Our life experiences – the ups and downs, and everything in between – shape us, stay with us and influence our emotional set point as adults, according to a new study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers.
The study suggests that, in addition to our genes, our life experiences are important influences on our levels of anxiety and depression.
“In this time of emphasis on genes for this and that trait, it is important to remember that our environmental experiences also make important contributions to who we are as people,” said principal investigator Kenneth Kendler, M.D., director of the VCU Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics.
“When I was growing up, in talking about the importance of a good diet, we used to say ‘You are what you eat.’ What this study shows is that to a substantial degree, ‘you are what you have experienced.’ That is, your life history stays with you in impacting on your background book, for good or for ill,” he said. [continue reading…]
Anxiety
The best treatment of anxiety may not involve the drugs that recent literature suggests
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A recent data analysis that was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggested that antidepressant drugs may offer the best treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. This new data analysis that is published in the recent issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics suggests that BMJ is faulty and biased by conflict of interest.
Generalized anxiety disorder, the constant and fearful worry and fearful anticipation of events, is a common disturbance. A recent data analysis that was published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) suggested that antidepressant drugs may offer the best treatment for generalized anxiety disorder. A new data analysis that is published in the recent issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics suggests that BMJ is faulty and biased by conflict of interest. [continue reading…]
Glutamatergic neuron of the hippocampus. © MPI of Psychiatry
Emotional balance is regulated by molecular factors behind stress response. When healthy people are faced with threatening situations, they react with a suitable behavioural response and do not descend into a state of either panic or indifference, as is the case, for example, with patients who suffer from anxiety.
With the help of genetic studies on mice, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry have discovered two opposing neuronal regulatory circuits for the generation and elimination of fear. Both are controlled by the stress-inducing messenger substance corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and its type 1 receptor (CRHR1). The availability of these factors in neurons that release glutamate in brain areas of the limbic system activates a neuronal network which causes anxiety behaviour. Conversely, in dopamine-releasing neurons in the mid-brain, these factors give rise to behaviour that reduces fear. Because disorders of the stress factors may be observed in many patients with affective illnesses, the scientists suspect that the pathological alteration of the CRHR1-dependent regulatory circuits may be at the root of such emotional maladies. [continue reading…]
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Separation anxiety is a real condition for many children and their parents on the first day of school, says Samuel T. Gladding, professor of counseling at Wake Forest University and author of the book Family Therapy: History, Theory, and Practice (5th Edition) (Merrill Counseling)
Not being well-prepared for the separation makes anxiety worse, Gladding says. He offers parents tips for how to avoid emotional scenes with children clinging tearfully to them when it is time to say goodbye. [continue reading…]
