Anxiety Related Articles

Small children who grow up in a family where the mother has psychological distress, the family is exposed to stress or is lacking social support, are at higher risk of developing anxious and depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Girls are more vulnerable than boys, and very timid or short-tempered children are more vulnerable than others to develop emotional problems. This is shown in a new doctorate study from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).
Anxiety and depression are two of the most common mental problems for children and adolescents.
Contributing factors to the development of symptoms of anxiety and depression while growing up is the key focus in the doctorate project by Evalill Karevold at the NIPH.
10-20% of all children and young people will, in the course of growing up, display enough symptoms of anxiety and depression to qualify for a diagnosis.
Environmental factors play an important role
Karevold has followed more than 900 families from when the children were 18 months old through to adolescence (data from the NIPH’s TOPP-study). The findings are based on maternal and child report of the child’s symptoms of anxiety and depression, plus reports from the mother about risk and protective factors in the family environment.
Generic lasix pills no prescription A main finding highlights the importance of environmental factors for families with children less than 5 years of age. Maternal distress symptoms, family stress and lack of social support in their children’s growing-up environment in pre-school age leads to an increase in anxiety and depression symptoms when these children reach 12-13 years old.
In addition, the results show that girls are more likely to develop emotional problems at 12-13 years of age than boys.
"Research indicates that girls tend to churn over problems and events more than boys. In addition, early puberty in girls is thought to make them extra vulnerable to developing depressive symptoms," says Evalill Karevold.
Timid children have a greater risk for anxiety and depression
Another discovery shows that shy children generally have a higher risk of developing anxiety and depression than children who are not shy. If timid boys are also very inactive, the risk of developing emotional difficulties is almost three times as high compared with shy boys with a high level of activity. This does not seem to be the case for girls.
The results indicate that there can be two central developmental paths to emotional problems in early adolescence. One path goes through the child’s temperament, especially temperamental emotionality (tendency to react quickly and intensely). A different course goes through the environmental factors that are present when the children are at pre-school age.
"It is important to be aware of families who are struggling with multiple burdens, and who have little support or network around them when the children are young. Having pre-school aged children is believed to be a particularly vulnerable period to be exposed to maternal symptoms, so it is especially important to identify and help mothers who are struggling with anxiety and depression as early as possible. Health clinics can play a central role in spotting families who are struggling, and a lot more emphasis should be made to build up mental health expertise here," says Karevold.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Media contact
Norwegian Institute of Public Health
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New research from the US suggests that women who are stressed during pregnancy, for example struggling with financial or relationship issues,
are more likely to have babies with immune-related problems such as allergies and asthma.
The research is the work of
scientists from Harvard Medical School, Boston, and other colleagues, and was presented at a recent meeting of the
American Thoracic Society in Toronto, Canada, on Sunday.
Animal studies have already shown that the immune system of offspring is more sensitive to allergens when mothers are stressed when
pregnant.
In this study on human subjects, the researchers said their results suggested the same is probably true of humans: the stress experienced by a
pregnant mother may translate into long term health problems for her child.
Co-author Dr Rosalind Wright, of Harvard Medical School said in a prepared statement reported by Reuters that:
"This research adds to a growing body of evidence that links maternal stress such as that precipitated by financial problems or relationship issues to
changes in children’s developing immune systems, even during pregnancy."
According to the Washington Post, Wright, who is also an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical
School, added that:
"Moms who had elevated levels of stress had children who seemed to be more reactive to allergens, even when exposed to low levels of
allergens."
Dr Junette Peters, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard Medical School, said perhaps stress made women more susceptible to allergens by
making their "cells more permeable", and they pass this on to their offspring.
To carry out their study, Wright, Peters and colleagues examined the IgE level of umbilical cord blood taken during the birth of 387 babies in
Boston.
Buy generic lasix IgE stands for immunoglobulin E, an antibody that indicates how sensitive the immune system is to allergens such as dust mites.
