If you struggle with feelings of panic and fear regularly, you might ask: is anxiety genetic? Do I have anxiety genes? And what can I do to treat my anxiety?
Contact Water Gap Wellness Center today to learn more about our mental health retreat in Pennsylvania.
What Are the Signs of Anxiety?
Anxiety is a regular part of life. These signs of anxiety might happen when you experience financial struggles, family problems, or issues with your health. These signs and symptoms are tied to a direct cause, and the anxiety you feel goes away as those issues resolve.
There are times when you worry about your job, the health and safety of your family, or being able to pay the bills. In some cases, this anxiety can interfere with your daily activities, making it difficult for you to focus on your job, maintain healthy relationships, or communicate with your family. Still, when the source of your anxiety is resolved, the symptoms tend to go away.
But what about situations where you might ask, is anxiety genetic? There are certainly cases where your anxiety symptoms don’t go away, and they aren’t tied to a specific problem that is otherwise a regular part of your everyday life.
If you suffer from an anxiety disorder, your symptoms might stick around long-term and cause profound problems in your relationships, job performance, school, or other daily activities.
These symptoms can include:
- Feeling restless
- Being irritable
- Having trouble focusing
- Chest pain
- Sweating
- Problems with sleep
- Headaches or pains that are otherwise unexplainable
- Problems making eye contact or being around others
- Actively avoiding situations or objects that you fear
What Causes Anxiety?
Is anxiety genetic? Well, there is no singular cause of anxiety. However, there are several different risk factors that can influence the likelihood of someone developing an anxiety disorder.
Genetics
Firstly, you might have anxiety jeans where you have a genetic predisposition to anxiety. This can be any number of anxiety disorders or just high anxiety in relation to everyday stress in your life. But, just because a parent suffers from anxiety doesn’t mean that you will automatically get it.
Personality
Sometimes your personality type influences whether you struggle with anxiety. If you are a perfectionist or a control freak, don’t have any self-esteem, or are very timid, you might develop anxiety early on and struggle with it through adulthood.
Mental Health
Your mental health at any point can change your brain structure, and mental health conditions put you at a higher risk for developing subsequent disorders. So if you struggle with depression, you will also likely develop an anxiety disorder.
Physical Health
Your physical health can contribute to the development of anxiety conditions. Chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, or asthma can lead to high anxiety or exacerbate an existing disorder.
Substance Abuse
Substance abuse is another factor that can change your brain structure and leave you highly susceptible to developing anxiety disorders. Substance abuse or alcoholism can aggravate the effects if you already have an anxiety disorder.
Stressful Events
Other stressful events in your life can trigger the development of an anxiety disorder, like a significant job change or high level of stress at work, changes to your living arrangements, giving birth, dealing with trauma or abuse, or struggling with the death or loss of a loved one.
Is Anxiety Genetic?
But is anxiety hereditary, and how do you treat anxiety genes? Yes, it certainly can be. And if you have genetic anxiety, triggers like changes to your mental or physical health, substance abuse problems, or stressful events in your life can make all of the symptoms worse.
How to Find Treatment for Anxiety Disorders near New York
If you are ready for treatment, you can find anxiety treatment centers near New York with Water Gap Wellness Center. The best treatment for anxiety disorders, hereditary or otherwise, involves psychotherapy, medication, or both.
With Water Gap Wellness Center, our team of mental health professionals provides Innovative programming that involves cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy. Both provide you with strategies like mindfulness to reduce your anxiety level, examine your harmful thought patterns, and learn how to better respond to situations full of fear or stress.
If medication can help you relieve some of the symptoms, our unique mental health programs can monitor your progress with things like antidepressants. If you are struggling with substance abuse disorders, we can provide dual diagnosis treatment plans where you simultaneously get help for your addiction and your anxiety.
Contact us today at 877-414-3281 to start treatment for your anxiety genes.
