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Fears are a common part of an individual’s life. However, a phobia is more than a simple fear. It starts and develops into something massive when the affected person begins to organise their life around avoiding the feared object – be it an animal, insect, place, situation or just about anything.
Scopolamine can help boost effectiveness of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders

Scopolamine can help boost effectiveness of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders

The drug scopolamine has been used to treat a variety of conditions, including nausea and motion sickness. A new study by UCLA life scientists suggests that it may also be useful in treating anxiety disorders. [More]
Scientists discover functional control strategies in emotional circuits of people with social phobia

Scientists discover functional control strategies in emotional circuits of people with social phobia

Fear is a protective function against possible dangers that is designed to save our lives. Where there are problems with this fear mechanism, its positive effects are cancelled out: patients who have a social phobia become afraid of perfectly normal, everyday social situations because they are worried about behaving inappropriately or being thought of as stupid by other people. [More]

Spirituality associated with poor mental health

Individuals who describe themselves as spiritual are more likely to have used drugs, or be dependent on drugs, and also more likely to have generalized anxiety and neurotic disorders than those who are neither spiritual nor religious, research shows. [More]

Cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety-related dizziness

Patients with chronic subjective dizziness that is related to anxiety may substantially benefit from a short course of cognitive behavioral therapy, report researchers. [More]
Gastritis linked to mood, anxiety disorders

Gastritis linked to mood, anxiety disorders

Patients with gastritis are at significantly increased risk for mood and anxiety disorders, study results suggest. [More]

Gastritis linked to mood, anxiety disorders

Patients with gastritis are at significantly increased risk for mood and anxiety disorders, study results suggest. [More]

New study highlights parents' role in transmission of dentist fear in family

Fear of visiting the dentist is a frequent problem in paediatric dentistry. A new study confirms the emotional transmission of dentist fear among family members and analyses the different roles that mothers and fathers might play. [More]

Peer victimization increases teen social phobia risk

Results from a Finnish study show there is a significant relationship between peer victimization and social phobia in adolescents. [More]

Family history of schizophrenia ups risk for nonpsychotic disorders

Individuals with a family history of schizophrenia are at a significantly increased risk for a wide range of nonpsychotic DSM-IV axis I psychiatric disorders, US research shows. [More]

Family history of schizophrenia ups risk for nonpsychotic disorders

Individuals with a family history of schizophrenia are at a significantly increased risk for a wide range of nonpsychotic DSM-IV axis I psychiatric disorders, US research shows. [More]

Attachment and relationship problems in adolescents with anxiety

Adolescents with anxiety disorders have greater attachment disorganization and higher levels of dysfunction in peer relationships compared with individuals without an Axis I diagnosis, US study findings indicate. [More]
Addiction and mental health burden higher than all cancers in Ontario

Addiction and mental health burden higher than all cancers in Ontario

Mental illnesses and addictions take more of a toll on the health of Ontarians than cancer or infectious diseases, according to a new report by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Public Health Ontario - yet this burden could be reduced with treatment, say scientists from Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. [More]

High personality disorder comorbidity rates identified in anxiety

A meta-analysis covering 30 years of research has identified high rates of comorbid personality disorders across a number of anxiety disorder subtypes. [More]

Prevalence of OCD in children ‘high’

Results from a Spanish study suggest that the prevalence of obsessive‑compulsive disorder and associated symptoms among children is higher than previously thought. [More]

Social threat reveals self-esteem mismatch in social anxiety disorder adolescents

Adolescents with social anxiety disorder have a marked discrepancy between implicit and explicit self-esteem following a social threat, such as being asked to give a speech, the results of a German study indicate. [More]
Nicotine dependence risk increased in bipolar disorder

Nicotine dependence risk increased in bipolar disorder

Adults with mood and anxiety disorders are significantly more likely to be smokers than the general population, a US study of data from the National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions shows. [More]

Social phobia prevalent in OCD patients

Social phobia is common among patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and frequently co-occurs with other related disorders, researchers report. [More]

Paper describes novel psychotherapeutic approach in a boy with Asperger's syndrome

This paper reports a stable improvement in social skills in a 15-year-old boy diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome (AS), after an outpatient treatment with Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children and Adolescents (SET-C), a specific and intensive type of social skill training. Its effectiveness should be further tested in randomized controlled and long-term follow-up studies. [More]

Factors linked with MDD transition to BD identified

A wide range of demographic, clinical, and environmental factors are associated with an increased risk for transition from major depressive disorder to bipolar disorder, US study results show. [More]

Factors linked with MDD transition to BD identified

A wide range of demographic, clinical, and environmental factors are associated with an increased risk for transition from major depressive disorder to bipolar disorder, US study results show. [More]