The mothers completed surveys about their stress exposure in different areas. Financial pressure, home pressure, safety in the community,
problems in relationships, and medical issues, were the most frequently mentioned, said the Washington Post. The dust mite levels in their homes
was also assessed.
The researchers found that the mothers who were under the most stress (measured in terms of the number of problem domains reported) while
pregnant gave birth to babies with high levels of IgE in their cord blood, even though the level of dust mites in their home environment was
low.
This suggested that the stress of the mother was contributing to the higher IgE sensitivity of the baby. This relationship was still significant after the
researchers took into account the mother’s class, race, education and smoking history, reported Reuters.
Wright said it was as though stress itself acted like a social pollutant that influenced the body’s immune response.
The results from this study seem to reinforce the findings from Dr Andrea Danese and colleagues at the University of London, who found adults who
were treated badly in childhood, for instance they had been rejected by their mothers or sexually abused, had twice the levels of inflammation
markers like C-reactive protein and fibrinogen in their blood compared to those that had not. Such inflammatory markers can increase a person’s risk
of developing diabetes and heart disease.
Danese presented his research results at a conference in Chicago last week, said Reuters, who reported his comments:
"Stress in childhood may modify developmental trajectories and have a long-term effect on disease risk," said Danese, who suggested that being
mistreated as a child could reduce an adult’s ability to respond to stress by reducing the action of glucocorticoid inflammation inhibitors, which can
result in depresson and other mental illnesses.
Sources: Reuters, Washington Post.
Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
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Moving house or the separation of parents can significantly increase the risk of children developing allergies later on. These are the results from a long-term study correlating life-style, immune system development and allergies, led by the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen and the "Institut f??r Umweltmedizinische Forschung" (IUF) in Duesseldorf. Generic ultram pills no prescription The researchers had examined blood samples taken from 234 six-year old children and discovered increased blood concentrations of the stress-related peptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) in connection with moving house or the separation of parents. The neuropeptide VIP could take on a mediator role between stress events in life and the regulation of immune responses, researchers write in the scientific journal Pediatric Allergy and Immunology. The fact that stress events can have an influence on the development of allergies has been known for a while. The mechanisms behind this however remained unexplained for a long time. In the study that has now been published, stress events were investigated for the first time during early childhood within a large epidemiological study using immune and stress markers.
Stress events during childhood are increasingly suspected of playing a role in the later development of asthma, allergic skin disorders, or allergic sensitisations. Dramatic life events like the death of a family member, serious illnesses of a family member or the separation of parents, but also harmless events like for example moving house are suspected of increasing the risk of allergies for the children affected. The immune system obviously plays a mediator role between stress on the one hand and allergies on the other. Since these mechanisms had hardly been understood before, researchers attempted to identify stress-related factors showing an influence on the immune system, in the context of an epidemiological study (LISA). At the same time as the blood tests, researchers together with colleagues from the Institute for Social Medicine at the University of L??beck also analysed the most diverse social factors in the children’s environment, in order to find out which factors are causing stress-related regulation deficiencies of the immune system. With children, whose parents had separated over the last year, researchers found increased blood concentrations of the neuropeptide VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) as well as an increased concentration of immune markers, which are related to the occurrence of allergic reactions, like for example the cytokine IL-4. By comparison, serious diseases or the death of close relatives led to no remarkable changes. Likewise, the unemployment of parents was not associated with increased concentrations of the stress-related peptides in the children’s blood. As tragic as these events are, they are obviously however of less significance for the stress reactions of children than for example a separation or the divorce of parents, UFZ researchers have concluded. As was already shown in an earlier publication from the same study, increased concentrations of the stress peptide VIP can also be proven in the blood of children after moving house (similar to the separation of parents). Preceding investigations in LISA showed that there is a relationship between an increased concentration of the neuropeptide VIP and allergic sensitisations among six-year old children. Even if the results were to be interpreted carefully, because of the comparatively small number of children affected, they nevertheless provide valuable indications as to what exactly happens to the body through stress.
