Archive for the ‘anxiety’ Category
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010
I was teaching at Cardiff University yesterday and the question arose about genetic causes of anxiety, PTSD and depression.
If you do a Google search on this question you will get a lot of people basically saying no, anxiety is largely a psychological issue with little or no genetic component. Examining the sites a little further you find they have a huge vested interest in there not being a genetic component to anxiety, largely because the are selling “anxiety cures” (sic).
However there is quite a lot of good research evidence to suggest that in certain circumstances an individuals predisposition to anxiety may, in part at least, be genetic. I have written a more detailed article called ‘Is Anxiety Hereditary‘ which you can read by following the link.
If you don’t have time to read the whole article the answer is yes and no. There can be in certain situations, a genetic component to anxiety.
Tags: anxiety, hereditary
Posted in Anxiety research, anxiety | No Comments »
Monday, September 27th, 2010
To catastrophize (catastrophise) means to perceive a situation as being much worse than it really is. There are three types of catastrophizing:
- Ruminating or going over and over a past situation and thinking that the situation or the effects of the situation or something the individual did in a past situation was much worse than it really was. Often the individual catastrophizing a past situation is the only person that remembers or thinks about the situation. This can include thinking over a situation that ended ok and getting stressed, fearful or anxious because the individual considers it could have ended much worse than it actually did.
- Considering a current situation to be worse than it really is.
- Thinking about an event that hasn’t happened (imaginary) or a possible future event this is about to occur or might happen and imagining that it could be a disaster with no real evidence that the disastrous outcome imagined will actually happen.
The problem with catastrophizing is that when an individual engages in it, it creates anxiety and fear in the individual which in turn makes catastrophizing more likely. In this way people can end up in a sharp downward spiral or cycle with ever increasing anxiety and fear caused by the catastrophizing leading to increased levels of catastrophizing.
In a 2003 study* it was found that there was a strong correlation between people who have a habit of catastrophizing and people who suffer from depression and depressive related issues. They also discovered such people tended also to engage in blaming themselves for things that go wrong, than people who are less likely to engage in catastrophizing.
Just a footnote, the researchers found no evidence that men or women are more likely to catastrophize more than the other. We show people how to stop catastrophizing on The Fear Course.
*Garnefski, N et al. (2003) Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms: differences between males and females. Personality and Individual Differences. Volume 36, Issue 2, January 2004, Pages 267-276
Posted in Emotional Resilience Research, Fear, anxiety | No Comments »
Friday, September 24th, 2010
I am often asked during the one-day Fear Course if there is a difference between women and men in terms of their experience of fear and anxiety; do women have more fear and anxiety than men, are women better at dealing with fear or anxiety than men, etc. There is isn’t really a lot of research evidence about these questions. However I was trawling through some Journals in the last few days and I found a 2009 research article* that looked at the differences between female and male uses of emotion regulation or emotional resilience techniques.
The researchers did a study of 819 students, 208 women and 210 men from Norway and 201 women and 200 men from Brazil, of whom 76.9% were in the 20- to 29-yr. age range to find out what techniques they used to deal with 3 negative emotions:
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Sadness
They found that only 14 techniques were used overall by the subjects. The top two techniques were talking to someone else and talking to yourself (self affirming messages).
However what were 2 really interesting sets of findings:
- The women tended to use a larger range of techniques than the men for anxiety and sadness issues (and the same number for anger), and,
- The women tended to use more collective or social techniques (like talking to other people) than the men. The men were more likely to use individual techniques that did not involve others.
Another question I am often asked is; do more women than men come on the Fear Course? The answer is it is about 50 - 50 overall. Although for some reason I find most courses have either mainly women or others that are mainly men. It is rare to get a course that is 50-50. Why this happens I have no idea.
*Vikan, A., Dias, M. & Nordvik, H. (2009) Perceived efficiency and use of strategies for emotion regulation. Psychological Reports: Volume 104, Issue , pp. 455-467.
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Posted in Emotional Resilience Research, Fear, anxiety, emotion regulation, emotional resilience | No Comments »
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
I was shown a video by one of my Oxford students today that made the following claims:
“Neuroplasticity is the only way you to cure* (sic) your anxiety. Nothing else can do this.”
