Phobia News and Research

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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.

From China to Uzbekistan - United for Women’s Wellness on IWD

On the occasion of International Women's Day (IWD), BGI Genomics interview Wang Leilei, a trailblazing blind model, and Viktoriya Tsay, an Uzbek advocate of women’s health. Their stories stich a cross-cultural narrative of nurturing the nuance of women’s wellness worldwide.

From BGI Genomics 6 Mar 2024

GTF2I gene's role in Williams syndrome and autism unraveled

Individuals with the neurodevelopmental disorder Williams syndrome have a gregarious "cocktail party" personality, while those with the opposite genetic alteration, in contrast, tend to have autistic traits and are prone to struggle socially.

28 Feb 2024

Intravenous DMT shows promise in reducing depression symptoms, study reveals

A study in Scientific Reports shows intravenous DMT can significantly reduce depression severity in healthy volunteers, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic psychedelic intervention for mental health disorders.

8 Feb 2024

What does the future hold for obesity medication development?

The safety, clinical implications, and challenges of obesity pharmacotherapies based on entero-pancreatic hormone- treatments.

5 Feb 2024

What makes people gag at dentists?

Study finds a significant correlation between self-reported emetophobia, excessive gagging, and dental anxiety, with over 50% of participants recalling unpleasant vomiting or gagging experiences and a notable impact of dental office smells on these conditions.

17 Jan 2024

Pregnant and postpartum women with mental health disorders more likely to use cannabis

Pregnant and recently postpartum women who suffer with mental health disorders may be vulnerable to using cannabis to self-medicate, according to a Rutgers-led study.

25 Aug 2023

One in two people will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime, finds study

A global study co-led by researchers from The University of Queensland and Harvard Medical School has found one in two people will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime.

31 Jul 2023

Virtual reality app trial offers new hope for people suffering from phobias

Results from a University of Otago, Christchurch trial suggest fresh hope for the estimated one-in-twelve people worldwide suffering from a fear of flying, needles, heights, spiders and dogs.

14 Jul 2022

Addressing parents' hesitancy to vaccinate their children against COVID

Researchers examine notable risk factors related to vaccine hesitancy among parents.

23 Jun 2022

J&J-vaxxed, mRNA-boosted, and pondering a third shot

Yes, we are all exhausted by the covid pandemic. Flummoxed by the constantly shifting science and guidelines. Worried about a succession of scary new variants, each with its own name, like hurricanes.

1 Mar 2022

Study sheds light on the consequences of picky eating in college students

Looking beyond the picky eating of childhood, researchers looked at this behavior in college students. Self-identified picky eaters ate significantly less fiber and vegetables and reported greater levels of social phobia than non-picky eaters, according to a new study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, published by Elsevier.

7 Oct 2021

Smartphone-based augmented reality app helps tackle the fear of spiders

Researchers from the University of Basel have developed an augmented reality app for smartphones in order to help people reduce their fear of spiders.

20 Sep 2021

Dentists chip away at uninsured problem by offering patients membership plans

Nevada dentist David White has seen diseased and rotted teeth in the mouths of patients who routinely put off checkups and avoided minor procedures such as fillings. While dental phobia is a factor, White said, the overriding reason people avoid treatment is cost.

17 Sep 2021

Researchers identify factors that explain individuals’ stress while driving

Admit it: Daily commutes - those stops, the starts, all that stress - gets on your last nerve.

11 May 2021

One in five adults suffers from dental anxiety or phobia in Sweden

In Sweden, approximately one in five adults suffers from dental anxiety or phobia. The number has decreased over time, but still, an important part of the population has major problems, according to a recent doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg.

22 Feb 2021

FDA announces requirement of class-wide labeling changes for benzodiazepines

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced today in a Drug Safety Communication that it is requiring an update to the Boxed Warning, the agency's most prominent safety warning, and requiring class-wide labeling changes for benzodiazepines to include the risks of abuse, misuse, addiction, physical dependence and withdrawal reactions to help improve their safe use.

23 Sep 2020

Google searches for anxiety skyrocket amid coronavirus pandemic

Just like physical health, it is important to check one’s mental health amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. When countries announced lockdown orders, many people were confined to their homes, away from family and friends.

25 Aug 2020

New partnership advances virtual reality for social anxiety disorder

BehaVR, a leading innovator of virtual reality digital wellness and digital therapeutics experiences, today announced that it has begun a new partnership aimed at leveraging virtual reality experiences to address critical unmet needs in social anxiety disorder, an underreported and undertreated mental health condition.

6 Aug 2020

Cognitive behavioral therapy helps food allergic children with severe phobia of anaphylaxis

Imagine a young girl with a peanut allergy, so stricken by fear of anaphylaxis that she no longer takes part in everyday activities many children take for granted.

28 Jul 2020