It’s not a virus! Reconceptualizing and de-pathologizing music performance anxiety

Leave a Comment / anxiety, Anxiety News, Performance Anxiety / Stage Fright /

Music Performance Anxiety (MPA) is one of the most widespread and debilitating challenges facing musicians, affecting significant numbers of performers in terms of both their personal and professional functioning. Although numerous interventions exist to target MPA, its prevalence remains unchanged since the first large-scale studies of the 1980s, indicating that available interventions are having limited impact. This review synthesizes and critiques existing literature in order to investigate possible reasons for the limited efficacy of current approaches to managing MPA. Key concepts discussed include conceptual and methodological challenges surrounding defining MPA, theoretical perspectives on MPA’s etiology and manifestation, and the coping strategies and interventions used to manage MPA. MPA has predominantly been investigated pathologically and defined as a negative construct manifesting in unwanted symptoms. Based on this conceptualization, interventions largely seek to manage MPA through ameliorating symptoms. This review discusses possible reasons why this approach has broadly not proved successful, including the issue of relaxation being both unrealistic and counterproductive for peak performance, issues associated with intentionally changing one’s state creating resistance thus exacerbating anxiety, and focusing on the presence of, rather than response to, symptoms. Despite 50 years of research, MPA remains an unsolved enigma and continues to adversely impact musicians both on and off the stage. Reconceptualizing MPA as a normal and adaptive response to the pressures of performance may offer a new perspective on it, in terms of its definition, assessment and management, with practical as well as theoretical implications.

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Transdiagnostic treatment of depression and anxiety: a meta-analysis

Leave a Comment / anxiety, Anxiety Research, CBT Research, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), depression, Depression Research, psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, Psychotherapy Research, Psychotherapy Research, Psychotherapy Research, research /

BackgroundIn the past 10 years an increasing number of randomised trials have examined the effects of transdiagnostic treatments of patients with depression or anxiety. We conducted the first comprehensive meta-analysis of the outcomes of this emerging field.MethodsWe used the searches in PubMed, PsychINFO, Embase and the Cochrane library of an existing database of randomised trials of psychological interventions for depression to identify studies comparing a transdiagnostic treatment of patients with depression or anxiety with a control group (deadline 1 January 2022). We conducted random-effects meta-analyses and examined the effects on depression and anxiety at the short and longer term.ResultsWe included 45 randomised controlled trials with 51 comparisons between a psychotherapy and a control group and 5530 participants. Thirty-five (78%) studies were conducted in the last 10 years. The overall effect size was g = 0.54 (95% CI 0.40–0.69; NNT = 5.87), with high heterogeneity (I2 = 78; 95% CI 71–83), and a broad PI (−0.31–1.39). The effects remained significant in a series of sensitivity analyses, including exclusion of outliers, adjustment for publication bias, for studies with low risk of bias, and in multilevel analyses. The results were comparable for depression and anxiety separately. At 6 months after randomisation the main effects were still significant, but not at 12 months, although the number of studies was small.ConclusionsTransdiagnostic treatments of patients with depression or anxiety are increasingly examined and are probably effective at the short term.

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Contributions of modifiable risk factors to increased dementia risk in depression

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BackgroundIndividuals with depression have an increased dementia risk, which might be due to modifiable risk factors for dementia. This study investigated the extent to which the increased risk for dementia in depression is explained by modifiable dementia risk factors.MethodsWe used data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (2008–2009 to 2018–2019), a prospective cohort study. A total of 7460 individuals were included [mean(standard deviation) age, 65.7 ± 9.4 years; 3915(54.7%) were women]. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-8 (score ≥3) or self-reported doctor’s diagnosis. Ten modifiable risk factors for dementia were combined in the ‘LIfestyle for BRAin health’ (LIBRA) score. Dementia was determined by physician diagnosis, self-reported Alzheimer’s disease or the shortened version of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (average score ≥3.38). Structural equation modelling was used to test mediation of LIBRA score.ResultsDuring 61 311 person-years, 306 individuals (4.1%) developed dementia. Participants aged 50–70 years with depressive symptoms had higher LIBRA scores [difference(s.e.) = 1.15(0.10)] and a 3.59 times increased dementia risk [HR(95% CI) = 3.59(2.20–5.84)], adjusted for age, sex, education, wealth and clustering at the household level. In total, 10.4% of the dementia risk was mediated by differences in LIBRA score [indirect effect: HR = 1.14(1.03–1.26)], while 89.6% was attributed to a direct effect of depressive symptoms on dementia risk [direct effect: HR = 3.14(2.20–5.84)].ConclusionsModifiable dementia risk factors can be important targets for the prevention of dementia in individuals with depressive symptoms during midlife. Yet, effect sizes are small and other aetiological pathways likely exist.

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Adolescent use of the Internet and symptoms of depression and anxiety

Leave a Comment / Alienation and Anxiety, anxiety, Anxiety and Social Media, Anxiety in Young People / Adolescents, Anxiety Research, Depression and the Internet / Social Media, Depression Public Health, internet / digital living /

BackgroundThe extent to which digital media use by adolescents contributes to poor mental health, or vice-versa, remains unclear. The purpose of the present study is to clarify the strength and direction of associations between adolescent internet use and the development of depression symptoms using a longitudinal modeling approach. We also examine whether associations differ for boys and girls.MethodsData are drawn from (N = 1547) participants followed for the Quebec longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD 1998–2020). Youth self-reported internet use in terms of the average hours of use per week at the ages of 13, 15, and 17. Youth also self-reported depression symptoms at the same ages.ResultsAfter testing sex-invariance, random intercepts cross-lagged panel models stratified by sex, revealed that internet use by girls was associated with significant within-person (time-varying) change in depression symptoms. Girl’s internet use at age 13 was associated with increased depression symptoms at age 15 (ß = 0.12) and internet use at age 15 increased depression at age 17 (ß = 0.10). For boys, internet use was not associated with significant time varying change in depression symptoms.ConclusionsThe present findings support the hypothesis that internet use by adolescents can represent a significant risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms, particularly in girls.

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Depression, anxiety common among college students

Leave a Comment / anxiety, Anxiety and Ethnicity / Race, Anxiety in Young People / Adolescents, Anxiety News, Anxiety Research, depression, Depression and Ethnicity / Race, Depression in Young People / Adolescents, Depression Research /

Depression and anxiety among college students is a growing public health problem. And new research suggests the problem may be worse for students who aren’t the same race as most of their peers. The new study found that students who were not the majority race at a predominantly white college reported significantly higher rates of depression than their white peers. At the mostly white university, more than half of the students who self-identified as races other than white reported feelings of mild depression. An additional 17% said they were experiencing moderate to severe depression.

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Anti-aging-obsessed tech mogul Bryan Johnson used to eat trays of brownies while battling ‘chronic depression’

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Bryan Johnson — the 45-year-old who bio-hacks his body with a strict vegan diet, exercise regimen and blood plasma transfusions — said that in his 30s, he would wolf down trays of brownies to cope with stress.

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