|
|
Stress In The Family 'Is Stress Inherited'
It has been a well-known fact for many years that anxious parents may pass anxiety disorders on to their kids. Although this truth is well known, no one is prepared to say yes to this issue "is stress inherited". However, a new research by the scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, put together the conclusion that a family-based program where parents and kids are being treated together, may aid in eliminating the symptoms and risks of stress and anxiety among these kids.
Each one could possibly get fearful every once in awhile, however when the problem starts taking over one's life, the problem is then called anxiety disorder. It could be extremely stressful and stop individuals from living their lives fully. A lot of people with anxiety disorder may also have fears and get panic attacks. For the study purposes, the Hopkins researchers looked over 40 children from the ages between 7 and 12 years. The kids 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". Scientists randomly split the participants into two categories, with 20 of the kids and their families getting involved in an 8-week cognitive behavioural therapy program, while the other 20 were put on a waiting list and did not get any treatment during the period of the research, but were offered treatment one year later. The CBT program, that consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was working on an improvement of problem-solving skills, training regarding anxiety disorder, as well as helped parents discover and change behaviours considered to contribute to anxiety in the kids.
The chief researcher of the study, Dr. Golda Ginsburg, PH.D., a child psychologist at Hopkins Children's Center and an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, asserted that according to the statistics gathered by the analysts, the children of parents with an anxiety disorder are around seven times more likely to develop the disorder themselves, and up to 65 per cent of kids who reside with an anxious parent meet the criteria for panic attacks.
The actual outcome of the experiment discovered that within a period of 12 months, 30 per cent of the kids who did not engage in the program, acquired an anxiety problem, in comparison to 0 percent of the kids who were engaged in the family based treatment program. A 40 per cent decrease in anxiety symptoms throughout the year after the treatment program were independently reported by parents together with investigators who analyzed the behaviour of the children and their parents. There was no drop of anxiety symptoms noticed among kids on the waiting list.
The parental behaviors personalized with treatment program included overprotection, excessive criticism and excessive expression of fear and anxiety in front of the kids. The program focused on childhood risk factors such as avoiding anxiety-provoking situations and anxious thoughts. As outlined by a recent content in The New England Journal of Medicine, it is deterrence and not treatment, of childhood anxiousness, that is of a primary importance, because anxiety disorder influence one in every 5 kids in the USA, but very often remain unacknowledged. If not addressed on time, the problem can cause depression, drug abuse and poor academic performance throughout childhood years and way into adulthood.
Results of the research will be published in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The research was financed by the US government's National Institute of Mental Health. Thus "is anxiety inherited", yes. Are we able to change the pattern of behavior yes!
|
More Articles
Blogroll
|
