Category: Anxiety

In comparison, a ‘stress management’ actually increased stress, the researchers found.

Mindfulness meditation helps to decrease anxiety, according to the latest physiological evidence.

Meditation reduces the body’s inflammatory response as well as causing a striking reduction in levels of stress hormones, new research finds.

In comparison, people who took a stress management course actually saw an increased response to stress.

Dr Elizabeth A. Hoge, the study’s first author, said:

“Mindfulness meditation training is a relatively inexpensive and low-stigma treatment approach, and these findings strengthen the case that it can improve resilience to stress.”

The research included 89 people who had been diagnosed with generalised anxiety disorder.

Half were given an 8-week mindfulness meditation course, the other half a stress management course.

Because the courses were very similar in most respects, the participants were not aware what the researchers were hoping would work.

This helps reduce a well-known effect in psychological research called the ‘expectancy bias’.

This is the idea that when people expect to get better, they magically do.

It is akin to the placebo effect.

Before and after the two different courses, participants were given a stress test.

This involved giving a short speech to an audience.

Dr Hoge explained:

“We were testing the patients’ resilience, because that’s really the ultimate question—can we make people handle stress better?”

The researchers monitored key markers of the stress response in the blood.

They found that those who had taken the stress management course saw a slight rise in physiological stress levels in the second test.

In the meditation group, though, participants showed large drops in the stress response at the second test.

Not only that, but people reported feeling much less stressed after the meditation course.

The study was published in the journal Psychiatry Research (Hoge et al., 2016).

The amygdala is an area of the brain vital to the processing of the emotions.

Propranolol for anxiety is sometimes prescribed, but is it an effective treatment?

Propranolol — a type of beta blocker — has not been shown to be an effective treatment for anxiety.

The conclusions come from a recent review of the research.

Propranolol works by blocking the action of adrenaline.

The drug is mostly used to treat high blood pressure, but is now sometimes prescribed for anxiety.

Actors, public speakers and musicians in general are known to take them to cope with stage fright.

One study from the 1980s found that 27% of orchestra musicians admitted to taking beta blockers before performances to help their nerves (Fishbein et al., 1987).

Does propranolol for anxiety work?

In general, the evidence for its use in the treatment of anxiety disorders is poor.

The reason being that it only affects the physical symptoms for a short period.

It does not affect the psychological symptoms of anxiety.

In other words: it stops your heart beating fast, but does not reduce the rush of anxious thoughts through your brain.

People who regularly use beta blockers like propranolol for anxiety can find they become reliant on them.

The research on propranolol for anxiety

Propranolol for anxiety is often prescribed ‘off-label’, despite little evidence of its long-term effectiveness.

A recent review of the research concluded that there were few studies of its effectiveness and little evidence it helped in treating anxiety disorders.

The study’s authors concluded that:

“…the quality of evidence for the efficacy of propranolol at present is insufficient to support the routine use of propranolol in the treatment of any of the anxiety disorders.”

Research that has been done has tested propranolol for anxiety against benzodiazepines and placebos.

They found…

“…no statistical difference between the effects of propranolol and benzodiazepines on anxiety and panic attack frequency.

In addition, four […] trials failed to show solid evidence on the therapeutic effect of propranolol in patients with dental phobia, animal-type specific phobia, and social phobia.

No RCTs were available on the effects of propranolol in the treatment of any of other anxiety disorders (e.g. generalised anxiety disorder, obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), separation anxiety disorder, or selective mutism.”

The study was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology (Steenen et al., 2016).

→ Read more about PsyBlog’s anxiety ebook: “The Anxiety Plan: 42 Strategies For Worry, Phobias, OCD and Panic”

Psychotherapy for those experiencing anxiety works best at particular time of the day.

Psychotherapy works best in the morning, new research finds.

It is partly down to higher cortisol levels in the morning, the study suggests.

People in the study had agoraphobia and panic disorder.

Treatments for anxiety disorders often involve exposure to the phobic situation or object.

With exposure people can learn that their worst fears do not materialise.

Dr Meuret, a clinical psychologist and the study’s first author, said:

“For example, a patient may think that standing in an elevator could cause him or her to lose control or faint, suffocate, or may create physical symptoms that would be intolerable.

By having them stand in an elevator for a prolonged time, the patient learns that their feared outcome does not occur, despite high levels of anxiety.

We call this corrective learning.”

The results showed that people had more success overcoming their fears when tackled in the morning.

Dr Meuret said:

“The hormone cortisol is thought to facilitate fear extinction in certain therapeutic situations.

Drugs to enhance fear extinction are being investigated, but they can be difficult to administer and have yielded mixed results.

The findings of our study promote taking advantage of two simple and naturally occurring agents – our own cortisol and time of day.”

Cortisol levels are likely not the only factor.

