Probiotics are sometimes recommended for anxiety — but do they do any good?
The meditation technique reduces anxiety and improves heart health.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in planning, reasoning and decision-making.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is involved in planning, reasoning and decision-making.
Improving general cognitive functioning could help to reduce anxiety, new research suggests.
This area is highly involved in planning, reasoning and decision-making.
Increasing brain activity in areas related to thinking and problem solving is linked to reduced anxiety, the study found.
People at risk for anxiety were less likely to develop the disorder when they had more activity in brain areas related to complex mental operations.
Memory and brain training, along with psychological therapies could all help to boost activity in critical areas.
Professor Ahmad Hariri, who led the study, said:
“These findings help reinforce a strategy whereby individuals may be able to improve their emotional functioning — their mood, their anxiety, their experience of depression — not only by directly addressing those phenomena, but also by indirectly improving their general cognitive functioning.”
The study focused on an area of the brain called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
This area is highly involved in planning, reasoning and decision-making.
The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex also plays an important role in the emotions.
Professor Hariri said:
“We wanted to address an area of understanding mental illness that has been neglected, and that is the flip side of risk.
We are looking for variables that actually confer resiliency and protect individuals from developing problems.”
For the study 120 people were scanned while carrying out tasks designed to activate specific parts of their brains.
Professor Hariri explained the results:
“We found that if you have a higher functioning dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the imbalance in these deeper brain structures is not expressed as changes in mood or anxiety.”
Mr Matthew Scult, the study’s first author, said:
“We are hoping to help improve current mental health treatments by first predicting who is most at-risk so that we can intervene earlier, and second, by using these types of approaches to determine who might benefit from a given therapy.”
The study was published in the journal Cerebral Cortex (Scult et al., 2017).
The amygdala is an area of the brain vital to the processing of the emotions.
The amygdala is an area of the brain vital to the processing of the emotions.
Propranolol for anxiety is sometimes prescribed, but is it an effective treatment?
Propranolol for anxiety is sometimes prescribed, but is it an effective treatment?
Propranolol — a type of beta blocker — has not been shown to be an effective treatment for anxiety.
The conclusions come from a recent review of the research.
Propranolol works by blocking the action of adrenaline.
The drug is mostly used to treat high blood pressure, but is now sometimes prescribed for anxiety.
Actors, public speakers and musicians in general are known to take them to cope with stage fright.
One study from the 1980s found that 27% of orchestra musicians admitted to taking beta blockers before performances to help their nerves (Fishbein et al., 1987).
In general, the evidence for its use in the treatment of anxiety disorders is poor.
The reason being that it only affects the physical symptoms for a short period.
It does not affect the psychological symptoms of anxiety.
In other words: it stops your heart beating fast, but does not reduce the rush of anxious thoughts through your brain.
People who regularly use beta blockers like propranolol for anxiety can find they become reliant on them.
Propranolol for anxiety is often prescribed ‘off-label’, despite little evidence of its long-term effectiveness.
A recent review of the research concluded that there were few studies of its effectiveness and little evidence it helped in treating anxiety disorders.
The study’s authors concluded that:
“…the quality of evidence for the efficacy of propranolol at present is insufficient to support the routine use of propranolol in the treatment of any of the anxiety disorders.”
Research that has been done has tested propranolol for anxiety against benzodiazepines and placebos.
They found…
“…no statistical difference between the effects of propranolol and benzodiazepines on anxiety and panic attack frequency.
In addition, four […] trials failed to show solid evidence on the therapeutic effect of propranolol in patients with dental phobia, animal-type specific phobia, and social phobia.
No RCTs were available on the effects of propranolol in the treatment of any of other anxiety disorders (e.g. generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), separation anxiety disorder, or selective mutism.”
The study was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology (Steenen et al., 2016).
→ Read more about PsyBlog’s anxiety ebook: “The Anxiety Plan: 42 Strategies For Worry, Phobias, OCD and Panic”
It can be hard to tell what is anxiety and whether it needs treatment.
It can be hard to tell what is anxiety and whether it needs treatment.
Anxiety is a sense of uneasiness, concern or agitation that varies from mild to severe.
At the milder end, it is vague and starts to make you feel unsettled, jumpy and worried.
Towards the more severe end it provokes inner turmoil, feelings of dread and can have a serious impact on everyday life.
