Publications - Anxiety Disorders

Teens and parents have wildly different views on kids’ support needs, by Erin Blakemore, The Washington Post, Jul 20 2024.

“Adolescents and teens are less than half as likely as their parents to say they always receive the emotional and social support they need, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report suggests, with less than 30 percent of young people in a survey reporting that they always have such support. The analysis, released last week, draws on data gathered by the National Health Interview Survey, which queries a representative sample of U.S. residents. Nearly 1,200 adolescents ages 12-17 and some 4,400 parents were interviewed between July 2021 and December 2022. When teens were asked how often they get the social and emotional support they need, 27.5 percent said “always,” 31 percent said “usually,” 12.5 percent said “rarely” and 7.4 percent said “never.” But 76.9 percent of parents said their teenage children always have the support they need. The disconnect might reflect survey differences, parents’ unwillingness to answer sensitive questions negatively for an interviewer or differing ideas of what social and emotional support means, the researchers write. Overall, boys were likelier to report higher levels of perceived support, and teens under 15 were more likely to say they always or usually got such support than older teens. Black and Hispanic teens were less likely than their White counterparts to say they had enough support. Sexual- or gender-minority teens also reported getting less support than their counterparts. Teens whose parents had a bachelor’s degree or higher and whose families had higher incomes were likelier to report they always or usually get enough support. So were teenagers who live in nonmetropolitan areas and the Northeast. The teens who said they had enough support were less likely to have health problems, depression and low sleep quality than their peers with less support, the researchers write. ”

The Youngest Pandemic Children Are Now in School, and Struggling, by Claire Cain Miller and Sarah Mervosh, The New York Times, Jul 1 2024.

“The pandemic’s babies, toddlers and preschoolers are now school-age, and the impact on them is becoming increasingly clear: Many are showing signs of being academically and developmentally behind. Interviews with more than two dozen teachers, pediatricians and early childhood experts depicted a generation less likely to have age-appropriate skills — to be able to hold a pencil, communicate their needs, identify shapes and letters, manage their emotions or solve problems with peers. A variety of scientific evidence has also found that the pandemic seems to have affected some young children’s early development. Boys were more affected than girls, studies have found. ”

Study suggests connection between anxiety and Parkinson’s disease, by Erin Blakemore, The Washington Post, Jun 30 2024.

“People over 50 with anxiety may be up to twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease as their peers without anxiety, a new analysis suggests. The study, published in the British Journal of General Practice, looked at primary care data from the United Kingdom. Researchers compared a group of 109,435 people 50 and older who were diagnosed with a first episode of anxiety between 2008 and 2018 with a control group of 987,691 people without anxiety. Researchers said, of those in the study, 331 patients with an anxiety diagnosis developed Parkinson’s disease over the decade, and the average patient who developed the disease did so 4.9 years after their first anxiety diagnosis. After adjusting for age, lifestyle factors, mental illness and other factors, people with anxiety were still twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those without an anxiety diagnosis. Those who developed the disease were also likelier to be male and in higher socioeconomic groups. ”

Lie down, sit still, take a break: Your brain needs a rest, by Jamie Friedlander Serrano, The Washington Post, Jun 29 2024.

“Downtime is a necessary part of life. Science shows it helps us to be healthier, more focused, more productive and more creative. Yet, somehow, we often lose sight of this. “Downtime is important for our health and our body, but also for our minds,” says Elissa Epel, a professor in the psychiatry department at the School of Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. Epel and others acknowledge that many of us feel as though we’re wasting time if we aren’t getting things done, but research points to the costs of always being “on” and the importance of giving our brains a break. Our brains aren’t built to handle constant activity. ”

The Loneliness Curve: New research suggests people tend to be lonelier in young adulthood and late life. But experts say it doesn’t have to be that way., by Christina Caron, The New York Times, May 6 2024.

“When Surgeon General Vivek Murthy went on a nationwide college tour last fall, he started to hear the same kind of question time and again: How are we supposed to connect with one another when nobody talks anymore? In an age when participation in community organizations, clubs and religious groups has declined, and more social interaction is happening online instead of in person, some young people are reporting levels of loneliness that, in past decades, were typically associated with older adults. It’s one of the many reasons loneliness has become a problem at both the beginning and end of our life span. In a study published last Tuesday in the journal Psychological Science, researchers found that loneliness follows a U-shaped curve: Starting from young adulthood, self-reported loneliness tends to decline as people approach midlife only to rise again after the age of 60, becoming especially pronounced by around age 80. ”

How to give kids autonomy? 'Anxious Generation' author says a license to roam helps, by Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR, Apr 14 2024.