“Neuroplacticity is the replacement of one set of behaviours or memories with another. This is the ONLY way to stop an anxiety disorder. ”
- Firstly, neuroplacticity is a function of the brain not a process to do to someone.
- Secondly, nothing they or anything else beyond surgery, illness / disease or chemical warfare on the brain can do to change or alter neuroplasticity.
- Thirdly, neuroplasticity is not inherent in a product, it is something the brain does and is a function of neuronal organisation and growth (and a few other things).
- Lastly, neuroplasticity does not replace anything with anything else. This is a fundamental mistake people in the NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) community and others make and one of the criticisms research psychologists have of many of the claims made by ‘trained’ NLP’ers and others. They tend not to be the long term ‘cures*’ promised. The older and often emotionally more powerful pathways / memories tend to come back later. All that the techniques like those contained under the NLP banner appear to do is add a neural lay-by or parking space for the brain. They certainly work in the short term for most people. Before I am leveled with being an NLP hater this is not so. I am an NLP master practitioner as well as an academic and use some of the techniques that come under it’s banner. It’s just that it usually only gives a client a short term fix and more is needed for longer term relief.
Read on…
Whilst the idea behind neuroplasticity was first suggested in 1890 It wasn’t until the 1940’s the idea caught on. In fact it was believed by many, until the 1960’s, that the brain was largely set after infancy and hardwired. However a lot of research has shown that neural functioning is quite dynamic and continually developing even into old age.
Neuroplacticity refers to the brains ability to change and re-map as result of experience or necessity. For example if part of the brain is damaged in an accident or a stroke, in some cases, dependent on how bad the damage is, the brain can under certain circumstances re-route the function and develop new neural pathways. This means that the individual may get back some or all of the original functioning. Which is why stroke victims often recover some of the functions lost during the stroke episode, in time. It just takes time for the neurons to create new pathways. However some stroke victims don’t recover functioning or only partially recover. In part this is because the ability and speed each area of the brain to reroute or re-wire itself is not uniform and a whole host of other reasons.
When you learn anything, either knowledge or a new skill, it always involves the brains ability to change and develop new connections (neural-plasticity). Consider the knowledge and skill of learning to drive. When you start most people are overwhelmed by the number of discrete things they have to concentrate on. All the pedals, dials, gears, steering and then they have to look outside as well! Before long you end up driving from a-to-b without even thinking about it. Sometimes you even get to b and realise you have no memory of the journey. This is learning. Your neurons have made new connections and pathways and strengthened those connections to the point what was once a clumsy and conscious process is now largely an unconscious behaviour. You just do it without thinking.
Now learning and re-routing the learning (unlearning or learning something different) are two different things. In many ways it is easier to learn something than change that learning later. (which is why most people hold beliefs that are mutually exclusive but still hold both sets.) There is a lot of research evidence to show that we do not overlay the old learning just re-route it. In other words we don’t delete the old memories. For example, take memories. Often when we have laid down memories, particularly episodic memories (memories encoded with an emotion - so that when you return to the memory you also get the emotion with it, or an emotional state brings back memories) any work we do afterwards does not destroy the pathway or rewrite it like a hard drive. Rather we think it reroutes the pathway. The more ingrained the pathway (like stronger emotional memories - trauma) the harder it is to reroute the pathway.
All most techniques used by the new age therapists do is offer a temporary relief parking place. It certainly does this and can be very successful at giving temporary relief. For longer term success the pathways have to be completely rerouted and strengthened which takes a bit more than most behavioural and distraction techniques often used in the miracle cure* market.
*By the way it is illegal in the UK (not the US) to claim anything cures you unless you are a registered medical practitioner and very few of those will ever make such a definitive claim in any situation for fairly obvious legal reasons.
Posted in Buying a service, Staying safe, anxiety | No Comments »
Monday, September 13th, 2010
I have started a project to construct an online dictionary of fear and anxiety. This is a growing work in action and will develop over time. It will include a full list of definitions of phobias, anxiety and fear related terms as well as phrases and words used in fear and anxiety / emotion regulation, emotional resilience research. Like The Fear Course References and The Fear Course Phobia List, The Fear Course Dictionary of Fear and Anxiety should be seen as work in progress. I hope you find them useful. Have a look here. Enjoy.
