Is Anxiety caused by your life or genes.

H

h2owater

New member
This thread might come across as naive, but bare with me.

Can a person just get anxiety without societal inferences, i dont necessarily mean social anxiety but anxiety in general.

Can a person just grow up and have a great life, not have a troublesome childhood, not be teased or whatever and just have anxiety.

This mite sound horrible but if u took a baby and put him on an island on his own, without society (western) interfering or having bad experiences in life wound he still get anxiety. In the same way a child mite be prone to asthma cause it runs in families, regardless if he has such a great upbringing would he still get anxiety.

Cause ive had bad anxiety since i was 8 im now 25 and its so bloody debilitating, my life experiences doesn't warrant this anxiety. ive had a fine upbringing.
Ive had ocd/hypocondriac and now SA.

I guess my point is is there 2 types of anxiety
1 - Caused by your life, parents, school.
2 - Just genetic, you cant help it regardless of your route in life, social stand, upbringing. In the same way you mite be prone to getting a auto immune disease thyroid/diabetes type 1, its written in your genes.

Ive had anxiety since such a 8 years old, a doctor said recently u need a shrink, im like its not caused by my thoughts i just have it, in the same way i couldn't help having a thyroid problem.

The way he says i need a shrink, like its caused by me my thoughts so its my fault,
i see that as a doctor telling someone oh you have cancer and its your fault cause u've been smoking and eating junk food your whole life.

By the way i already did the shrink thing and it didnt work and i was asking my doc for medication.
 
louiselouise

louiselouise

Member
I think you are right. The solution for both type of anxiety is to have positive thinking and also have someone to support you.
 
surewhynot

surewhynot

Well-known member
Two things determine your personality:

1- Genetics
2- Environment

This is pretty basic psychology stuff. So yeah, you are totally right.
 
Lonelykitsune

Lonelykitsune

Well-known member
I'd say it is genetic. I've had a very good life, stable family, never bullied and no traumatic social incidents. I really can't think of any reason why I'd be this way other than genes.
 
bcsr

bcsr

Well-known member
I think it's a bit of both, but anxiety is a learned behavior, for the most part. You change it.
 
Z

Zav

Well-known member
I'm sure both contribute, but I think environment/upbringing is has the heavier hand.
 
IntheLabyrinth

IntheLabyrinth

Well-known member
It's called the diathesis stress model which says both genetics and environment play a role in anxiety. One may be predisposed to have an anxiety but environmental factors will have to be present to cause it. For instance, I may have a predispostion to anxiety but if I was in an enviroment that is nurturing and builds self-esteem, I would have probably never developed social phobia. There is no exact way to determine how likely it is that one will develop an anxiety disorder. This is just the best explanation psychologists have come up with so far but it is just a theory like everything, so it may change one day.
 
J

jaim38

Well-known member
Both life and genes. Unfortunately for me, SA seems to run in my family and my environment isn't exactly friendly.
 
G

GarryU

Member
Both, you might be predisposed genetically but that doesnt mean you have to be an SAer, it was the decision I made when I first started to work on this, I can either blame it on my genes or change my enviromet to make me change.

I definetly feel more confortable when Im not pushign my social comfort zone.
 
S

SilentAndShy

Well-known member
I'd say genes played a smaller role compared to the environment grew up in. I feel I've picked up genes from my mother; that is being un-assertive, passive and not asking for help and being too accepting. But the environment that I grew up definitely shaped me. I can go back to my childhood and think to a point roughly of where I felt pretty much without anxiety and then fast forward and see situations that increased anxiety.
 
andsorry

andsorry

Well-known member
I am in the same situation as you, except biweekly I see a counselor. It may be both social environment and genetics. I find myself having anxiety attacks when I am alone, which is weird because I not doing anything stressful.
 
PugofCrydee

PugofCrydee

You want to know how I got these scars?
Anxiety is definately a learned process. It's basically faulty thinking learned over a period of time.
Ones genes CAN make you more prone to developing those faulty thinking patterns, but it doesn't mean you necessarily will.

So in a nutshell genes can play a part, but how you think about things on a Daily basis dictates the outcome.
 
hidwell

hidwell

Well-known member
^ I disagree IMO genes play the biggest part in a persons personality, learned behaviour just adds salt to the wound.
 
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