Category Archives: Anxiety

Updates on Anxiety in the News

First, under the category of ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me,’ the Chicago Tribune reports that “The conclusion in recently released Justice Department memos that CIA interrogation techniques would not cause prolonged mental harm…”  Torture does not cause prolonged mental harm.  This definitely is one of the things that makes me go hmmm…. For the whole

The Emotional Costs of the Economy

NPR had a nice piece on the emotional impact of the economic recession. From resilience to panic to suicide attempts, NPR covers it all. You can read it here: Economic Crisis, Unemployment Take Emotional Toll. Or you can listen to it here.

Recent Anxiety Research and News

Washington University’s newspaper reports on a study of social phobia among college students. One of its findings is that unstructured discussion of past upsetting events raises the distress level for some people. On the other hand, when the interview was structured, the “subjects’ moods did not worsen.” The NIH is promoting meditation, yoga, tai chi

No One Knowingly Errs

In the very first post on this blog, I wrote: "Actions based on anxiety are often regrettable." That may be true, but someone experiencing intense anxiety or a panic attack feels under great pressure to do something, anything to relieve the anxiety and improve their situation. Nevertheless, actions born from anxiety often have poor or

Reasons to Stop Worrying

The New York Times’ article Dementia More Likely in Some Isolated and Inactive Seniors, Study Finds provides good reasons to get treatment for anxiety and to be active. “Past studies consistently have shown that worriers -who get stressed easily and are prone to anxiety and depression – are more likely to develop dementia later in

Standardized Tests For Anxiety

This post is a quick link to information from guardian.co.uk, a well regarded British newspaper. They provide the questions and rating scales for the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. These rating scales are widely used in the profession. You can view them at