Everyone experiences anxiety to some degree and sometimes these responses are severe.
Examinations, medical procedures, public speaking and so on can lead to anxiety and loss of sleep.
How anxiety impacts your everyday life determines whether it is a ‘disorder’ or ‘regular’ anxiety.
Anxiety that causes persistent problems with sleeping or seriously interferes with everyday life could require some treatment.
Some people get very anxious over things which others would not consider that anxiety-provoking.
If you are worrying all the time or regularly experiencing unpleasant physical and psychological symptoms, then this could be a sign of something deeper.
Deep-rooted anxiety often leads to avoidance of the anxiety-provoking object or situation.
This type of anxiety can consistently stop you from doing the things you might otherwise like to do.
Anxiety typically has both psychological and physical symptoms.
Here are some typical psychological symptoms:
Physical symptoms could include:
This is not a completely list, people report many different types of physical and psychological symptoms.
Severe anxiety is also linked to depression, insomnia and misusing drugs.
It can lead to problems at work and in relationships and difficulty in enjoying everyday, pleasurable pursuits.
There are a large range of factors that could influence whether you experience anxiety as a mental health problem.
Here are some possible causes:
Often, chronic anxiety stems from a variety of causes specific to your lifestyle, situation and genetics mixed together.
Anxiety disorders come in various types.
These are some of the main ones:
Psychological therapies are very effective for anxiety disorders.
In particular, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has been found to help many types of anxiety disorders.
Dr Jeremy Dean’s latest book “The Anxiety Plan” is based on the principles of CBT and provides 42 strategies for dealing with anxiety.
Other ways of managing anxiety yourself include:
Understandably, some people find self-help too difficult.
If so, psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals can provide the psychological support required.
Along with psychological therapies, people are often prescribed medications.
Some people find they need medication, but bear in mind that:
Four types of medication are:
Even if you do decide to take medication, also consider self-help options at the same time as these can work better in the long-run.
→ Get Dr Jeremy Dean’s new anxiety ebook.
Psychotherapy for those experiencing anxiety works best at particular time of the day.
Psychotherapy for those experiencing anxiety works best at particular time of the day.
Psychotherapy works best in the morning, new research finds.
It is partly down to higher cortisol levels in the morning, the study suggests.
People in the study had agoraphobia and panic disorder.
Treatments for anxiety disorders often involve exposure to the phobic situation or object.
With exposure people can learn that their worst fears do not materialise.
Dr Meuret, a clinical psychologist and the study’s first author, said:
“For example, a patient may think that standing in an elevator could cause him or her to lose control or faint, suffocate, or may create physical symptoms that would be intolerable.
By having them stand in an elevator for a prolonged time, the patient learns that their feared outcome does not occur, despite high levels of anxiety.
We call this corrective learning.”
The results showed that people had more success overcoming their fears when tackled in the morning.
Dr Meuret said:
“The hormone cortisol is thought to facilitate fear extinction in certain therapeutic situations.
Drugs to enhance fear extinction are being investigated, but they can be difficult to administer and have yielded mixed results.
The findings of our study promote taking advantage of two simple and naturally occurring agents – our own cortisol and time of day.”
Cortisol levels are likely not the only factor.
Other ways to explain the effect include:
Dr Meuret said:
“Notably, higher cortisol was related to greater reductions in threat appraisal, perceived control and panic symptom severity at the next session, and that was the case over-and-above the effects of time-of-day, with large effect sizes.”
The study was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology (Meuret et al., 2016).
Only 3% are receiving psychological therapy, the survey of 17,000 found.
Only 3% are receiving psychological therapy, the survey of 17,000 found.
Young women are at the greatest risk of common mental health problems, new research finds.
One in four young women have self-harmed, usually by cutting themselves, according to the UK survey, compared with 10% of young men.
One-fifth of young women had experienced common mental disorders problems.
Women of all ages were much more likely to report severe mental health problems than men.
Around one in eight men reported a common mental health disorder.
A comparison with previous surveys suggests that young women’s mental health is getting worse, while young men’s may be improving.
Overall, the survey found that one in six adults in England met the criteria for a common mental disorder, like anxiety and depression.
The most common form of treatment people used was medication, taken by 10% of those interviewed.
Just 3% received psychological therapy.
Only one-third of people, though, received any treatment at all for their condition — although treatment levels have increased from one-quarter almost a decade ago.
