It’s
because of our behaviors, not because of a genetic predisposition
Too often we hear people say, “Anxiety
runs in my family, so I guess I just have to learn to
live with it.” Or, “My doctor said my anxiety
disorder is caused by my family’s genes and I need
to take medication to manage it.”
Fortunately, both of these statements
are untrue. Yes, it is true that anxiety often runs in
families, but that’s because of learned behavior,
and not because of genes.
Anxiety is caused by the way we’ve
learned to live in unhealthy ways, thus more fearfully
and stressfully than others. And since we live more fearfully
and stressfully than others, our bodies become more stressed
than others, and therefore symptomatic. And since anxiety
personalities are notorious worriers, our worry about our
symptoms often fuels the anxiety fire.
But since we have learned to live more
anxiously than others, we also can learn to live less anxiously,
too. Identifying and addressing the unhealthy behaviors
at the root of our anxiety is key to eliminating anxiety
as a disorder and its symptoms.
So, no one needs to suffer with or put
up with an anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorder is fully
reversible with the right information, help, and support.
Normal health is available to anyone willing to do the
work required to learn to live healthier. And this is great
news for anyone tired of living with an anxiety disorder.
NOTE: Genes are turned on and off by the
way we behave and react to our environment. So just because
we have a genetic code doesn’t mean that our destiny
is “hardwired.” Quite to the contrary, our
behaviors have great influence over what our genes do.
As Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry, stated, “Genetics
is not destiny.”
|