“American kids are being walloped by a hurtful combination, says social psychologist Jonathan Haidt: too much screen time and too little autonomy. In his new book, The Anxious Generation, Haidt argues that these two key factors have combined to cause the mental health crisis now facing America's teenagers. A study by the health policy research organization KFF shows that 1 in 5 adolescents reports symptoms of anxiety and depression. Haidt's book offers a series of recommendations for flipping both of these factors around. ”

​Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere, by Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris, The New York Times, Mar 29 2024.

“In the four years since the pandemic closed schools, U.S. education has struggled to recover on a number of fronts, from learning loss, to enrollment, to student behavior. But perhaps no issue has been as stubborn and pervasive as a sharp increase in student absenteeism, a problem that cuts across demographics and has continued long after schools reopened. Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic, according to the most recent data, from 40 states and Washington, D.C., compiled by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute. Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason. ”

Kids are overscheduled. They’re also lonely. We’ve got to stop pressuring them before it’s too late., by Kara Baskin, The Boston Globe, Mar 15 2024.

“Loneliness: It’s the scourge of our time. In 2023, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on loneliness and isolation, calling it an epidemic: Lacking social connection increases risk of premature death by more than 60 percent. Young people are especially lonely. For this age group, time spent in person with friends has dwindled by nearly 70 percent over almost two decades, from roughly 150 minutes per day in 2003 to 40 minutes per day in 2020. But what can we actually do about it? How do we disentangle our kids from their earbuds? ”

Loneliness And Depression In Teens Linked To Lack Of Sleep And Early School Start Times, New Report Shows, by Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes, Mar 7 2024.

“Teenagers who wake up early for school, sleep less than eight hours per night or spend time on their electronic devices within an hour of going to bed are more likely to have experienced depression and loneliness, results of a new National Sleep Foundation survey out Thursday showed. ”

When Teens Visit Doctors, Increasingly the Subject is Mental Health, by Matt Richtel, The New York Times, Mar 7 2024.

“Increasingly, doctor visits by adolescents and young adults involve mental health diagnoses, along with the prescription of psychiatric medications. That was the conclusion of a new study that found that in 2019, 17 percent of outpatient doctor visits for patients ages 13 to 24 in the United States involved a behavioral or mental health condition, including anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, self-harm or other issues. That figure rose sharply from 2006, when just 9 percent of doctor’s visits involved psychiatric illnesses. The study, published Thursday in JAMA Network Open, also found a sharp increase in the proportion of visits involving psychiatric medications. In 2019, 22.4 percent of outpatient visits by the 13-24 age group involved the prescription of at least one psychiatric drug, up from 13 percent in 2006. The latest study does not posit a reason for the shift. But the pandemic alone was not to blame, it noted. “These findings suggest the increase in mental health conditions seen among youth during the pandemic occurred in the setting of already increasing rates of psychiatric illness,” wrote the authors, a pediatrician and psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School. “Treatment and prevention strategies will need to account for factors beyond the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic.” ”

One Twin Was Hurt, the Other Was Not. Their Adult Mental Health Diverged., by Ellen Barry, The New York Times, Mar 6 2024.

“Why do twins, who share so many genetic and environmental inputs, diverge as adults in their experience of mental illness? On Wednesday, a team of researchers from the University of Iceland and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden reported new findings on the role played by childhood trauma. Their study of 25,252 adult twins in Sweden, published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that those who reported one or more trauma in childhood — physical or emotional neglect or abuse, rape, sexual abuse, hate crimes or witnessing domestic violence — were 2.4 times as likely to be diagnosed with a psychiatric illness as those who did not. If a person reported one or more of these experiences, the odds of being diagnosed with a mental illness climbed sharply, by 52 percent for each additional adverse experience. Among participants who reported three or more adverse experiences, nearly a quarter had a psychiatric diagnosis of depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, substance abuse disorder or stress disorder. To disentangle the effects of these traumas from genetic or environmental factors, the researchers narrowed the pool to “discordant” pairs, in which only one twin reported maltreatment in childhood. An analysis of 6,852 twins from these discordant pairs found that childhood maltreatment was still linked with adult mental illness, though not as strongly as in the full cohort. A twin who reported maltreatment was 1.2 times as likely to suffer from a mental illness as the unaffected twin in identical twin pairs, and 1.7 times as likely in fraternal twin pairs. This effect was especially pronounced among subjects who reported experiencing sexual abuse, rape and physical neglect. ”

All adults under 65 should be screened for anxiety, health panel says, by Erika Edwards, NBC News, Jun 20 2023.

