Potential For Anxiety Research Articles

Licit Activity: MindMed Collaborators Announce Positive Phase II Results for LSD in Major Depressive Disorder

GEN EdgeVol. 5, No. 1 TopicsLicit Activity: MindMed Collaborators Announce Positive Phase II Results for LSD in Major Depressive DisorderThe findings in this study support previous findings that lysergide has clinical potential in anxiety, depression, and other brain health disordersJonathan D GrinsteinJonathan D GrinsteinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:14 Apr 2023https://doi.org/10.1089/genedge.5.1.58AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail View articleFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 5Issue 1Jan 2023 Information© 2023 by GEN PublishingTo cite this article:Jonathan D Grinstein.Licit Activity: MindMed Collaborators Announce Positive Phase II Results for LSD in Major Depressive Disorder.GEN Edge.Jan 2023.310-312.http://doi.org/10.1089/genedge.5.1.58Published in Volume: 5 Issue 1: April 14, 2023PDF download

Safer care for patients with adrenal insufficiency: weighing the evidence, balancing risks and acknowledging uncertainties

The National Patient Safety Alert supporting early recognition and treatment of adrenal crisis is a vital new component of care for adults affected by primary adrenal insufficiency. Benefits for patients with secondary and tertiary adrenal insufficiency need to be weighed alongside other considerations such as security of the diagnosis, relative likelihood of adrenal crisis and potential for anxiety and distress from assigning 'physical dependency' in relation to glucocorticoid therapy. All clinicians must be vigilant for and responsive to managing risks of adrenal crisis in at-risk patients, while avoiding diagnostic anchoring in the context of acute illness. More research is required to help define who is at greatest risk of adverse outcomes (including avoidance of therapeutic glucocorticoid therapy for fear of adrenal insufficiency) and a cross-specialty approach is advocated.

Risk Factors for Generalized Anxiety in Older African Americans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has created worldwide uncertainty and heightened fear and worry, elevating the potential for anxiety. We examined environmental, sociodemographic, and behavioral risk factors predicting generalized anxiety among older African Americans in a large metropolitan area during the COVID-19 outbreak. Sixty African American participants (92% female) age 65 and older were recruited from the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology Healthier Black Elders Center. In addition to initial demographic questions, the scale (5-point Likert scale from “Not At All” to “A Great Deal”) assessed a range of everyday concerns, such as time spent indoors; family relationships; economic problems; restricted freedom of movement; and access to food, cleaning supplies, medical care, and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants also completed a brief generalized anxiety screener, GAD-7. Of the 60 participants, 5 reported they were COVID-19 infected and their responses were not used for the analyses. Older Black Americans reported that during the pandemic, they were most affected by: Illness in Family (53%), Death in Family (35%) and Isolation (75%). Significant risk factors for anxiety were: Missing Close Ones, Annoyance, Sense of Safety, Media Coverage, and Time Indoors (explaining 58% of variance). The current study highlights everyday risk factors for anxiety in the context of the coronavirus pandemic among city-dwelling African Americans. Identified factors are common concerns that may be ameliorated with reasonable interventions. More research is needed in order to fully understand the scope and correlates of anxiety during these challenging times.

Death, quest, and self-esteem: re-examining the role of self-esteem and religion following mortality salience

ABSTRACTTerror management theory suggests that when mortality concerns are salient, religion can serve as a defence in order to boost self-esteem and shield against the potential for anxiety. The current study examined whether individual differences in religious orientation (i.e., quest) interacted with reminders of death to influence well-being. To the extent that religiosity buffers against mortality awareness on defensiveness, the present results demonstrated that individuals high in quest orientation, in comparison to low-quest-orientated individuals, reported lower well-being (i.e., self-esteem) following reminders of death. These results add to the existing body of literature suggesting that thoughts of death can serve to decrease well-being, but that this effect is influenced by individual differences, namely trait quest religiosity.

