Does anxiety run in your family?

[custom_fusion-lqx]

My Grandma has bad anxiety and on meds, my step brother is bad anxeity and housebound, my younger brother had issues and i am probably the worst of us, but also my Uncle died in 2008 from liver failiure due to drinking heavily which i think was due to his anxiety problems/ depression.

[Flowerbomb]

I believe so, on my dads side he has had depression before so has both his sisters his mum suffered with her nerves & on my mums side my cousin has.

It appears depression etc is not rare these days.

[Cleo]

Absolutely!! On both sides.

[Alex652]

Nope. Not at all.

Kind of wish someone else in my family did have anxiety/depression issues, then maybe they might be a bit more understanding. Probably a silly thing to say though.

[custom_fusion-lqx]

^ they arent trust me... my parents are pretty hard on me and never bothered to help me with my anxiety problems even though they know others in the fmaily have it they just kept telling me 'its all in your head'. (technically it is but thats not a very helpful thing to keep repeating)

[Rainbeam]

No. My family are all pretty outgoing people-people, which is why they don't really understand my problem. At all. My mum sort of understands me, but she has an active social life herself.

[Alex_James]

Not really on my dads side, but yes on my mums, not just anxiety but all sorts of mental disorders.

[Ocean Of Noise]

Does anxiety run in your family?

I would say so yes. My dad's side seems to have drug and alcohol issues, a cousin of mine and a cousin of my dad's have schizophrenia.

On my mum's side it Anxiety and Depression - My mum has suffered with many of the same issues as have I. My youngest brother suffered a drug psychosis in his teens. All of my immediate family, seem to have the same personality type, issues with confidence, self esteem, shyness, introspection, depression. Myself, my mum, and two brothers have all been on anti-depressants at one time or another.

The rather complex and interesting question is, how much of it hereditary and how much of this learnt behaviour. Some of this must be in my DNA?

[BobbyDog]

My Mum lives with depression, not that anyone would be able to tell. I have anxiety and my son lives with it also, but we have both had complicated upbringings.
I believe it is 'nature and nurture', inherited and learned behaviour.

[Mister]

My mum is one of the most talkative persons in the world in public , no matter in what situation. My Sister is always going to parties and having parties and the rest of my family are so social in public and don't care what other people think of them.

Then theres me who dreads social interactions.

So in my family , I wouldn't think so.

[Cleo]

Originally Posted by Mister

My mum is one of the most talkative persons in the world in public , no matter in what situation. My Sister is always going to parties and having parties and the rest of my family are so social in public and don't care what other people think of them.

Then theres me who dreads social interactions.

So in my family , I wouldn't think so.

I would be described as talkative but inwardly... So perhaps they are not as confident as they appear.

[Luby]

My aunt has depression, my grandma has OCD and problems with paranoia. They both take medication. My mum says she has anxiety but I know she doesn't have SA - she can make conversation with anyone about anything - but a bit of general anxiety about work at things going on at home.

We're convinced my dad has depression, or definitely has bouts of it anyway. He's never been good at talking about stuff and when things are going badly at work or if he's got a lot of work to do or sort out, he'll become very moody and shut himself away.

My sister on the other hand is a complete chatterbox and very outgoing.

I think I can appear confident to some people, even if they know I'm generally quiet. But they don't realise that most of the time I'm panicking about something, or other or going over a conversation I had about something minor where I'm convinced I made a fool out of myself

[tryinghard]

Everybody on both sides of the family have had anxiety, OCD or depression except my dad and my grandad.

I think it's mostly nurture, but nature might predispose you and make you more fragile. Although, interestingly me and my mam have been through a similar run of disorders starting at around the same age, and there's been quite a few disorders to get through! I didn't know she had lived such a similar life until recently, so that's kind of weird...

[firemonkey]

Only possibly my mother who may have covered up psychological issues with her chronic heavy drinking.

[choirgirl]

Hm - my close family are/were all quite outgoing. But I realised recently that we are all drama queens and overreact to small stuff going wrong. I'm the only one that has ever been shy or socially anxious. Even my cousins are all outgoing.

On my Mum's side, I have several relatives with agoraphobia and some others have confessed to anxiety problems.