The investigations are based on data from 6-year old children from the LISA study. LISA stands for "Lifestyle - Immune System - Allergy" and investigates the influences of life-styles on the immune system development in early childhood and the emergence of allergies. In addition to the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig (UFZ), the Helmholtz Zentrum M??nchen, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, and the "Institut f??r Umweltmedizinische Forschung" (IUF) in Duesseldorf, other universities and clinics are also participating partners, including the Municipal Hospital "St. Georg" in Leipzig. For the LISA study over 3000 newborn children in the cities of Munich, Leipzig, Wesel and Bad Honnef were recruited between the end of 1997 and the beginning of 1999. Parents were repeatedly asked about various lifestyle-reloated factors and disease outcomes. Furthermore, blood tests were carried out at different times. At the age of six a total of 565 children were examined in Leipzig, and for 234 participants, blood analyses regarding stress and immune parameters were carried out. Over the course of the 6-year study nearly one third of the families living in Leipzig were affected by unemployment. For approximately half of all families, severe illnesses were experienced by close family members. By comparison, cases of death among family members or the separation of parents only affected every sixth or tenth child.
HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH - UFZ
Permoserstra??e 15
D-04318 Leipzig

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For many residents of Lower Manhattan, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, had lasting psychological consequences. New findings, released by the Health Department’s World Trade Center Health Registry, show that one in eight Lower Manhattan residents likely had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) two to three years after the attacks. The findings show that Lower Manhattan residents developed PTSD at three times the usual rate in the years following 9/11. The rate among residents (12.6%) matched the rate previously reported among rescue and recovery workers (12.4%). Residents who were injured during the attacks were the most likely to develop PTSD. The new study, published online in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, is available online at
The new study - based on surveys of 11,000 residents through the World Trade Center Health Registry - is the first to measure the attack’s long-term effect on the mental health of community members. Buy cipro without prescription Aside from injured residents - 38% of whom developed symptoms of PTSD - the most affected groups were those who witnessed violent deaths and those caught in the dust cloud after the towers collapsed. Roughly 17% suffered PTSD in each of those groups. The symptoms most commonly reported were hyper-vigilance, nightmares and emotional reactions to reminders of 9/11.
Divorced residents reported symptoms at twice the rate of those who were married - possibly because they received less emotional support. Women were affected at a higher rate than men (15% versus 10%), a disparity documented in other disasters. And black and Hispanic residents reported more symptoms than whites. Low levels of education and income also increased people’s risk of PTSD.
Lower Manhattan Residents with PTSD in 2003-2004
All: 12.6%
Men: 10.1%
Women: 14.6%
White: 10.7%
African American: 20.6%
Hispanic: 24.7%
Asian: 8.9%
Earn $50,000 to $74,999: 11.3%
Earn less than $25,000: 19.8%
Less than high school diploma: 18.3%
College graduate: 11.1%
Married: 9.5%
Divorced: 21.5%
"These findings confirm that the experience of 9/11 had lasting consequences for many of those affected by it," said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner. "Any New Yorker who is still struggling with fear, anxiety, depression or substance use should seek treatment. Please call 311 if you need help finding treatment, or paying for it. Help is available."
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Mental Health Treatment Options
In April, the Health Department announced a benefit program specifically for people experiencing mental health or substance-use problems related to 9/11. The Health Department will reimburse out-of-pocket costs for mental health or substance-use treatment through a claims process similar to any insurance benefit. In addition, free mental health services are available through the World Trade Centers of Excellence. New York City residents, and city workers in surrounding areas, can check their eligibility by visiting
About PTSD
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that stems from experiences involving intense fear, horror or hopelessness. People who develop the condition may become emotionally numb or hyper-alert. Many relive their trauma when reminded of it, and their lives are diminished by their efforts to avoid reminders. Many people recover with counseling or medication, but PTSD can lead to family problems, work problems and substance abuse.
