You can choose to sit down or even lie down. The principal thing is to feel comfortable. Focus on your breathing and practice letting air fill your  lungs and then when exhaling, feel the abdominal muscles tightening. The secret here is that you are able to shut out all the clutter, noise from  around you, while you concentrate solely on your breathing. You will be amazed at how much calmer you will feel and you may not need help with anxiety.

  3. Diet
Certainly getting the right nutrients, minerals and vitamins can really help in creating optimal conditions so that our brain functions just as well as our  body. Any foods that can increase the levels of serotonin can enhance our mood. That can always lower anxiety levels. The best foods, are the complex carbohydrates which are the whole grains, fruit, vegetables and nuts. Did you know that the element called tryptophan helps in calming  and is contained in some dairy products and also turkey meat?

4. Herbal remedy for anxiety?
Lots of herbs are now known to help keep anxiety at bay. The better known ones are valerian, camomile, passion flower and winter cherry. These actually work  and there are no nasty side effects either, unlike the anti anxiety medications prescribed in massive doses across the populace.

This video is really informative about how a Anxiety Disorder affects the body.  The video talks about the 5 main Anxiety Disorders and how they may affect you.  If you think you may have a Anxiety Disorder watch this video, it could help you.