Interesting thought
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| Wed, 10-25-2006 - 4:30pm |
I just answered the poll on "what started your anxiety" and I put that it was learned behaviors from growing up with my mom. My whole life, all I heard was "don't touch that, it's dirty" or something along those lines. She taught me to be scared of nearly everything. I watched her strange rituals. And now I have them. So my thought after answering that poll is how do you UNlearn such things? This summer I spent some time with my boyfriend and his mom (who lives a few hours away from us). She is the complete opposite of my mom, and I really hoped she would rub off on me. She said to me (the girl with horrible fear of public bathrooms) that "you should never pass up a chance to use a bathroom." She had absolutely no problem using them everytime we went out. It was amazing to me.
Anyway, just an interesting thought I had.

Sheri Ann
I feel my panic attacks are about 50% inherited genetically & 50% learned behavior. It's the old nurture vs. nature debate:) I am certain that we still can change, as I have made many changes over the years. I am not stronger or smarter or braver or anything different than anyone here. It's all in the coping.
I'm glad you brought this up. Anecdotal evidence is always interesting. Thx. (((hugs))) jan
I noticed I have a bad habit of not picking up after myself.
Amy
Interesting, I think most of my issues started later in life, after my parents' divorce. But now as I am dealing with anxiety myself, I can recognize that my Dad was most likely GAD and suffered from depression for many years before my parents broke up. Since my Mom really used the behaviors from those problems to justify leaving him (I understand that those years were really tough on her), that added a lot of guilt and fears onto me when I started to feel and act in ways that I related to being "bad" and thought it was my fault. I have this deep fear that I will drive my family away when I get depressed or anxious.
Hugs,
Dee