Angststörungen haben viele Ursachen. Etwa jeder vierte Mensch leidet irgendwann im Leben an einer Angststörung. Angststörungen werden nicht durch ein einzelnes „Angst-Gen“ verursacht. Stattdessen gibt es im gesamten Genom 58 genetische Varianten, von denen jede einen kleinen Beitrag zur Krankheit leistet.

Genetic study shows: **Anxiety disorders have many causes**

The largest genetic study on anxiety disorders to date reveals new biological mechanisms behind anxiety. It can help to find new ways to develop more precise therapies.

**Around one in four people suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives**. These include panic disorder with sudden, severe anxiety attacks, generalised anxiety disorder, in which sufferers worry about everyday things over a longer period of time that is difficult to control, and phobias of specific objects or situations.

Despite their widespread prevalence, the biological basis of anxiety is still poorly understood.

More light is now being shed on the subject by an international research team that has conducted the largest genetic study on anxiety disorders to date. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics; the University Medical Centre Würzburg played a key role in the study.

Many genetic variants play a role

The study shows: **Anxiety disorders are not caused by a single „anxiety gene“. Instead, there are 58 genetic variants in the entire genome, each of which makes a small contribution to the disease**. This pattern is also known from depression and other complex mental illnesses.

The researchers found strong genetic overlaps between anxiety disorders and related disorders and traits such as depression, neuroticism, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide attempts. This may be one reason why these disorders often occur together.

For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02485-8

I feel like I have about 57 of them.

The greatest contribution to anxiety disorders comes from modern society rather than genome

Because DNA needs 58x redundancy backup to ensure that you remember „whoa don’t go that way, there’s a cave full of bears.“ It saved lives. Modernity eliminated the bears and created all sorts of false triggers otherwise.