The Scrooge effect revisited: Mortality salience increases the satisfaction derived from prosocial behavior

According to terror management theory, people deal with the potential for anxiety that results from the knowledge of the inevitability of death by holding on to sources of value that exist within their cultural worldview. Acting prosocially is one such source of value, and previous research suggests that reminders of mortality increase the desire for prosociality. In three studies, we tested the hypothesis that mortality reminders would lead to more generous allocation of financial resources and to more satisfaction derived from acting generously. Using the dictator game (Study 1), the ultimatum game (Study 2), and a quasi-naturalistic giving situation (Study 3) we showed that participants reminded of their mortality were not only more generous but also more satisfied the more money they donated. Moreover, Study 3 demonstrated that people reminded of their mortality derived higher satisfaction from prosocial behavior and such behavior was associated with better suppression of death-related thoughts. We conclude that acting prosocially in the face of mortality thoughts effectively soothes death anxiety and in turn produces psychological satisfaction.

Anxiolytic effects of orcinol glucoside and orcinol monohydrate in mice

Context: Anxiety is a common psychological disorder, often occurring in combination with depression, but therapeutic drugs with high efficacy and safety are lacking. Orcinol glucoside (OG) was recently found to have an antidepressive action.Objective: To study the therapeutic potential of OG and orcinol monohydrate (OM) as anxiolytic agents.Materials and methods: Anxiolytic effects in mice were measured using the elevated plus-maze, hole-board, and open-field tests. Eight groups of mice were included in each test. Thirty minutes before each test, mice in each group received one oral administration of OG (5, 10, or 20 mg/kg), OM (2.5, 5, or 10 mg/kg), the positive control diazepam (1 or 5 mg/kg), or control vehicle. Each mouse underwent only one test. Uptake of orcinol (5 mg/kg) in the brain was qualitatively detected using the HPLC-MS method.Results: OG (5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) and OM (2.5 and 5 mg/kg) increased the time spent in open arms and the number of entries into open arms in the elevated plus-maze test. OG (5 and 10 mg/kg) and OM (2.5 and 5 mg/kg) increased the number of head-dips in the hole-board test. At all tested doses, OG and OM did not significantly affect the locomotion of mice in the open-field test. Orcinol could be detected in the mouse brain homogenates 30 min after oral OM administration, having confirmed that OM is centrally active.Discussion and conclusion: The results demonstrated that OG and OM are anxiolytic agents without sedative effects, indicating their therapeutic potential for anxiety.

Increasing accurate self-report in surveys of pregnancy alcohol use

Backgroundpregnancy alcohol research relies on self-reports of alcohol consumption. Reporting bias may contribute to ambiguous and conflicting findings on fetal effects of low to moderate pregnancy alcohol exposure. Objectivethis study aimed to identify the determinants which would enable women to provide accurate data in surveys of alcohol use in pregnancy. Design and participantssix focus groups were held with a total of 26 pregnant women and new mothers. Participants reviewed a set of alcohol survey questions followed by a guided discussion. Transcripts were analysed using inductive content analysis. Settingpublic hospital antenatal clinics and Mother & Child Health Centres, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Findingswomen׳s emotional responses were generally favourable, although the potential for anxiety and fear of judgement was acknowledged. Barriers to accurate self-report were recall, complexity and use of subjective language. Facilitators were appropriate drink choices, occasional drinking options and contextualising of questions. Confidentiality and survey method, including a preference for methods other than face-to face, were also important factors. Key conclusions and implications for practicequestions embedded in clear context may reduce anxiety around questions about alcohol use in pregnancy. Methods using shorter recall periods, a list of drinks choices, measures of special occasion drinking and minimising complex and subjective language will increase accurate self-report. A setting perceived as confidential and anonymous may reduce a desire to provide socially acceptable answers.

The impact of allergic rhinitis on state-trait anxiety

To investigate the relationship between the different types of allergic rhinitis and anxiety. State-trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI) was adopted to 98 cases, moderate to severe persistent allergic rhinitis (PAR, male 43 cases, female 55 cases ) and 165 cases of moderate to severe intermittent allergic rhinitis (IAR, male 89 cases, female 76 cases ) and compared with the Chinese standard norm.SPSS 15.0 software was used to analyze the data. There was no significant difference in state anxiety (S-AI) and trait anxiety (T-AI) score (P(PAR): 0.411,0.724; P(IAR): 0.400,0.061) between male patients with allergic rhinitis (PAR and IAR) and the 1998 Chinese male norm. There was no significant difference (P(PAR): 0.503, P(IAR): 0.789) between female AR patients and normal in T-AI. The S-AI score was significantly higher in female AR patients than that in Chinese women norm scores (P(PAR) = 0.007, P(IAR) = 0.004). PAR and IAR showed no significant difference on T-AI and S-AI. (P value was 0.748 and 0.967). Female patients with allergic rhinitis can cause anxiety and continued, but there is no obvious anxiety potential in T-AI. The male patients do not show significantly different from normal people in terms of state and trait anxiety. And then, different types of allergic rhinitis have no significant correlation with anxiety.

