I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression when I was 23, I'm now 45, and still dealing with it. Psychiatrists, therapists, and family doctor all stated that it's due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, and hereditary factors. Sometimes I believed that, other times, not so much.
On the hereditary side of things, there's 3 generations, that I know of, that have anxiety, depression, or both, and that's just on my mother's side. Not everyone is afflicted, but there's a good amount that are. Can this be attributed to chemical imbalances, or poor coping skills, which would make it situational?
Sometimes I think "chemical imbalance" is a band-aid excuse doctors hand out so they don't have to go into details. However, the psychiatrist that I've been seeing for almost 20 years isn't the kind of doctor that gives a quick reason or excuse to your issues just to get you out of the door, yet she stands firm in the belief that my issues are due to chemical imbalances, and hereditary factors. I prefer to have proof for many things in life, so of course I wish there was a test that could prove or disprove the diagnosis of anything.
I'm curious to know everyone's opinion about all of this, especially your take on belief or non-belief of chemical imbalances.
Difficult to know for sure, I read somewhere that it's a learned behaviour so if your parents were anxious you would pick it up or if your home life as a child was unsettled that you became anxious as a result but both my parents suffer anxiety of some kind and also my grandparents so a genetic thing could also be a contributing factor to my life long anxiety. But I don't rule out a chemical imbalance that's nothing to do with my genes, it's just because.....like you can have an illness like any other.
It's interesting that we anxiety sufferers desperately seek a reason as to why we are as we are. Perhaps it's the belief that if we know why then there will be a medical solution to cure us.
Certainly there has to be a reason but as yet opinions are varied upon the subject, even amongst the professionals.
I tend to lean towards the chemical imbalance theory coupled with each indivuals coping mechanism threshhold.
Having said that I have ceased driving myself mad searching for an answer and have resigned myself to accepting it's there. That's enough to deal with without the frustration of hoping to find a "Why?" If the medical profession disagrees upon what triggers it then what chance have I? No sense going round in circles and adding to the stress levels. It's enough coping with it as it is.
I have relatives that I've barely or never seen, but have found out they had been affected too. It's like we're sprinkled throughout the family for at last 100 years at least. My mom was affected by it, but didn't get diagnosed until she was 62, because she was hard headed, too proud, and kept super busy. Her mother definitely had really bad anxiety, but back then there was no term for it except maybe mad or insane. When I was diagnosed, I didn't know of anyone else in the family that had anxiety, depression or both, because it was so well hidden. As time went on, and information passed down, they came out of the woodwork. Maybe because it's less taboo now.
Therefore there is evidence it's genetic. My father had anxiety disorder. Not that anyone knew it at the time. It was only later, after he had passed away and I myself began to suffer from it, that I recognized it in him. His Mom had migraines, he had migraines, I have migraines. I believe there is another "link"
Yes it's less taboo now because it is dressed up as stress which no one shies away from admitting. At one time so-called "stress" terrified sufferers for fear of being labelled "mental" and so it was hidden as best as the sufferer could hide it
My grandmother would have been 100 this year, but she was one that definitely had at least anxiety. She would get really bad, so my grandpa would brush her hair to help her calm down. He would also spring things on her instead of telling her in advance, because she would get so worked up that she'd get sick and couldn't go. He would say "Everybody get packed up, we're going fishing ", and that left my grandma with no time to worry about it.
I feel it is a mix of things: learned behaviour, genetically tranferred and chemical. However for me the real question is what came first, the chicken or the egg. Did the chemical imbalance effect the disorder or did genes effect chemical imbalance? Or did learned behaviour trigger chemical response? Or did situational stess trigger learned behaviour triggering chemical imbalance or did the chemical imbalance pre-exist causing us to malfunction during times of heightened stress or....you see where this is going? Nowhere. :D The fact remains that if you can address your responses effectively, your chemicals should rebalance. Similarly and for some preferably, if you balance out chemicals then your responses will also improve. So medication, psychotherapy and even psychoanalysis (latter for really stubborn disorders) OR the other way around. :D GOOD LUCK!!!!
I'm somewhat in the same boat, because I've become very recluse, and have stopped driving due to panic attacks. Something like a planned camping trip won't bother me, because it's on some land we own in the country, and it's very serene. I absolutely love nature, so there's comfort there. When it comes to things such as meeting someone my husband works with, or anything I'm not familiar with, I can't do it. I've always liked the comforts of home, but used to be outgoing, now it's all just closing in. Hopefully it can be stopped before it gets worse. Does the sertaline help with the agoraphobia?
It helps to a certain degree, yes. But effort is needed when dealing with agoraphobia. Situations we can easily escape, so to speak, are far easier to deal with. The trap is running away from places where panic strikes us. It's hard to stay and see it through, there's the unfounded fear of passing out, making a fool of ourselves, which never happens by the way.
The problem is running home, staying home is the easiest escape method but the one that allows agoraphobia to become firmly entrenched.
And thus our world becomes smaller and smaller until we are confined to home.
I too love nature And even as a child loved home, and was often curled up reading a book
All of the questions you listed after the chicken or the egg reference, I've thought of. Every last one of them! My brain is going to be a fried egg, (or chicken) soon. lol
I think with genetic research revealing new genes for mental health problems it is likely that many imbalances can be due to having a gene linked to a mental health problem.
Hopefully this will shed new light upon the problem and even more hopefully a resolution can be found. Meantime, sigh, here we are in limbo dealing with it day by day
