I think that anxiety can cause depression, but I do not believe that anxiety can cause other mental illnesses such as bi-polar. I do believe that other mental illnesses can cause anxiety however. My mom is bi-polar and suffers from occasional anxiety. Me, I only have severe anxiety with depression because of the anxiety. From everything I read anxiety can not harm you or cause a worse disease or mental illness. JMO
This is a question I ask myself often, will I ever develop other types of illnesses? Things like psychosis or schizophrenia? I don't know if there has been any research done in these areas but more information would be helpful and appreciated.
It can be difficult to answer if anxiety or panic disorders can onset other illnesses in individuals. Most illnesses often contain a number of factors that contributed to its development and these factors can vary from person to person. With the uniqueness of each individual's experience, it is then often difficult to predict if this illness can cause other illnesses.
From your post, it sounds like you are very concerned about how your anxiety will effect you when you have children. Like other mental illnesses, the onset and predictability of postpartum depression can vary from person to person. It it often affected by the mother's pregnancy as well as other factors within the mother's life like social supports, a healthy lifestyle during pregnancy, and the relationship with the husband. Although some aspects of postpartum depression are affected by the mother's well-being, their environment also has an equally important impact.
It is strongly encouraged that you should speak to your doctor when you are thinking of becoming pregnant. Often he or she can suggest necessary steps to take to ensure a healthy pregnancy. If you are on medication, they may also suggest a different dosage for you during your pregnancy.
Members, any other advice for mich991? Can anyone relate to her experience?
I am hoping one of the Health Educators or someone else can help me out with one of the things that I constantly worry and in turn get very anxious about. Do anxiety or panic disorders cause other forms of mental illness? I constantly worry that I am going to develop things like psychosis or postpartum depression (when I decide to have children) I worry that my anxiety disorder is going to cause other things to go wrong with me mentally and it really scares me. I am wondering if anyone has done any research or knows anything about this. I am just really scared that my anxiety disorder is going to ruin my life. I always ask myself if my anxiety is going to get worse and is it going to ruin my marriage with my soon to be husband? and when we decide to have children am I going to be a psychopath if I get pregnant? or am I going to develop postpartum depression because I already have an anxiety disorder? Am I going to be able to raise children and be a good mother? or am I going to develop some other mental illnesses and end up in a mental institution one day? Thinking about these things makes me really anxious and I am hoping someone can either relate to this or provide me with information they have found with regards to the above. Thank you!
