Mothers pass on fears to their children

Traumatized women may have phobias „to inherit“

07/29/2014

If women experience a traumatizing situation during their lifetime, they often pass the resulting fears on to their children later on. Researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor have now found out they need to „heredity“ the mothers do not even have to be present - instead, the smell of their sweat is sufficient for the child to develop a lasting phobia.

US researchers are investigating fears in rats
Whether fear of spiders, confined spaces (claustrophobia) or the dentist (Dentophobia): suffering women due to a traumatic experience of a phobia, occur in their later children often similar fears. This phenomenon has been known for some time - so far it was unclear how the „heredity“ The fear of certain things is passed on from generation to generation. Now, however, US researchers at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor have gained new insights by studying rats.

The smell of cold sweat is enough for children to develop a similar fear
Thus, a mother, who suffers from fears, not even be present, instead, apparently the smell of cold sweat, so that children develop a similar fear. Even if they did not have any traumatic experience themselves. For their study, the researchers initially linked the scent of peppermint with light electrical surges in non-pregnant rat females. When the animals had thrown offspring, they were again exposed to the smell of mint - but without getting a slight electric shock. But even without this stimulus, the fear transmitted to the young only a few days old. „During the first few days, small rats are immune to information on environmental hazards“, said Jacek Debiec from the University of Michigan in a press release from his university. „But when her mother is the source of threatening information, she can learn from her and create lasting memories.”

Mother animal does not even have to be present
This was confirmed in another trial in which the mother was no longer even present. Instead, the fear worked-“heredity“ already by the juvenile confrontation with the smell of maternal sweat, the scientists associated with peppermint scent. This could explain how the continuation of phobias work within generations, write Jacek Debiec and Regina Marie Sullivan of the University of Michigan in the “Proceedings” the US National Academy of Sciences (“PNAS”). The maternal anxiety was surprisingly strong for the researchers, as even a single confrontation with the sweat at the age of 13 days had caused a lasting 30 days of fear. According to researchers, this is apparently due to an increased activation of the amygdala brain region, which is significantly involved in the development of anxiety - because the offspring were given an amygdala blocker, the fear was not transferred.

Infants learn early from maternal anxiety
According to the experts, the results are also transferable to humans, because we could easily pass on phobias to our offspring: „Our study shows that toddlers can learn about maternal anxiety very early in life“, Jacek Debiec continues. „Before they can make their own experiences, they basically already acquire the experiences of their mothers. Most importantly, these maternally transmitted memories are long-lived, while other types of infant learning quickly disappear unless they are repeated“, the expert explains further. The researchers now hope that their work also contributes to a better understanding, „why not all children of traumatized mothers or mothers with pathological phobias, other anxiety disorders or depression experience the same effects.“ (No)