Research at the World Trade Center Health Registry
The Health Department is now analyzing results from a follow-up survey conducted six years after the 9/11 attacks. New findings on the health status of registrants will be released in coming months. Research findings from the Registry’s first survey are available online at
The World Trade Center Health Registry, the largest public health registry in U.S. history, was launched in 2003 to track the health of people exposed to the collapse of the World Trade Center and those who worked at the WTC site. The registry is a collaborative effort involving the Health Department and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), with funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Source: Sara Markt
New York City Health Department
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"The blood froze in my veins" or "My blood curdled" - these common figures of speech can be taken literally, according to the latest studies. Indeed, more literally than some of us would like. For it turns out that intense fear and panic attacks can really make our blood clot and increase the risk of thrombosis or heart attack.
Earlier studies showed that stress and anxiety can influence coagulation. However, they were based almost entirely on questionnaire surveys of healthy subjects. In contrast, the Bonn-based research team around Franziska Geiser (from the Clinic and Policlinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy) and Ursula Harbrecht (from the Institute of Experimental Haematology and Transfusion Medicine) have been the first to conduct a very careful examination of coagulation in patients with anxiety disorders.
Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time - fear of failing the math’s test, dread of going down into the dark cellar or, in a more general sense, trepidation about what the future holds. But some people are gripped by powerful fears when confronted by quite normal everyday situations. For example, sufferers of agoraphobia frequently have panic attacks when caught up in a crowd. The symptoms can be dramatic: palpitations, sweating, shaking, blind panic or fainting - even leading to death. Another anxiety disorder frequently encountered can be described as social phobia. Those affected fear above all situations in which they become the centre of attention in a group. They begin to stutter or turn red. In order not to avoid embarrassment, social phobia sufferers may become recluses, shying away from human contact and staying at home.
The medical researchers in Bonn compared patients who suffer from a severe form of panic disorder or a social phobia with a healthy control group. In order to rule out as far as possible the influence of factors like age and sex, each of the 31 patients with anxiety disorders was matched with a corresponding healthy patient of the same age and sex. The subjects first had to give blood samples and were asked to perform a number of tests on the computer. A second blood sample was then taken. The blood analysis, which measured various coagulation factors, produced a clear result: The group of anxiety patients showed a much more highly activated coagulation system than the healthy control group.
In the coagulation system two mechanisms operate that are indispensable to life and normally work in opposite directions, each counterbalancing the other. On the one hand, coagulation involves a thickening of the blood so that a plug can form and prevent excessive bleeding from damaged vessels. On the other hand, there is "fibrinolysis", a process that keeps the blood fluid and breaks down clots. In the case of the anxiety-disorder patients, however, the researchers observed through close analysis of the blood an activation of coagulation accompanied by an inhibition of fibrinolysis. Yet, apart from the prick for blood sampling, no real injury had occurred. For these types of patients, the coagulation system goes out of balance as the coagulation tendency rises - possibly with dangerous consequences. In extreme cases the imbalance can lead to blockage of a coronary artery.
The increased coagulation tendency could, says Franziska Geiser, be the "missing link" that explains why anxiety patients have a statistically higher risk of dying from heart disease by a factor of 3 or 4. "Buy amoxil without prescription Of course, this doesn’t mean that every patient with a marked anxiety disorder must now worry about having a heart attack. The coagulation values we measured were always within the physiological scale, which means there is no acute danger," adds the project leader. A real health threat only arises when other risk factors, like smoking and obesity, also come into the equation.
Franziska Geiser also has some good news for people with anxiety disorders. A follow-up study has produced the first evidence that coagulation activation subsides in patients who have completed successful therapy for their condition. In this respect, Dr. Geiser calls for earlier diagnosis of anxiety disorders, pointing out that too much time is wasted before effective psychotherapy is prescribed. "After all, we have programmes to help the population give up smoking or take more exercise. But if we want to reduce the number of heart disorders, it would make sense to improve the way anxiety disorders are diagnosed and treated."
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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This release is available in German.
Source: Dr. Franziska Geiser
University of Bonn
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