Do we have evidence that genetic loadings for anxiety are high? Are biochemical pathways for activation of the SNS the primary mechanism by which anxiety is expressed?
Hello Neil,
yes there are some hints for a connection between genetic reasons and anxiety. Search here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=anxiety+genetic maybe the recents paper http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23847651 is informative for you.
Sven,
Thanks fo the NIH.gov links. Before I look at them, I am going to hypothesize that the results are equivocal. I am wondering if we know enough yet to state that the preponderance of research supports a genetic link to the expression of anxiety, or if the somewhat unsatisfying diathesis/stress model (it begs the question, I think) is still accepted as our best hypothesis.
It is important to distinguish anxiety that may have a physiological root (as in thyroid malfunction), from anxiety that is triggered by a vivid imagination, with the social purpose of gaining protection and/or comfort. Of course, some ultra-sensitive central nervous systems can respond more readily to psychological triggers.
I found the following article (attached as pdf) very informative regarding your query and hope you will find the answer in this exhaustive article relating GENETIC AND OTHER VULNERABILITY FACTORS FOR ANXIETY AND STRESS DISORDERS authored by Kathleen R. Merikangas and Daniel Pine: National Institute of Mental
Health, Bethesda, Md.
Some other articles discussing genetic factors in anxiety disorders are accessible through the following links:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6625857
http://www.csun.edu/~gk45683/Genetic%20and%20Environmental%20Risk%20Factors%20for%20Anxiety%20Disorders.pdf
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=175066#Discussion
Hope the information proves useful.
Regards
What I discovered in this analysis is that genetic mapping established a correlation between anxiety and gene × environment interactions. This may explain why there is so much variation in stress resistance to mental disorders. The results show that glutamate decarboxylase 1 (GAD1) are associated with phobias (P = 0.0005). GAD1 has the most affect in whether an infant will develop anxiety due to low resilience (Donner, Sipilä, Ripatti, et al, 2012).
Regards,
Susan Hemann
Applied Psychology Graduate Student
Walden University
Reference
Donner, J., Sipilä, T., Ripatti, S., Kananen, L., Chen, X., Kendler, K. S., ... & Hovatta, I. (2012). Support for involvement of glutamate decarboxylase 1 and neuropeptide y in anxiety susceptibility. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 159(3), 316-327.
..genetically based? Yes, of corse, without any doubt: you need the genome of a human being - worms don't have anxiety!
My answer is Not so funny as it may look: in contrast, it makes clear that the crucial Point is the meaning of " genetically based".
Please, read about epigenetic research and "social brain"....
Juergen,
Excellent point and funny, too - worms don't experience anxiety (as far as we know!). But the crux of my question is whether anxiety is hard-coded from the SNS of each individual, or if environmental stressors are extremely important or mildly important to the expression of anxiety.
I think we have genetic encoding for each trait in some people they are recessive and in some it is dominant , similary we have genetical disposition to almost all kind of disease for instance we all have 30 oncogenes in our body but we all not get cancer... yes some diseases are determined by genetical disposition but we can not make generalisation and majority of the psychiatric illnesss mainly depend on envoirnmental stressors such as socio economic condition, bereavement, lost of job etc and many other are learned.
Moreover expression of anxiety mainly depend on the way we percieve envoirnmental condition and appraise our resources. I want to explain this with example suppose someone is walking down on a lonely lane in night and suddenly one person start following, automatically that person get palpitation, perspiration, butterflies in stomach, speed may get increase n all these signs are related of anxiety. This occurs because mind percieve that situation freightning and it sends message to brain which activateed the sns to provide resources to the body to cope with the situation, this mechanism of anxiety is well suited in many condition.
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