Asking Eric: Son’s care for aging, anxious parents may give him a glimpse into his own future

Dear Eric: In response to “Grateful Son”, who is concerned about his parents’ anxiety.

My parents developed anxiety as they became older and, like Grateful Son’s, their anxiety increased with age. Their anxiety was difficult. Most troubling to me was that I looked at my parents and became concerned that I was seeing my future. Whether through nature or nurture, I became concerned that I likely received a full dose of their anxiety for my future life.

My advice to Grateful Son is that there may be little that you can do for your parents’ future but there is much that you can do for your future. I visited my physician, explained my concerns and started a very low dose of a very mild anti-anxiety medication.

The first medication that we tried was far too strong, but we found something that