Stephen Buckley, head of information at the Mind charity, said:
‘Young people are coming of working age in times of economic uncertainty, they’re more likely to experience issues associated with debt, unemployment and poverty, and they are up against increasing social and environmental pressures, all of which affect well-being.’
Mr Buckley blamed the rise on social media:
“Since the last data was released in 2009, we’ve seen a surge in the use of social media.
While social media can promote good mental health and can help people feel less isolated, it also comes with some risks.
Its instantaneous and anonymous nature means it’s easy for people to make hasty and sometimes ill-advised comments that can negatively affect other people’s mental health.
It’s important to avoid sites that are likely to trigger negative feelings and/or behaviour and to take a break from social media if you’re feeling vulnerable.”
The study was carried out by NHS Digital (NHS, 2016).
Could cigarettes contain the latest clue to an anti-ageing drug?
Could cigarettes contain the latest clue to an anti-ageing drug?
Nicotine could help to protect the brain from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, new research finds.
The substance — when given independently from tobacco — could help to protect the ageing brain.
The neuroprotective effect of nicotine could be down to its well-known quality of reducing appetite.
For the study, the researchers gave varying levels of nicotine to mice in their drinking water.
There was no evidence, though, that it caused anxiety, which the researchers were concerned would be the case.
Dr Ursula Winzer-Serhan, who led the research, said:
“Some people say that nicotine decreases anxiety, which is why people smoke, but others say it increases anxiety.
The last thing you would want in a drug that is given chronically would be a negative change in behavior.
Luckily, we didn’t find any evidence of anxiety: Only two measures showed any effect even with high levels of nicotine, and if anything, nicotine made animal models less anxious.”
The mice given the highest levels of nicotine ate the least and gained the least weight.
Dr Winzer-Serhan cautioned:
“I want to make it very clear that we’re not encouraging people to smoke.
Even if these weren’t very preliminary results, smoking results in so many health problems that any possible benefit of the nicotine would be more than cancelled out.
However, smoking is only one possible route of administration of the drug, and our work shows that we shouldn’t write-off nicotine completely.”
The next step for the researchers is to test whether nicotine has a an anti-ageing effect.
Dr Winzer-Serhan said:
“Although the results are intriguing, we would need large-scale clinical trials before suggesting anyone change their behavior.
At the end of the day, we haven’t proven that this addictive drug is safe — and it certainly isn’t during childhood or adolescence — or that the benefits outweigh the potential risks.”
The study was published in the Journal of Toxicology (Huang et al., 2016).
Greatest psychological and neurophysiological benefits seen from exercise with this attitude.
Greatest psychological and neurophysiological benefits seen from exercise with this attitude.
People gain the greatest psychological and neurophysiological benefit when they really believe in exercise, new research finds.
A positive attitude towards sport and exercise is a self-fulling prophecy, explained the study’s first author Mr Hendrik Mothes:
“The results demonstrate that our belief in how much we will benefit from physical activity has a considerable effect on our well-being in the manner of a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
For the study 76 people exercised for 30 minutes on a stationary bicycle.
All saw one of two videos beforehand.
The first praised the positive effects of cycling, the second did not.
The results showed that people who already had positive views of exercise enjoyed the exercise more, had lower anxiety afterwards and better mood.
The video that was positive about cycling had the same effect.
The researchers also made recordings of the electrical activity in the brain
These revealed that those with positive expectations about exercise or who had seen the video were more relaxed on a neuronal level.
Mr Mothes said:
“Beliefs and expectations could possibly have long-term consequences, for instance on our motivation to engage in sports.
They can be a determining factor on whether we can rouse ourselves to go jogging again next time or decide instead to stay at home on the couch.”
Beliefs are a powerful thing: consider a 2007 study on 84 hotel attendants (Crum et al., 2007).
Some were encouraged to appreciate how much exercise they were already doing as part of their job.
The rest were told nothing.
Incredibly, the average weight of those encouraged to appreciate the exercise they already did reduced from 145.5 lbs to 143.72 lbs.
Over the same period the rest showed no significant change.
That’s like dropping a bag of sugar. In four weeks. With no additional exercise.
Now that’s the power of the mind-body link right there, measured in pounds and ounces.
The new study was published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine (Mothes et al., 2016).
Image credit: marcovdz
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