Are Panic Attacks in the Genes?

Panic Attacks are some of the most frightening episodes that anyone will ever have to deal with.Most often they are triggered by a stressful event(past or present),and/or heightened levels of anxiety.This is not true in all case though,some people have experienced panic attacks with no particular trigger or cause.

So Are Panic Attacks in the Genes?There is some evidence of a genetic element to panic attacks as well as other types of anxiety disorders.However there is no concrete evidence that heredity is a factor since the causes of panic attacks are yet to be determined.I tend to agree at least somewhat with the notion that mental disorders like anxiety,panic attacks,depression and many others may very well be inherited.There does seem to be a strong family history in a great number of cases.

In my case I do have at least two other family members that have suffered from anxiety related disorders.This could be a coincidence but I'm sure that if we could dig deeper into our family histories we may find a lot more instances of conditions similar to our own.

That being said panic and anxiety can also be a learned behavior which could explain the reason that it seems to run in families.In this case it may not have anything at all to do with genetics but more to do with the environment in which we are raised.