It is a known information for lots of years that anxious mom and dad can pass anxiety problems on to their kids. Although this fact is well known, no one is ready to say yes to this query 'is anxiety inherited'?.

But now, a recent research by the scientists at Johns Hopkins Children's Centre, came up with the result that a family-based program where dad & mom and children are being treated jointly, can decrease the signs and symptoms and risks of anxiety amongst those children.

Each person can get worried from time to time, but when the disaster starts taking over one's life, the situation is then known as anxiety problem. It can be exceedingly stressful and inhibit people from living their lives fully. Some individuals with anxiety disorder may also have phobias and develop panic attacks.

For the research purposes, the Hopkins investigators looked at forty kids with the ages between 7 and 12 years. The children were not diagnosed with anxiety disorder themselves but they all had at least one parent who was identified with the condition. What other proof do we truly need to answer the question 'is anxiety inherited'.

Research workers randomly split the participants into 2 groups, with 20 of the kids and their families taking part in an eight-week cognitive behavioral therapy program, while the another twenty were put on a waiting list and didn't receive any treatment throughout the period of the study, but were provided therapy 1 year later.

The CBT program, which consisted of one-hour-long weekly sessions, was focusing on a development of problem-solving abilities, training about anxiety disorder, along with aided parents recognize and change behaviours alleged to contribute to anxiety in the kids.

The chief researcher of the study, Dr. Golda Ginsburg, PH.D., a kid psychologist at Hopkins Children's Centre and an asso. professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, stated that according to the records gathered by the experts, the children of parents with an anxiety problem are up to 7 times more likely to develop the problem themselves, and up to 65% of children who live with an anxious parent meet the criteria for anxiety problem.

The outcome of the trial exposed that within a period of 1 year, 30 per cent of the children who did not take part in the program, had developed an anxiety disorder, compared to none of the kids who were enrolled in the family based therapy. A 40 per cent reduction in anxiety symptoms in the year after the therapy program were separately reported by parents along with investigators who analyzed the behaviour of the kids and their parents. There was no fall of anxiety signs or symptoms observed among kids on the waiting list.

The parental behaviours adapted with therapy program included overprotection, extreme criticism and excessive expression of fear and anxiety in front of the children. The program targeted childhood risk factors like avoiding anxiety-provoking situations and anxious thoughts.

In accordance with a recent editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine, it's deterrence and not treatment, of childhood anxiety, that is of a primary importance, as anxiety problems affect one in every five children in the US, but very often are left unrecognized. If not addressed in time, the trouble can lead to depression, substance abuse and poor academic performance during childhood years and way into adulthood.

Outcome of the study will be available in the June issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. The study was funded by the US government's National Institute of Mental Health. So 'is anxiety inherited', yes. Can we alter the pattern of behaviour yes!

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