anxiety

Psychological distress before COVID-19 infection increases risk of long COVID

Depression, anxiety, worry, perceived stress, and loneliness measured early in the pandemic, before infection with COVID-19, were associated with up to 45% increased risk of developing long COVID. Distress was more strongly associated with developing long COVID than physical health risk factors such as obesity, asthma, and hypertension. The increased risk associated with distress was not explained by health behaviors, such as smoking, or by physical health conditions, like asthma.

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Children too anxious to attend school being failed by English councils – report

Ombudsman says children are going months and even years without proper alternative educationCouncils are failing to put adequate alternative education in place for the growing numbers of children in England who are unable to attend school because of social anxiety, according to a report by the local government ombudsman.Many have complex special educational needs and are unable to go to school because there are no suitable places available in their area, meaning they can go months and even years without any proper alternative arrangements, the report said. Continue reading…

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Dealing with Health Anxiety

Recent years have seen a dramatic rise in the number of people suffering from health anxiety. In this article in the British newspaper The Guardian, Annalisa Barbieri discusses how she dealt with her hypochondria. For the article, please click on the following link: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/aug/07/how-i-learned-to-tame-my-hypochondria For articles regarding health anxiety on this site, you may be

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The people making a difference: the man who set up a mental health walking group for ‘blokes’

After bottling up his own anxieties for a decade, Scott Oughton-Johnson created a group for other men who’ve felt the same. Now it’s his turn to be treatedScott Oughton-Johnson simply did not talk about his feelings. Not when he separated from the mother of his children a decade ago, and not during their subsequent custody battle.“I was in and out of court for the best part of 10 years,” says the 35-year-old community sports coach from south London. “It was a nightmare. I bottled it all up. People would say, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’ But inside, it was terrible. The stress and anxiety were killing me.” Continue reading…

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Panic 101: what to do during a panic attack – and how to prevent them

A sudden episode of intense fear leaves sufferers feeling debilitated and out of control. Practical steps can help to regain calm and avoid future attacksPanic is like a runaway train. A form of acute anxiety that quickly spirals out of control. As a psychiatrist, I try to help prevent anxiety from escalating into panic in the first place. There is so much we can do – from getting plenty of sleep to daily breathing exercises, to keeping blood sugar stable – to decrease overall anxiety and eliminate unnecessary stress responses that might otherwise drop us into a state of panic. But sometimes our anxiety passes the point of no return and we find ourselves in a full-blown panic attack – a sudden episode of intense fear, accompanied by physical reactions such as rapid heart rate and shortness of breath.A panic attack is essentially a discrete stress response in the body with no real danger or apparent cause. In a survey of over 3,000 urban residents across the UK, more than half stated that they’d had at least one panic attack in their life, with 14% experiencing them at least once a month. Continue reading…

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Therapy v medication? How to choose the best treatment for anxiety

Medication is often prescribed as a quick-fix but therapy can be more helpful in the long-run, if accessible. Here’s how to work out what is best for youSince the beginning of the pandemic, there has been a soaring demand for mental health services, with an estimated 1.6 million people in England waiting for specialised support, and another 8 million who would benefit but whose deterioration in mental health is not considered serious enough to even get on the waiting list. Anxiety rates have been recorded as rising significantly between 2008 (the year of the financial crash) and 2018, with increases in all age groups under 55, but trebling in young adults.The number of prescriptions issued for anti-anxiety medication has also been rising. Earlier this year, research was published showing that between 2003 and 2008 the use of drugs to treat anxiety was steady, but by 2018 it had risen considerably. During that earlier period, new anti-anxiety prescriptions rose from 25 or 26 per 1,000 person years at risk – a measure of the prevalence of anxiety – to 43.6 in 2018. Nearly twice the number of women are being prescribed medication as men. Continue reading…

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