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.

Teens with moderate mental health problems vape e-cigarettes

Teenagers with moderate mental health problems who may not have considered smoking conventional cigarettes are turning to electronic cigarettes, a new USC study has found.

20 Dec 2015

Findings may lead to new treatment strategy for phobia

A new study published in the latest issue of Biological Psychiatry reports the successful and instant reduction of fear in spider-fearful participants following a 2-minute exposure combined with a single dose of a regular pharmacological treatment.

11 Dec 2015

Cognitive behavioural therapy benefits people with dental phobia

Cognitive behavioural therapy could help many people with a dental phobia overcome their fear of visiting the dentist and enable them to receive dental treatment without the need to be sedated, according to a new study by King's College London.

27 Nov 2015

Glide Technologies, Cilian collaborate to develop solid dose formulation of recombinant influenza vaccine

Glide Technologies, the development company focused on solid dose formulations of therapeutics and vaccines, today announced that it has entered a collaboration with German biotechnology company Cilian AG to develop a solid dose formulation of Cilian's experimental recombinant influenza vaccine, CiFlu, for delivery using Glide's patient-friendly SDI delivery device.

21 Sep 2015

Comorbid anxiety ‘a crucial target’ for treatment in bipolar disorder

Almost half of patients with bipolar disorder will have comorbid anxiety disorder in their lifetime, show the findings of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

1 Jul 2015

Study: Watching cartoons can help reduce pain in children undergoing immunisation

Watching cartoons can reduce pain and distress in children undergoing immunisation before, during and after the procedure, a study in Italy has found.

29 Apr 2015

Comorbid OCD not uncommon in bipolar disorder

Co-occurrence of obsessive compulsive disorder in patients with bipolar disorder type I is not uncommon and is associated with increased functional disability, research findings indicate.

7 Jan 2015

Childhood affective features may guide adult psychiatric diagnosis

Clinical features that can appear many years ahead of a psychiatric diagnosis may help doctors to predict whether patients will develop bipolar disorder or unipolar depression, say researchers.

20 Nov 2014

Oxytocin hormone inhibits fear center in brain, shows study

Frightening experiences do not quickly fade from memory. A team of researchers under the guidance of the University of Bonn Hospital has now been able to demonstrate in a study that the bonding hormone oxytocin inhibits the fear center in the brain and allows fear stimuli to subside more easily.

14 Nov 2014

‘Priming’ may improve schizophrenia patients’ social skills

Study findings suggest that social priming can increase the use of nonverbal social behaviours in patients with schizophrenia.

10 Oct 2014

Dentist educates patients about sedation dentistry

The American Dental Association estimates that as much as 10 percent of the American population have dental phobia. Dental phobia is a severe anxiety or dread of making a trip to the dentist.

7 Aug 2014

Study shows link between insomnia-related mental health conditions among teens

A study of high school students by University of Adelaide psychology researchers has shed new light on the links between insomnia-related mental health conditions among teens.

31 Jul 2014

Parkinson's disease drug could also help people with phobias or PTSD

A drug used to treat Parkinson's disease could also help people with phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Scientists of the Translational Neurosciences Research Center at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz are currently exploring the effects of psychotherapy to extinguish fears in combination with L-dopa.

10 Jul 2014

PD MED trial: Levodopa drug better for long-term treatment of newly diagnosed PD

For long-term treatment of newly diagnosed Parkinson’s disease (PD), the old drug levodopa provides better mobility and a higher quality of life than the two main alternatives, dopamine agonists (DA) and monoamine oxidase type B inhibitors (MAOBI), according to the largest-ever trial of PD treatment (PD MED), published in The Lancet.

13 Jun 2014

Racial discrimination linked with increased risk of mental health problems in African-American youth

The vast majority of African-American and Afro-Caribbean youth face racial discrimination, and these experiences are associated with an increased risk of mental health problems, according to a study to be presented Saturday, May 3, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

5 May 2014

Depression, anxiety common among bipolar disorder patients in primary care

Rates of depressive and anxiety symptoms are high among patients with bipolar disorder who are treated in primary care, show the results of a US study of patients in this setting.

30 Apr 2014

Online program opens up more possibilities for children, adolescents affected by anxiety disorder

The start of the school year is here again, but for some young people, it can mean serious worry about what may lay ahead.

14 Feb 2014

Targeting symptoms, rather than disorders, might help reduce work impact of mental health issues

Symptoms such as insomnia and emotional distress account for much of the work impact of mental health problems such as depression and anxiety, reports a study in the February issue of Medical Care.

23 Jan 2014

Study finds discrepancies in prevalence estimates of mental disorders in middle-aged and older adults

Common methods of assessing mental or physical disorders may consistently underestimate the prevalence of mental disorders among middle-aged and older adults, a new study from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found.

9 Jan 2014

Minnesota professor receives Hazelden's Dan Anderson Research Award for hybrid CBT study

Matt G. Kushner, Ph.D., professor of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) has earned the latest Dan Anderson Research Award for his study examining the effectiveness of a hybrid cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of individuals with co-occurring anxiety disorders and alcohol dependence.

7 Jan 2014