I believe YES, we can make worry-warts out of our children. As parents, we're teaching, always teaching. My father's catastophic thinking formed my thinking/decision making process. However, there are four children in our family, two of us struggled greatly with anxiety disorders. The other two have not. All four of us are "cautious" people, but the two who grew up with anxiety disorders go beyond cautious. So, perhaps the two children without the anxiety disorders did not have a brain chemistry predisposed to anxiety disorders.

Dotise, regarding your bridge experience. I have seen that go both ways also. Your friend could explain her panic response to many different people, who would have no reaction to it the next time they crossed a bridge. And others will have your reaction. I would be one of the others. I have always been very suggestive. It was one of the reasons I found it difficult to read books about panic attacks. Someone would describe a situation that brought on a panic attack and the time I was in a similiar situation I would experience panic.

We tried to be very aware of this struggle for many in the writing of the book. That was part of the reason for the humor. Sometimes the same information, conveyed with a lighter note will not have such a negative response.

Jeanne