Money and the fear of death: The symbolic power of money as an existential anxiety buffer

According to terror management theory, people deal with the potential for anxiety that results from their knowledge of the inevitability of death by holding on to sources of value that exist within their cultural worldview. We propose that money is one such source capable of soothing existential anxiety. We hypothesize that death anxiety would amplify the value attributed to money, and that the presence of money would alleviate death anxiety. Study 1 indicated that individuals reminded of their mortality overestimated the size of coins and monetary notes. In Study 2, participants induced to think about their mortality used higher monetary standards to define a person or family as rich than those in the control condition. Study 3 revealed that people reminded of death desired higher compensation for waiving the immediate payment of money. Finally, Study 4 showed that priming participants with the concept of money reduced self-reported fear of death. We conclude that, beyond its pragmatic utility, money possesses a strong psychological meaning that helps to buffer existential anxiety.

Neuro-Modulating Effects of Honokiol: A Review

Honokiol is a poly-phenolic compound that exerts neuroprotective properties through a variety of mechanisms. It has therapeutic potential in anxiety, pain, cerebrovascular injury, epilepsy, and cognitive disorders including Alzheimer’s disease. It has been traditionally used in medical practices throughout much of Southeast Asia, but has now become more widely studied due to its pleiotropic effects. Most current research regarding this compound has focused on its chemotherapeutic properties. However, it has the potential to be an effective neuroprotective agent as well. This review summarizes what is currently known regarding the mechanisms involved in the neuroprotective and anesthetic effects of this compound and identifies potential areas for further research.

Existential neuroscience: neurophysiological correlates of proximal defenses against death-related thoughts

A great deal of evidence suggests that reminders of mortality increase in-group support and worldview defense, presumably in order to deal with the potential for anxiety that roots in the knowledge that death is inevitable. Interestingly, these effects are obtained solely when thoughts of death are not in the focus of consciousness. When conscious, death-related thoughts are usually defended against using proximal defenses, which entail distraction or suppression. The present study aimed at demonstrating neurophysiological correlates of proximal defenses. We focused on the late positive potential (LPP), which is thought to reflect an increased allocation of attention toward, and processing of, motivationally relevant stimuli. Our prediction was that the LPP should be increased for death-related relative to death-unrelated, but equally unpleasant stimulus words. In Experiment 1, this prediction was confirmed. This finding was replicated in Experiment 2, which used a target word detection task. In Experiment 2, both death-related and pleasant words elicited an enhanced LPP, presumably because during the less demanding task, people might have distracted themselves from the mortality reminders by focusing on pleasant words. To summarize, we were able to identify a plausible neurophysiological marker of proximal defenses in the form of an increased LPP to death-related words.

Controversies surrounding the comorbidity of depression and anxiety in inflammatory bowel disease patients

Psychological disorders are highly prevalent in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Anxiety and depression are known to independently affect quality of life and may additionally impair quality of life in IBD over and above the IBD itself. Some researchers have further proposed that anxiety and depression may influence the clinical course of IBD. However, despite the potential for anxiety and depression to play an important role in the clinical picture of IBD, there is little prospective well-controlled research in this area. Probably because of this lack of clear data, researchers dispute the actual role of these psychological disorders in IBD, with a number of conflicting opinions expressed. This article reports on a review of the literature in this field. Herein we discuss the five main areas of controversy regarding IBD and the specific psychological comorbidities of depression and anxiety: 1) the relative rate of cooccurrence of these psychological disorders with IBD; 2) the cooccurrence of these psychological disorders with particular phase of IBD; 3) the cooccurrence of these psychological disorders with the specific type of IBD; 4) the rate of these psychological comorbidities compared both to healthy subjects and to other disease states; and 5) the timing of onset of psychological comorbidity with respect to onset of IBD. Methodological weaknesses of the reviewed studies make it impossible to resolve these controversies. However, the results clearly show that anxiety/depression and IBD frequently interact. Given the long-term illness burden patients with IBD face, further prospective, appropriately controlled studies are needed to adequately answer the question of the precise interplay between anxiety/depression and IBD.

