Prenatal Stress and The Inception of Childhood Anxiety

Can prenatal stress cause anxiety disorders in offspring?

Recent studies show it can:

 Abstract Pregnancy is associated with major physiological changes and adaptation to these changes is crucial for normal fetal development. Heightened emotional stress during pregnancy may interfere with the necessary adaptation and lead to dysregulation of the two major stress response systems: the Hypothalamic–Pituitary–Adrenal (HPA) Axis and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). Negative effects on the fetus of such maladaptation have been documented in both animals and humans and range from poor birth outcomes to negative impacts on neurodevelopment, as well as long term emotional and behavioural disturbances..... Aaron Levin

"Aberrations in fetal experience in a subset of persons, whether caused by stress, infections, or famine, alter the neurodevelopment of the fetus," explained epidemiologist and developmental psychologist  Stephen Buka, Sc.D., a professor of community health at Brown University Medical School. "That should be considered established.".... Stephen Buka

"When you connect what we know about neuroanatomy with the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, it seems quite logical and is supported by the evidence that some portion of those brain abnormalities in adults have their origins early in fetal development," said Buka.

It is also important to explore the possibility of variable periods of vulnerability throughout gestation.

The data above shows the significance of stress at certain periods of gestation. Other similar findings of anxiety and behavioral disorders in offspring have been documented during periods of war, famine and other catastophic events.

It is then plausible that extreme prenatal stress, from any source, not only catastrophic events, can cause dysregulation of the HPA or ANS in offspring?

Below I site just a few of the many studies connecting prenatal stress to long term mental illness in offspring.

Prenatal stress and infant affective reactivity at five months of age.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21194854 

Depression during pregnancy: is the developmental impact earlier in boys? A prospective case-control study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21208585 

Prenatal stress and neurodevelopment of the child: focus on the HPA axis and role of the placenta.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19546565

Effects of antenatal stress and anxiety

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/180/5/389 

Can prenatal stress be a precursor to endocrine disorders later in life?

Can prenatal stress alter cortisol levels and create panic attacks, anxiety and phobias?

I believe it can.

Conversely, it has been hypothesized that low levels of maternal prenatal stress may actually have an adaptive value for the offspring.

Parents should be educated about the negative effects of prenatal stress. Care should be taken to provide support and counseling for these woman especially in the first trimester http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21208585