Can a fear memory be transmitted? By parents to their children, for example? That would give a whole new perspective on fears and phobias. It would also put other ways of treatment in a different light, like if you went into hypnotherapy. After all, that's where you work with that memory.
Anxious memories are transferred?
A recent American study now shows that parents can genetically transfer certain (fearful) memories to their children. They tested this in also mice and it has been published in the journal: Nature Neuroscience. The scientists did the test in mice. They showed through the tests that they could "train" mice to be afraid of a certain smell. In this case, it was for the smell of cherries.
They test the male mice by giving small electric shocks whenever the cherries were nearby. So every time they smelled the cherries they received a shock. In time, the male mice associated the smell of cherries with fear. And at some point, the mice started vibrating around the room even when there were no cherries and didn't get a shock.
This, of course, is not all that surprising. This is simply a case of classical conditioning. What did prove very interesting was that the mice, whose2nd generation were born, were also found to be fearful of the smell of cherries. Even a third generation of mice were found to be hypersensitive to the smell of cherries.
Scientists believe the results could be very helpful in gaining more and better understanding of fears and phobias. There are also experts who are skeptical, which is also because the exact mechanism behind hereditary transmission is not yet fully known.
Anxiety and Phobia
The interesting thing about fears and phobias is that sometimes it can be things that are completely irrelevant to an adult, but turns out from further research to be the very thing that created the fear or phobia. From research, it also often seems to originate at a young age.
Usually between the ages of 0 and 7, then the trigger has occurred. Something has happened to cause the fear then. An unconscious automatic program has then been created which is still working underneath the skin.
Scientists have concluded that a part in the DNA of mice is altered. Thus, the mice born from this DNA have adopted the fearful experience/memory. But how exactly it is that the mice born from the mice trained to react fearfully to the cherries also have this fear they do not know exactly. There are speculations that the air got into the blood and thus was transmitted through the DNA.
It may also be that a particular signal triggered this change. Previous studies in humans also show that certain memories can be transmitted. These so-called epi genetic modifications where parents can influence their children's genes by something the parents or parent themselves have experienced.
For example, it appears that children whose parents experienced the famine in the Netherlands have earlier chances of obesity and heart failure. The3rd generation children also suffer from this more often and earlier. If so, it points to a genetic defect. Much more research is being done on heredity and how certain experiences can affect genes.
Fortunately, you can transform memories so that they no longer have an impact. You can do that with regression, for example. You then go back to the first time it happened and change it so that it empowers you rather than weakens you. Then you really address the cause and that will also be passed on to the children, especially when they are small.
Thus, not only fears but also other things can be influenced by outside impulses. Also, parents who have experienced other things that had an impact are more likely to pass on certain things to the children as well.
