Rather than depression and anxiety being normalised over the last half century, they have been pathologised.
Anxiety affects around one-third of adolescents in the US.
Anxiety affects around one-third of adolescents in the US.
Biofeedback, mindfulness, yoga and hypnosis all provide promising mind-body approaches to treating anxiety, research finds.
The standard treatments for anxiety are cognitive-behavioural therapy and/or medication.
However, these treatments can be difficult to obtain, expensive and, in the case of medication, involving significant side-effects.
Mind-body approaches, though, are often cheaper, accessible and usually with no side-effects.
The researchers identified studies on adolescents that supported the use of:
Yoga in particular has seen a massive rise in popularity in recent years, the study’s authors write:
“Low in cost, easy to implement, and accessible to individuals of all physical fitness levels, yoga has become an increasingly popular anxiety management tool.”
Anxiety affects around one-third of adolescents in the US.
Almost one-in-ten adolescents experience anxiety severe enough to disrupt their lives.
The study’s authors write:
“Whereas anxiety and fear are typical reactions to the academic, social, and developmental challenges common during the adolescent years, clinical or pathological anxiety is excessive, persistent, and disruptive.”
Most adolescents do not receive any treatment.
Ms Fulweiler and Dr John write:
“A growing body of evidence supports the implementation of mind-body therapy as a low-risk and cost-effective strategy in the management of anxious teenagers.
[…]Mind-body therapies encompass self-regulation and positive thinking…to help promote self-control, physical health, and emotional well-being.”
The study was published in the journal The Nurse Practitioner (Fulweiler & John, 2018).
Are these common ways of dealing with everyday failures helping or hindering?
Almost half of females had an anxiety disorder along with just over a quarter of males.
Almost half of females had an anxiety disorder along with just over a quarter of males.
There are specific signs that a child will go on to develop an anxiety disorder, a study finds.
These include a tendency to do things alone, crying easily and often and frequently appearing sad and miserable.
All these behaviours are related to being socially and emotionally withdrawn.
In contrast, being shy, submissive or fearful of authority figures or people in general does not predict adult anxiety disorders.
Mr Nathan Monk, the study’s first author, said:
“Basically, what we have found is that childhood anxious behaviors related to social isolation and sadness appear to carry risk for developing an anxiety disorder in later life.
In contrast, behaviors related to situational fears and anxiety around adults do not appear to carry the same risk.”
The study tracked over 1,000 children born in Christchurch, New Zealand for over four decades.
It found surprisingly high levels of anxiety, with almost half of females having an anxiety disorder along with just over a quarter of males.
Dr Kat Donovan, study co-author, said:
“This research reinforces the importance of actively developing social skills and skills in managing emotions, especially in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life where parents and whānau (a Māori word for extended family) play a key role.”
She continued:
“All tamariki (Māori children) experience anxiety at a certain stage but it only causes concern when it disrupts their development and reduces educational and emotional learning opportunities.”
Dr Donovan has some advice for parents of anxious children:
“It’s tough for parents and whānau to see their child in distress but it’s important they help them tolerate their feelings and not avoid them, by encouraging them to be in situations which are challenging and providing them with opportunities to be exposed to those situations.
However, if they don’t feel they have the skills to cope with certain behaviors they should seek out parenting courses or professional support.”
The study was published in the journal Psychological Medicine (Monk et al., 2021).
Over 300 separate compounds have been identified in human sweat.
Anxiety is contagious, social isolating, it changes eating habits, provokes difficulties concentrating, interferes with sleep and is partly inherited.
Anxiety is contagious, social isolating, it changes eating habits, provokes difficulties concentrating, interferes with sleep and is partly inherited.
Like many mental health problems, almost everyone experiences anxiety from time-to-time.
Whether it is a problem all depends on the amount and nature of the anxiety.
Everyday anxiety in response to stressful events is normal, but severe anxiety in response to relatively minor events can be seriously disabling.