Posted in Definitions in Emotional Resilience, Emotional Resilience Research, Fear, Phobia, anxiety, emotion regulation, emotional resilience | No Comments »
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010
Does sex reduce anxiety? New research suggests that having sex might not only reduce anxiety but also reverse the effects of long term stress.
It is well established in anxiety research circles that people who suffered a trauma or are under adverse stress for any extended period of time are more likely to suffer from anxiety and mood disorders as well. It is also fairly well established that negative stress reduces the replacement and regrowth of cells in the areas of the brain connected to the regulation of anxiety (emotional regulation) and reduces the normal functioning of those areas (hippocampus and amygdala). In other words long term negative stress physically changes our brain and the way it functions making anxiety more prevalent and harder to control.
It has long been thought by neuro-scientists that the key to this appears to be a hormone called glucocorticoids also known as the stress hormone. Glucocorticoids or GC’s bind to glucocorticoids receptor which are present in just about every cell in the human (and indeed every vertebrate animals) body. GC’s are a major part of our immune system. When we are under stress the body produces more GC’s. Over production of GC’s have been linked to problems like Heart disease, depression, diabetes, obesity, immune dysfunction, learning disorders, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome to name but a few.
A new study published last month* looked at whether sexual activity
- reduced GC levels in rats,
- changed the functioning of the areas of the brain associated with anxiety regulation, and
- reduced anxiety driven behaviour in anyway .
The researchers from The Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University found that having sexual activity once a day for 14 consecutive days did not reduce the GC levels significantly. However it did significantly increase the neuronal functioning of the hippocampus and amygdala and considerably reduced anxiety driven behaviour in the subjects. So whilst it doesn’t reduce the CG level sexual activity does appear to stop many of the negative effects of increased GC’s in the system. In short sex reduces anxiety and minimises the effects of stress on us. But why if the GC levels aren’t reduced?
Exercise often has a positive effect on anxiety and stress as well, but only if the individual gets satisfaction from the exercise. In other words if we think something is enjoyable it will help, if not it won’t. GC’s work in a very complex way in some instances make things worse and in others make them better. It would appear that engaging in what an individual considers to be hedonistic or enjoyable may change the effect stress hormones has on us. It may be that we can reduce many of the effects of stress has on by engaging in things we find enjoyable, like sex.
Stressed? Anxious? Take sex once a day for 14 days. Come back and see me if the symptoms persist, we might have to increase the dose.
*Leuner B, Glasper ER, & Gould E (2010) Sexual Experience Promotes Adult Neurogenesis in the Hippocampus Despite an Initial Elevation in Stress Hormones. PLoS ONE 5(7): e11597. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011597
Posted in Definitions in Emotional Resilience, Emotional Resilience Research, anxiety, emotion regulation, overcome fear | No Comments »
Sunday, August 8th, 2010
 Most people fail job interviews before they even open their mouth because of something they could easily remedy.
About 90% of people come away from an interview kicking themselves because they know they should have performed better had it not been for their nerves and anxiety, and it is so easy to deal with, given a little know-how.
Calm and composed people outperform everyone else and usually get the job. 80% of the decision to hire someone is based on what the interviewers see and hear on the day and only about 20% is based on what is in your CV. When you think about it, the company has already made a decision based on your CV and application: who to interview. Now it is is down to how you come across.
In short success in a job interview comes down to three things:
- Do they see you as a COMPETENT individual
- Do they LIKE you, and
- Do they THINK you will FIT in?
Just think about (y)our perception of what a competent person looks and behaves like for a moment. I am willing to bet that perception does not include a nervous or anxious person. Competent includes being confident and composed with your subject area. Able to answer questions easily and showing you have easy mastery of your area
But how?
The Fear Course is proud to announce the publication of it’s first handbook:
The Fear Course Handbook: How to do a job interview without the nerves and anxiety.
The professionally produced 55 page handbook is clear, concise and very practical and will show you how to overcome your fear quickly and easily.
The content include:
- What confident people do that nervous people don’t but could, easily.