Other ways to explain the effect include:

• sleep quality and quantity,
• natural circadian rhythms,
• memory and learning changes,
• and attentional control.

Dr Meuret said:

“Notably, higher cortisol was related to greater reductions in threat appraisal, perceived control and panic symptom severity at the next session, and that was the case over-and-above the effects of time-of-day, with large effect sizes.”

The study was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology (Meuret et al., 2016).

Greatest psychological and neurophysiological benefits seen from exercise with this attitude.

People gain the greatest psychological and neurophysiological benefit when they really believe in exercise, new research finds.

A positive attitude towards sport and exercise is a self-fulling prophecy, explained the study’s first author Mr Hendrik Mothes:

“The results demonstrate that our belief in how much we will benefit from physical activity has a considerable effect on our well-being in the manner of a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

For the study 76 people exercised for 30 minutes on a stationary bicycle.

All saw one of two videos beforehand.

The first praised the positive effects of cycling, the second did not.

The results showed that people who already had positive views of exercise enjoyed the exercise more, had lower anxiety afterwards and better mood.

The video that was positive about cycling had the same effect.

The researchers also made recordings of the electrical activity in the brain

These revealed that those with positive expectations about exercise or who had seen the video were more relaxed on a neuronal level.

Mr Mothes said:

“Beliefs and expectations could possibly have long-term consequences, for instance on our motivation to engage in sports.

They can be a determining factor on whether we can rouse ourselves to go jogging again next time or decide instead to stay at home on the couch.”

Appreciate what you already do

Beliefs are a powerful thing: consider a 2007 study on 84 hotel attendants (Crum et al., 2007).

Some were encouraged to appreciate how much exercise they were already doing as part of their job.

The rest were told nothing.

Incredibly, the average weight of those encouraged to appreciate the exercise they already did reduced from 145.5 lbs to 143.72 lbs.

Over the same period the rest showed no significant change.

That’s like dropping a bag of sugar. In four weeks. With no additional exercise.

Now that’s the power of the mind-body link right there, measured in pounds and ounces.

The new study was published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine (Mothes et al., 2016).

Image credit: marcovdz

Nature provides people ‘a sense of renewal’ which lowers anxiety, new research finds.

People who feel connected to nature have lower levels of anxiety, recent research finds.

Nature seems to provide people an escape from busy urban environments — a way to let their minds recover.

It may be that it is not even necessary to be in nature to get the benefit, as long as one feels connected to it.

For the research people were asked about what nature meant to them.

Here are six of the themes that emerged when people talked about what nature gave to them:

1. Relaxation

The authors explain:

“…nature induced relaxation and acted as a relief from stress.

Nature was also described as being responsible for feelings of peace and calm.

Some participants indicated that nature provided a sense of renewal, was re-grounding, and created feelings of fulfilment.”

2. Time out

The authors explain:

“…nature providing a sense of being away from the everyday, escape, and refuge.

Participants saw being in nature as being away from the urban environment and providing a sense of freedom.”

3. Enjoyment

People described how being in nature gave them a sense of enjoyment, joy, happiness and contentment.

4. Connection

More than pure enjoyment, though, being in nature gave people the sense of…

“…being connected to something larger and revolved around feeling immersed, being part of something bigger, at one with, or connecting with what was important.

Being connected to nature was occasionally spoken about in terms of being at one with the world which also had secondary benefits of feeling peaceful.”

5. Sensory engagement

A spiritual aspect was also important, the authors write:

“…nature was stimulating to the senses and was associated with ideas of beauty

This often included a spiritual aspect or a sense of the flawlessness of nature.

Nature allowed them to breathe fresh air, experience natural elements, such as sunshine, and find space to be alone.”

6. Healthy perspective

People reported that…

“…nature was responsible for wellbeing and positive health.

Those participants who mentioned the health benefits of nature considered that nature was very important to their everyday lives, their mental health, overall wellbeing, and fitness.”

The study was published in the Journal of Health Psychology (Martyn & Brymer, 2016).

People experiencing anxiety walk in this direction.

People experiencing anxiety tend to walk to the left, new research finds.

It results from more activity in the right-hand-side of the brain.

The conclusions come from a study in which people were blindfolded and asked to walk in a straight line.

The more inhibited and anxious people tended to veer to the left.

In comparison, people who experience more positive emotions tended to veer off to the right.

The more inhibited and anxious they were, the more people accidentally wandered to the left.

The more positive and approach-oriented, the more they accidentally wandered to the right.

The differences are thought to be due to how approach and avoidance mechanisms are organised in the brain.

Broadly speaking the left-hand-side of the brain is linked to the motivation to approach situations and people.

Since the left-hand-side of the brain is connected to the right-hand-side of the body, people with an approach motivation walk to the right.

The reverse is seen in those with inhibitory or anxious motivational processing.

The study was published in the journal Cognition (Weick et al., 2016).

Blindfolded image from Shutterstock