If Anxiety Seems to Run in Your Family, Here’s What You Should Know About Your Risk

For the approximately 40 million American adults living with an anxiety disorder, getting to the root cause is key to finding the best treatment options. And even if you haven’t been diagnosed, knowing your risk factors can help you get the care you need faster, if ever you begin to experience symptoms. While genetics play a role in anxiety disorders, it’s a combination of genes and life circumstances that most often result in a person living with anxiety.

“Many factors can put you at risk for developing anxiety disorders, but a variety of studies have demonstrated that 30 to 40 percent of the variance contributing to these disorders is genetic or heritable,” Jennifer MacLeamy, PsyD, executive director of Newport Academy, a mental health facility for teens and young adults in Northern California, told POPSUGAR. Dr. MacLeamy cited a study published in Current Psychiatry Reports that found considerable evidence that genetic determinants play a major role in anxiety, and another in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience that also produced evidence that anxiety disorders are influenced by “highly complex genetic factors.”

Read on: If Anxiety Seems to Run in Your Family, Here’s What You Should Know About Your Risk