Do phobias run in the family?

[Mark]

This is a very interesting question - Do phobias run in the family?

There seems to be evidence to suggest that phobias may actually run in the family due to a mixture of genetics and the environment in which you grow up in. Interesting?

 

[Jade]

I find this topic very interesting and yes I do believe in environmental factors contributing to phobias but in my personal opinion only if the phobia effect the family lifestyle. For example my Mum has a phobia of spiders but I don't but my mum's spider phobia didn’t effect the way in which we lived our life. However most of my family has a phobia of sharing food with people outside the family so if we went to occasions such as a wedding anniversary etc we would all stay away from the buffet because other people had their hands in their and we’d be starving by the time we got home! It slightly altered the social aspect of our lives and the way we interacted with people so my theory is that this phobia was passed down because of the impact it had, however small.

 

[Admin]

In many ways I think that phobias are like lifestyle values which many parents pass down to their children - and a lot is to do with the environment. If one of you parents had a phobia about snakes, for example, then you might grow up scared of snakes which could grow into a phobia in later years?