Worrisome Behavior? The Potential for Depression and Anxiety in Adult Life

The Potential for Depression and Anxiety in Adult Life from Childhood

Anton Garazha

Image courtesy of Child Anxiety Disorder

Worries about children’s future constantly cloud the minds of many parents. Karen Brown, a health journalist, was preoccupied by her son’s introverted nature, which stripped worries in Brown concerning a potential for anxiety inhibiting his future professional and personal adult life. Her questions steered her towards finding what shifts someone from introvert into the realm of a disorder. Brown discovered that anything that interferes with normal functioning, and discovered that while he avoided dances, his social preferences did not challenge his day to day life.

Though Brown’s case may fall into the realm of introversion rather than disorder, other individuals may show symptoms, even in early childhood, of potentially developing anxiety or depression. Dr. Ned Kalin, MD, of the University of Wisconsin Harlow lab, designed a translational Neuroscience approach aimed at identifying preventative care for anxiety and depression by studying children with potential at developing the disorders. His lecture at Loyola on March 25, 2014 looking at the developmental risk for anxiety, as well as depression, focused on analyses utilizing subjective, behavioral, neuro-physical and neuro-chemical, and genetics identifiers. According to Dr. Kalin, every single individual suffers from anxiety, but most feel it in situations that warrant such emotional response, but 25% of adults will have greater than normal anxiety.

Interested in the development of depression and anxiety, Dr. Kalin looked into an inhibited/anxious temperament, or AT, phenotype that could easily be observed. According to his findings just from interactions with certain children, extreme behavioral inhibition when encountering novel situations or strangers may potentially predict anxiety disorders, depression, and co-morbid drug use.

Dr. Kalin worked with Rhesus monkeys because their brains and behaviors are very similar to those of humans. What he discovered were similar responses, such as lack of social behavior potentially predicting anxiety-ridden behaviors later on in life due to the presence of a human “intruder”.  In one example, Dr. Kalin displayed a photograph of a rhesus monkey which showed it baring its teeth, an expression shown when fear is felt and meant to repel predators; while many show them in specific situations that warrant them, this monkey showed it

Brain scans revealed activity in the central nucleus of the amygdala (responsible for fear and social interaction) and the lateral hippocampus (responsible for memory and spatial navigation) in the AT phenotype; these findings could be potentially used for preventative diagnosis and appropriate treatment in human patients.

But how can behavioral modifications be applied in human patients?

A study by Dr. Kelly Drake and Dr. Golda Ginsburg  evaluates the role of families in treatment and development, as well as prevention, of childhood anxiety. According to their literary review, for many individuals, the onset of anxiety takes places in childhood, where children may be most at risk. Many components designate whether or not anxiety may develop in children later on in life, including environmental and

According to the research of Dr. Kalin, the AT phenotype may clear up later on in the child’s life, but does also show a predisposition for developing anxiety and depression later on in life, and that anxiety is a heritable trait. According to Drs. Drake and Ginsburg, in addition to the knowledge that anxiety disorders are genetically inherited, it is also necessary to study how they interact with the environment and what factors may or may not bring on the the onset of anxiety disorders. They discovered that weak parental bonds, lack of strong emotional bonds or expression, criticism and rejection, and controlling behavior may results in a child developing anxiety in childhood, and potentially later on in life.

Image courtesy of Hyperbole and a Half

Recommended adjustments include a stability in family life, as well as treatment of parental behavior and anxiety-patterns, which may trigger their development in children. Furthermore, behavioral alterations included reducing stressors for children at risk, such as among stressful situations like a first day at school, in order to prevent later onset.

Anxiety about anxiety will not quell its potential; the same applies for depression. As these studies show, the potential for development for anxiety disorders and depression can be a result of a conglomerate of factors, which are not currently understood in their entirety. What can be said is the necessity for environmental treatment that does not place great stress on children, or perhaps teaching them healthy ways of dealing with stress via example. Most of all, continual research is necessary to further the understanding, but for now, the most parents can do is to provide healthy, nurturing environments that foster healthy emotional connections.

Works Cited

Brown, Karen. "Whose Anxiety Is It?." Motherlode Whose Anxiety Is It Comments. New York Times, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 27 Apr. 2014. <http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/whose-anxiety-is-it/>.

Drake, Kelly L., and Golda S. Ginsburg. "Family Factors in the Development, Treatment, and Prevention of Childhood Anxiety Disorders." Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review 15.2 (2012): 144-162. Print.

Shackman, A. J., A. S. Fox, J. A. Oler, S. E. Shelton, R. J. Davidson, and N. H. Kalin. "Neural mechanisms underlying heterogeneity in the presentation of anxious temperament." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 110.15 (2013): 6145-6150. Print.