Anxiety is contagious, social isolating, it changes eating habits, provokes difficulties concentrating, interferes with sleep and is partly inherited.
Below are 12 psychology studies from the members-only section of PsyBlog on anxiety and the best ways to cope with and treat it.
(If you are not already, find out how to become a PsyBlog member here.)
While many people experience anxiety, it is considered a disorder when it interferes with everyday life and treatment is required.
The reason that smart people with a high IQ are sometimes more anxious may have an evolutionary explanation.
The reason that smart people with a high IQ are sometimes more anxious may have an evolutionary explanation.
Intelligence and anxiety may have evolved together as mutually beneficial traits, research finds.
This may help to explain why people with a high IQ also tend to have higher levels of anxiety.
The benefit may be that intelligence allows people to better imagine what might go wrong.
Worriers tend to keep out of danger so that their genes are the ones carried forward into the next generation.
Non-worries, meanwhile, starved to death because they didn’t prepare for winter or failed to anticipate an enemy raid.
Professor Jeremy Coplan, who led the study, said:
“While excessive worry is generally seen as a negative trait and high intelligence as a positive one, worry may cause our species to avoid dangerous situations, regardless of how remote a possibility they may be.
In essence, worry may make people ‘take no chances,’ and such people may have higher survival rates.
Thus, like intelligence, worry may confer a benefit upon the species.”
For the study, people with high anxiety levels were compared with those with average levels.
Brain scans were carried out, along with tests of intelligence and anxiety.
In people diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, IQ was positively correlated with worry.
In other words, people who were more intelligent also worried more.
Brain scans found that activity in sub-cortical white matter correlated with both anxiety and intelligence.
Previous research has shown that people who are low in intelligence are also prone to worry — possibly because they achieve less in life.
Average IQ show less of a link with anxiety.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Evolutionary Neuroscience (Coplan et al., 2012).
The research turns on its head the idea that depressed and anxious people should not be ‘burdened’ in any way.
Typical cognitive techniques include questioning negative thoughts and running thought experiments.
Typical cognitive techniques include questioning negative thoughts and running thought experiments.
People who receive cognitive-behavioural therapy online feel better than those who receive it face-to-face, research finds.
Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is often seen as the gold standard for treating depression.
Typical cognitive techniques include questioning negative thoughts and running thought experiments.
Cognitive techniques can help to change negative thought patterns and enable people with depression to see the world more realistically.
Along with these, behavioural techniques include things like making a plan of action to do things that you enjoy.
Previous studies have found that online CBT can also be effective for anxiety.
The new review of research found that people who receive CBT online through video-conferencing, emailing and texting experience a greater reduction in symptoms than those receiving it face-to-face.
Dr Zena Samaan, study co-author, said:
“Although this study started before the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is timely and assuring that treatment delivered electronically works as well if not better than face to face and there is no compromise on the quality of care that patients are receiving during this stressful time.”
The conclusions come from a review of 17 separate randomised controlled trials.
Each one compared the effectiveness of CBT delivered online with that delivered face-to-face.
The studies, conducted across 15 years and in 6 different countries, found that online CBT was better than its traditional counterpart.
People experienced a greater reduction in depression symptoms online and patients were just as satisfied with being treated this way.
Dr Samaan said:
“The common understanding was that face to face psychotherapy has the advantage of the connection with the therapist and this connection is in part what makes the difference in treatment.
However, it is not surprising that electronic interventions are helpful in that they offer flexibility, privacy and no travel time, time off work, transport or parking costs.
It makes sense that people access care, especially mental health care, when they need it from their own comfort space.”
Dr Samaan continued:
“Electronic options should be considered to be implemented for delivering therapy to patients.
This can potentially vastly improve access for patients, especially those in rural or under-served areas, and during pandemics.”
Other effective talking therapies for depression include Behavioural Activation Therapy and Metacognitive Therapy.
The study was published in the journal EClinicalMedicine (Luo et al., 2020).
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