Lifeline Anxiety Disorder Newsletter

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August 24th - Here's something to help anxious children as the new school year looms.. The Anxiety-Free Child Program from Rich Presta was born from his own experience of extreme and debilitating anxiety as a child which, because it was never treated effectively, stayed with him until well into adulthood. Now anxiety-free, he has made it his life’s mission to share all that he learned about how to overcome anxiety, worry and fear. He has developed programs which have been used successfully around the world and have been showcased in Psychology Today and Natural Health magazines, the Discovery Health channel, etc. His new Anxiety-Free Child Program is designed exclusively for use with children, is comprehensive and includes tools specifically to help them to free themselves from anxiety and replace it with feelings of confidence, security, and comfort. Several formats are available including a downloadable one.

August 21st - Be available to your anxious child and keep the communications lines open. This is the best advice that can be given to the thousands of parents who are wondering how to deal with children exhibiting symptoms of anxiety about going back to school. Avoid saying "Don't worry" - it belittles the child's fear. Instead, create coping resources such as giving them control over such things as picking out clothes and packing lunches. If the school is accommodating find out where lockers and classrooms are in advance. Encourage children to renew friendships from last year before the first day of school. The more familiar the child becomes with the new environment, the easier it will be for them to cope with their anxiety.

August 14th - Researchers hope to use data on identified overactive brain regions in anxious monkeys to find the genes that predispose people to anxiety disorders. This will provide a target for drug therapy and help to identify children who are at risk due to a family history of depression and anxiety. University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have published the results of largest non-human primate neuroimaging study to date in the journal Nature. The sample of 238 young monkeys from a single family has provided researchers statistical significance of the two brain regions in studying the disorder. While it is generally accepted that anxious behaviour is associated with activity in the amygdala and hippocampus, the study shows that the hippocampus and the amygdala predict anxiety in the monkey equally. The difference is the heritability component - the hippocampus, traditionally thought to be mostly involved with memory, proves to be the region that was most affected by genes. Identifying which brain regions have an inherited component that contribute to specific disease development allows researchers to look for genes that are active specifically in that region, in this case, for those that have to do with hippocampal function.

August 9th - A survey taken in the UK suggests that the stigma attached to psychotherapy is disappearing. Almost one person in five proved to have consulted a counsellor or psychotherapist and almost half the population know someone who has. The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy says that attitudes towards counselling and psychotherapy have changed markedly since a comparable investigation was undertaken in 2004. The new survey showed that 94% of people consider it acceptable to have counselling and psychotherapy for anxiety and depression. This compares to just 67% in 2004. Public acceptability of therapy for divorce or relationship breakdown has risen from 52% to 85% in the same time. More than nine out of 10 believe that it is "more acceptable to talk about emotional problems than it was in the past". 95% believe that "it is a good idea to seek counselling or psychotherapy for a problem before it gets out of hand", and 88% thought that "people might be happier if they took action to talk to a counsellor or psychotherapist about their problems". The survey of 1,400 adults also found that 83% believe it is better to talk to someone about their problems than to take medication but, unfortunately, people face long waits for therapy.

A&E's Obsessed tonight features a family stricken with agoraphobia. Al has been virtually homebound for 30 years, Tammy is afraid of leaving her 20-mile safe zone and for Jodi can't go over a bridge she needs to cross to get desperately needed medical care for her son. Find out if Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help them get control of their lives.

August 6th - People who experience mental disorders, including anxiety disorders, phobias, depression and drug and alcohol dependence, during the early adult years are, by age thirty, less likely to be in paid employment, are more likely to be working part time, more likely to be receiving welfare and earn less money than people who have not according to New Zealand researchers. The Christchurch Health and Development Study found that half of the 950 participants had experienced at least one psychiatric disorder between the ages of 18 and 25 and, of these, more than half had experienced two or more episodes - among these the negative life are thae most concerning, there being a four times higher likelihood of welfare dependence as compared to people without mental health problems. This was apparent across all mental illnesses.

August 1st - Men and women are prone to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at different stages of life according to a study from the University of Southern Denmark and Odense University Hospital, Denmark. The 6,548 participant research showed that men are most vulnerable between the ages of 41 to 45 and women at age 51 through 55. Incidence seems to be more common in women than in men. The researchers feel that it is probable that because people have larger life spans than their previous generations, they go through more negative experiences that make them more vulnerable relatively later in life than expected but have no explanation as to why the vulnerability peak of the same disorder in men and women is at different ages which are a decade apart.

A clinical trial, being run, in Australia, jointly by Macquarie University and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, will test two treatments to help reduce drinking and anxiety. Adults who experience social anxiety and drink alcohol to cope are encouraged to take part. The treatment is a combined, integrated approach to both problems whereby participants will develop a range of practical, commonsense strategies to help manage anxiety and control their drinking. Participants will get 10 individual cognitive behavioural therapy sessions at no cost so, if you're aged 18 and over, have social phobia and drink alcohol to cope with anxiety and live in the Sydney area, more information on the study at www.psy.mq.edu.au/casp/.