“All young and middle-age adults should be screened regularly for anxiety and depression, even if they don't have symptoms, an influential public health group said Tuesday.  While the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended doctors assess patients for depression since 2002, it is the first time the group has advocated for routine screening of anxiety in adults. Pregnant women and those who gave birth within the past year were highlighted as people who should be screened.  "This is a call to action," Dr. Wanda Nicholson, vice chair of the task force and a professor of prevention and community health at the George Washington Milken Institute of Public Health in Washington, D.C., said in an interview. The guidance comes as emotional stress has skyrocketed in recent years, increasing demands on the limited number of counselors and therapists nationwide. ”

Students are increasingly refusing to go to school. It’s becoming a mental health crisis., by Adrianna Rodriguez, USA Today, May 15 2023.

“School avoidant behavior, also called school refusal, is when a school-age child refuses to attend school or has difficulty being in school for the entire day. Several mental health experts told USA TODAY it has become a crisis that has gotten worse since the COVID-19 pandemic. "There's no book on this, it's not spoken about," said Demsky, whose son declined to be interviewed by USA TODAY but gave his mother permission to share their story. "It's very scary and parents feel a sense of helplessness." The two continued to struggle with school avoidance for four years with little guidance. In 2014, she created a website to offer families the help and support she couldn't find. The site eventually turned into the School Avoidance Alliance, which spreads awareness and educates learning facilities and families of school avoidant children.  School avoidance is not a concrete diagnosis and looks different in every child. Some students consistently miss a couple of days a week, while others may leave during the day or escape to the nurse or counselor’s office. In some extreme cases, students don't step foot in a school for months or years at a time. Half a dozen family members and students told USA TODAY that school avoidance has affected not only their mental health, often leading to anxiety and depression, but also their family dynamics, relationships with fellow students, and grades. It has threatened their prospects of graduation and a thriving future. ”

Does weed help with anxiety or cause it? Here’s what experts say., by Teddy Amenabar, The Washington Post, May 3 2023.

“Cannabis has different effects at lower doses than high doses. Generally, low doses of THC are well-tolerated, stimulating a release of dopamine, and higher doses of THC can cause people to feel anxious, said Peter Grinspoon, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and the author of “Seeing Through The Smoke,” a book reviewing the latest medical research on cannabis.  “The main way you can get into mischief with cannabis is by using too high a dose and becoming very, very anxious,” said Grinspoon, who’s also an instructor at Harvard Medical School. “There are some patients who can’t use it at all, even a teeny bit, because any little bit makes them anxious.” Cannabis affects virtually every neural connection in the brain, even more so than stimulants such as cocaine and opioids, said Judy Grisel, a professor of psychology at Bucknell University and the author of “Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction.” This, in turn, means cannabis can cause a wide array of reactions, depending on the person, she said.    Decades of clinical research has found THC can negatively effect the developing brain, and regular cannabis use in the teen years is associated with a higher likelihood of developing anxiety and depression later in life.  “Smoking early can catalyze anxiety and depression,” Grisel said. “It’s not exactly clear how that happens but the evidence for it is very strong.” ”

Kids’ Declining Mental Health Is the ‘Crisis of Our Time,’ Surgeon General Says, by Caitlynn Peetz , EducationWeek, Apr 25 2023.

“In a conversation with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders livestreamed on Twitter, Murthy called the increase in youth mental health needs “the defining public health crisis of our time,” and underscored that kids’ mental health has taken a hit as they turn to social media more often and at younger ages. The increased use has led to more feelings of isolation, stress, and inadequacy as they constantly compare themselves to others, he said. It also keeps kids awake well into the night when they should be getting much-needed rest and makes it harder for young people to focus.  The most recent results of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey showed an alarming increase of self-reported mental health challenges, most notably among girls and children who identify as LGBTQ+. The survey was conducted in 2021, when many schools were still in remote or hybrid learning, but illustrates how sharply children’s mental health needs have increased in recent years. In 2021, for example, 42 percent of high school students said they experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year, according to the report. This was a 13.5 percent increase from 2019 and a 50 percent increase from 2011. Nearly one in five high school students had seriously considered attempting suicide during the previous year, while 18 percent made a suicide plan, and 10 percent attempted suicide. The CDC’s report does not explore what is driving the increased challenges. The rates were higher among girls and students who identify as LGBTQ+. ”