Work and mental health: A decade in Canadian research.

Abstract This study reviews recent research on mental health within the context of work. The research is based on work during the past decade since the publication of the special issue of the Canadian Psychologist on I-O Psychology in 1988. Our focus will be on research based on Canadian data, done by Canadian scholars, during this 10-year period. Our approach to mental health is inclusive: We examine both theoretical and empirical work pertaining to stress, burnout, depression, anxiety, and well-being. Existing models linking the antecedents and consequences of mental health are reviewed and proposed moderators are assessed, with a view toward ascertaining their empirical viability and theoretical utility. The antecedents of mental health include a broad array of individual differences, job, work, and organizational variables. Similarly, the consequences of mental health cover a broad range of attitudinal and behavioral factors such as job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intention, performance, absence, turnover, and somatic and physical ailments. After a critical assessment of the nature and quality of the research, we discuss its implications for future research and offer suggestions for the management of mental health in the workplace.The topic of work and its impact on mental health is attracting an increasing amount of attention among both academics and policy makers, because of its immense economic importance (Norris, 1997) and theoretical potential. This paper attempts to shed some light on the research that has been done during the past decade in Canada. We will attempt to highlight primarily the Canadian contribution to research in this area. We defined the Canadian contribution broadly as research conducted in Canadian institutions, work published by Canadian authors, and research published elsewhere using Canadian data. We restricted our search to published work since 1986, given the publication of a similar issue of the Canadian Psychologist in 1988.(f.1) We chose only research based articles that are directly located within the context of work and are published in scholarly journals as well as academic books and monographs that deal with aspects of work and mental health for this review.Although the concept of mental health defies precise definition, it has been studied in the context of work ever since Kornhauser (1965) used the term in his classic study of industrial workers. Subsequently, Kasl (1973), Jamal and Mitchell (1980) and Warr (1987), in their attempts to integrate research and give coherence to the construct, recognized that the definition has many facets. More recently, Kelloway and Barling (1991), in modeling mental health, identified job characteristics, stress, burnout, and job satisfaction as key factors that influenced mental health. While Canadian research in the past decade concentrated primarily on empirical work, it was guided conceptually and theoretically by earlier works rooted in the American and British literatures linking work and mental health (Caplan, Cohb, French, Harrison & Pinneau, 1975; Cooper & Payne, 1980; Kasl, 1974; Karasek, 1979; Kornhauser, 1965; Warr, 1987). For the purpose of this paper, mental health, much as its physical counterpart, is defined in the negative, as the absence of bothersome ailments of the mind. More specifically, we define work related mental health as a less than restive state of being despite the potential for anxiety, tension, stress, depression, somatic illness, and burnout brought about by negative work experiences.In our attempt to develop a framework for discussing mental health in the context of work, we looked at research by various Canadian groups who have been active in the area during the past decade and identified commonalities in their conceptualization of mental health. Julian Barling and his group looked at stress, mood, depression, and aspects of burnout in the context of work-related mental health (Barling & Kryl, 1990; Barling & MacIntyre, 1993; Bluen & Barling, 1987; Bluen, Barling & Burns, 1990; Kelloway & Barling, 1991; Stewart & Barling, 1996). …

A prospective study concerning psychological characteristics of patients with breast cancer.

In a prospective study we have investigated the question of predisposing and reactive personality traits in breast cancer patients. The design of the study incorporated a prebioptic collection of data by means of an interview and psychological test questionnaires (STAI, SVF, FPI, CIP-DS), as well as follow-up questioning after a one year interval. In comparison with operated women with benign biopsy findings no unequivocal indications of a personality type predisposed to cancer were found. Both patient groups showed a high preoperative potential for anxiety. The tendency to suppress emotions, trivialise and to display self-pity was particularly noticeable in patients with advanced tumours at the time of diagnosis. Even after the disease had run for one year, it was not possible to demonstrate a distinct characterisation of the breast cancer patients by psychological testing methods. An increased concern over health, an inclination towards resignation and social isolation and a diminished contentment with life marked the changes that could be measured by psychological tests in some of the women affected.