Social Phobia: Genetic or Environmental?

[redski]

I honestly think it is a bit of both.
My mom has schizophrenia and sometimes I wonder if she has some kind of SA as she is such an anxious person.
My father is a quiet serious man probably more on the shy side.
I guess I was raised in such an environment so that is why I became this way.

 

[Scooter]

Research says it's both. Mental disorders have a known genetic component which can be triggered by certain environmental factors, like being bullied etc.
Some have a stronger genetic component than others, but they are all influenced by both nature & nurture.

 

[Falkor]

I think It could be both too. Because my mom and dad seem pretty anxious to me. But not like me, but they have some anxiety thingies.. And I also have been bullied. So yea, i think it's both in my situation.

 

[Felgen]

It's triggered by your surroundings, but some are more prone to developing it than others. A person with Asperger's syndrome, bipolar disorder, Tourette's syndrome or a similar neurological disorder, is much more likely to develop it than a neurotypical person.

 

[Zaona]

..............

 

[black-wings]

I think it can be both.

My dad is sometimes a quiet, reserved person and I think I got that from him.

I believe though that SAD is a more enviornment disorder than anything. My parents sort of sheltered me as a child and as I grew up I noticed I was as talkitive as I was in years past. My patterns of communication changed and I became more nervous when it came to meeting new people.

 

[Phoenixx]

I think it could easily be both. For me, my SA was mostly from the experiences of being teased in school and at home. Also, I think I might be sort of prone to social anxiety anyway since my dad is very shy (which I did inherit his shyness) and my mother does have anxiety issues (I don't think she has an anxiety disorder, per se). Or I might be totally wrong about that... ::

 

[Crumpal]

I was wondering when people on the forum were afflicted with Social Anxiety/Phobia? Is it genetic- meaning you were born with it, or did a life experience cause you to have Social Phobia?

My general tendency to worry too much I think is partly genetic. My questionable social skills I think are mostly environmental.

 

[dottie]

both.

i believe there is a genetic predisposition followed by environmental factors which make or break.

 

[EscapeArtist]

Dottie: Hear hear!
What she saiddddddddd

 

[ScaredToBreathe]

i think it can be both genetic and environmental. in my case, i believe it's genetic because my mom had it. i had a good childhood, plently of relatives, other kids were nice to me, good parents, and an older brother who never shuts up. so i dont see how that environment could have affected me, and ive had SP for as long as i can remember. so i believe i inherited it.

 

[carecrab]

i'd say 10 % genetic (unless it's something like schizophrenia that's more like 60)
and 90 % environmental

 

[Rot]

I think it's both. I have had anxiety since I can remember. When I was a child it was really hard for me just going to buy bread (very close to my house), it gave me anxiety and I always tried to avoid it. My parents thought I was just a lazy boy and that never helped so much.

But I also had problems in the school, being bullied and so, which I think have worsened my anxiety even more (to the point of stammering, many years ago).

 

[Paahi]

I believe for me it's a mixture of both.

 

[megalon]

My parents don't have it. I had a pretty good childhood. I wasn't really bullied at all. Thinking back now, I was normal when I was very young, I had friends, I spoke up in school. At some point the anxiety took hold and it gradually kept getting worse so slowly that I didn't even notice it was happening. The only contributing environmental factor I can think of is my overprotective parents. I wasn't allowed to do anything with people from school. I wasn't allowed to talk on the phone. I wasn't even allowed to ride my bicycle past the neighbors driveway. My parents always had to be there watching and supervising whenever I went anywhere. It continued like that till I was 16 or 17. When I had no experience doing anything without my parents leading me, and then I suddenly have to drive myself to college and deal with that on my own, it's no wonder I quit.

 

[NihilSlayer]

It is Genetic.

Saying that it is because of both nature and nurture is kind of a safe answer.

Yes, in one sense it is because of both, but simply if you put two people, one with the affective genes of this disorder (or whatsoever chemical stimulaters, as prefred sometimes to be introduced as), and the other without it, the latter one will never have SA, in spite of whatever he could face and experience in his life.

To make it clearer, it is not the disorder what is inherited, it is the ability to have it, if triggered by environmental causes, which (I believe) will inevitably will happen (it certainly would be more than 90% of cases I believe).

There are degrees of course but I prefer to simplify the answer (rather than escaping form it) and choose to say that it is Genetic.

^ This fellow pwns all with his correctness. I do think it could be classically conditioned also, but for it to be conditioned in someone without the innate proclivity to it, this hypothetical person would have to be in a truly sadistic environment, having predominantly only negative social experiences. So to develop it in someone without any genetic factor would involve the necessity of freakishly, unnatural social surroundings... Maybe that negates some of the criteria... I"m not about to go look in the DSM-IV, so moot the point be. Either way, Basil for King for not taking the easy way out, and for delving deeper into the morass of mind.

 

[mikebird]

It's all definitely the way you experience the world you start in. We're all born perfect, and then we make a mess of it

Everyone else who is not on this forum are evil

 

[bangdrum]

100% genetic.

I was never bullied (mostly ignored), no deaths of parents/siblings (have none anyway)/traumatic moves/etc, and I've been anxious since the second I was born (literally).

 

[doubleM]

i think its both. people are born with the disposition to be quiet and reserved. the human mind is programmable just like a computer. traumatic things happen to everybody. even if you cant recall them they are buried in your subconscious mind. that is where our emotions come from. it could be anything, like something that happened when you were a baby.
i was criticized by my parents, made fun of, and rejected my entire childhood. sometimes i think if i had different parents, lived in a better place, went to a better school, etc. then maybe i would feel normal today.

 

[anuskas]

It´s not genetic because no one in my family has/had the same problem. It´s just environmental in my case. In fact I do know what triggered it. And the SP is not worse because I have a strong personality and can overwhelm it!