- The 5 things people eat and drink that actually makes them more nervous
- The ONE big mistake nervous people make that is an instant fail
- What to do when your mind goes blank during the interview
- A plan for the days before the interview, and
- A fear busting plan for the actual interview
Be the best you can be. Be calm, confident and composed at your job interview.
You can get the book in three versions:
The Fear Course Handbook: How to do a job interview without the nerves and anxiety: Download as an ebook from the site
The Fear Course Handbook: How to do a job interview without the nerves and anxiety. Download the book from Lulu
The Fear Course Handbook: How to do a job interview without the nerves and anxiety. Buy the published book Direct
Posted in Job interview nerves, anxiety, job interview anxiety, job interviews, overcome fear | No Comments »
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
Last week I was working at Cardiff University and we were looking at the topic of students procrastinating, especially whilst they were meant to be writing up their doctoral thesis. I had the opportunity to interview a dozen students all with the same problem and I / we discovered something:
In every case the procrastination was caused by fear. Let me explain.
For any behaviour to be considered to be Procrastination usually has to be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.*1
Many psychologists consider that procrastination is brought about as a as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. *2 I think I can now be a little more specific about that anxiety…
About 95% of our fears are anticipatory, by which I mean they are fears of a future event but are not based on a real event that has occurred to us in the past (episodic fear). When I tested all 12 students I discovered that every one of them had played a mental movie of them failing their doctorate.
The most frequent movie of failure they had played in their own head was the moment after the Viva Voce when they are called back in. They usually saw and heard the examiner saying “Sorry but…”
Even those students who stated they had not played such a projection in their head, all stated that when they did the movie was strangely familiar, suggesting that the projection had been made a an unconscious level.
Not only was the procrastination brought about by anxiety, there is strong evidence to suggest procrastination is as a direct result of a fear of failure induced by internal mental projections / representations of the moment of failure. In other words we play a mental movie of the thing we don’t want to happen - failing. When we play a movie of failing this activates a fear response in the brain which results in our not wanting to do the thing we are putting off.
*1 Schraw, G., Wadkins, T., & Olafson, L. (2007). Doing the things we do: A grounded theory of academic procrastination [Electronic version]. Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 99(1), 12-25.
*2 Fiore, N. A. (2006). The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt- Free Play. New York: Penguin Group.
Tags: anxiety, Fear, Fear of failure, procrastination
Posted in Fear, Fear of failure, anxiety | 2 Comments »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
A fascinating research study just published* has found a relationship between what is known as Negative Affectivity (NA) or negative thinking and general levels of anxiety felt by an individual and the effectiveness of their emotional regulation (how emotionally resilient they are).
In short the researchers from the Department of Psychology, and University Research Institute on Health Sciences, in Mallorca, Spain, found that in a large sample (1441) of 12 - 17 year olds there was a relationship between the amount of negative thinking a person engages in and how much anxiety they feel on a daily basis as well as their perceived ability to regulate their emotions.
Now the study is not saying that people who do think negatively can not regulate their emotions or learn to be more emotionally resilient as one reviewer asserted. It is just showing that people who think negatively, for example see the downside of things more than the average person or tend to catastrophise more - make things appear worse than they really are, tend to report both that they feel or experience more anxiety than the average person. Additionally these people find it harder to regulate their feelings, so for example make negative feelings like anxiety go away. They can do this of course, it’s just they report that it is harder to do for them to do this when compared to the average person in the sample.
This link between negative views on life, the experience of anxiety and the ability to be emotionally resilient at will is very important, and one that we explore and tackle on The Fear Course. I find that once people learn the tools that make them more emotionally resilient they obviously feel less anxiety, but their view of life and thinking change in a positive way. Not only that but many people who have been on the course report that they generally feel happier and more confident.
* Tortella-Feliu, M, Et al (2010) Relationships between negative affectivity, emotion regulation, anxiety, and depressive symptoms in adolescents as examined through structural equation modeling. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. April 2010
Tags: anxiety, emotional regulation, emotional resilience, negative affectivity
Posted in Emotional Resilience Research, anxiety, emotion regulation, emotional resilience | 1 Comment »
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