Disorders - anxiety disorders
Martin, T. J., Mist, S., Lektsok, T., Trent, N. L.
Introduction Herbal medicine and other forms of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) are used to treat symptoms of psychiatric disorders in the United States, including anxiety and mood problems. In Traditional Tibetan Medicine anxiety and depression are commonly treated with an herbal compound known as Agar-35. Objective The objective of this pilot study was to explore whether Agar-35 tea would improve anxiety, affect, stress, and rumination. Methods Undergraduate psychology students (N=14) were randomized to drink either Agar-35 tea (n=6) or placebo tea (n=8) for 7 nights. Results The results indicated that Agar-35 significantly reduced participants' negative affect compared to placebo, U = 6.0, p =.019, effect size, r =.63. Further, Agar-35 also reduced anxiety (trending toward significance), U = 10.0, p =.071, effect size, r =.48. Conclusion In accordance with its use in Tibetan Medicine, these preliminary findings suggest that Agar-35 may benefit aspects of psychological health. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc.
Explore, 13(6) : 367-370
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative Interventions (CAM)
, Homeopathic, plant-based medicines
Grajfoner, D., Harte, E., Potter, L. M., McGuigan, N.
This novel, exploratory study investigated the effect of a short, 20 min, dog-assisted intervention on student well-being, mood, and anxiety. One hundred and thirty-two university students were allocated to either an experimental condition or one of two control conditions. Each participant completed the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMBS), the State Trait Anxiety Scale (STAI), and the UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL) both before, and after, the intervention. The participants in the experimental condition interacted with both the dogs and their handlers, whereas the control groups interacted with either the dog only, or the handler only. The analyses revealed a significant difference across conditions for each measure, with those conditions in which a dog was present leading to significant improvements in mood and well-being, as well as a significant reduction in anxiety. Interestingly, the presence of a handler alongside the dog appeared to have a negative, and specific, effect on participant mood, with greater positive shifts in mood being witnessed when participants interacted with the dog alone, than when interacting with both the dog and the handler. These findings show that even a short 20 min session with a therapy dog can be an effective alternative intervention to improve student well-being, anxiety, and mood.
International Journal of Environmental Research & Public Health, 14(5) : 483
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative Interventions (CAM)
, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Other Psychological Interventions, Other complementary & alternative interventions
Houston, J. B., First, J., Spialek, M. L., Sorenson, M. E., Mills-Sandoval, T., Lockett, M., First, N. L., Nitiema, P., Allen, S. F., Pfefferbaum, B.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate the Resilience and Coping Intervention (RCI) with college students.
PARTICIPANTS: College students (aged 18-23) from a large Midwest US university who volunteered for a randomized controlled trial during the 2015 spring semester.
METHODS: College students were randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 64) or a control (n = 65) group. Intervention participants received three 45-minute RCI sessions over subsequent weeks. All participants completed pre- and post-intervention assessments at the beginning of Week 1 and end of Week 3. Student resilience, coping, hope, stress, depression, and anxiety were assessed.
RESULTS: RCI participants reported significantly more hope and less stress and depression from Week 1 to Week 3 compared with control participants. Results for resilience also approached statistical significance. Effect sizes were small to moderate.
CONCLUSIONS: This study found preliminary evidence that RCI is an effective resilience intervention for use with college students.
Journal of American College Health, 65(1) : 1-9
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Other Psychological Interventions
Melvin, G. A., Dudley, A. L., Gordon, M. S., Klimkeit, E., Gullone, E., Taffe, J., Tonge, B. J.
This study investigates whether the augmentation of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) with fluoxetine improves outcomes in anxious school refusing adolescents (11-16.5 years). Sixty-two participants were randomly allocated to CBT alone, CBT + fluoxetine or CBT + placebo. All treatments were well tolerated; with one suicide-attempt in the CBT + placebo group. All groups improved significantly on primary (school attendance) and secondary outcome measures (anxiety, depression, self-efficacy and clinician-rated global functioning); with gains largely maintained at 6-months and 1-year. Few participants were anxiety disorder free after acute treatment. During the follow-up period anxiety and depressive disorders continued to decline whilst school attendance remained stable, at around 54 %. The only significant between-group difference was greater adolescent-reported treatment satisfaction in the CBT + fluoxetine group than the CBT alone group. These results indicate the chronicity of school refusal, and the need for future research into how to best improve school attendance rates.
Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 48(3) : 485-497
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Biological Interventions (any)
, Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), Antidepressants (any)
, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Mishra, S., Sailesh, K. S., Bashetti, S., Ashok, S., Archana, R., Mukkadan, J. K., Reddy, U. K.
Meditation is known to be a conscious mental process tends to induce certain integrated physiological changes further leading to the relaxation of mind and body. Mental stress, anxiety, depression are the common silent sufferings in the instrumental world faced today not only in adults but also in school going children. In the present scenario meditation is used as a clinical tool in various areas of mental and physical health improvisations and also as a curator for the emotional and disease sufferings. In this study we made an attempt to know the effects of meditation on depression, anxiety and stress levels before and after meditation and to also study the cognitive functions before and after meditation. The study was conducted on 160 apparently healthy participants, male (n=80) and female (n=80) studying class 6th to class 10th who were not undergoing any medical treatment. The students were randomly distributed into four groups, control male (n=40), control female (n=40) group, meditation male (n=40), meditation female (n=40) groups. The students were allowed to practice meditation in sitting posture, under the supervision of the expert at 6:30 am in the morning for 35 minutes for a period of 90 days. Subjects were analyzed based on the data before and after therapy. Depression, anxiety, and stress levels were assessed by DASS 42 and perceived stress scale. Spatial and verbal memory test was used to assess cognition. We found a profound decrease in the levels of depression, anxiety and stress in all the subjects' pre-meditation and post-meditation with and significant improvement in spatial and verbal memory. Further studies based on biochemical parameters may show more accurate and explorative results. Further one can also study the effect of meditation on other various parameters of the body and further experimenting with the variations noted with different types of meditation correlating its effects on health could be promising.
Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 10(1) : 189-191
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative Interventions (CAM)
, Meditation
Moharreri, F., Yazdi, A. S. H.
Objective: Anxiety disorders and depression during childhood and adolescence are among highly prevalent serious mental health problems, which lead to reduced performance in children and can also negatively affect children's emotional and social long-term development. This study, which was conducted in Mashhad in 2015, aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the Friends for Life cognitive-behavioral program in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression in children. Method: In this controlled clinical trial, 248 male students aged 10 were screened for mild to moderate symptoms of anxiety and depression using the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety (RCMA) and the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Of the participants, 40 students met the inclusion criteria. The demographic questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), and the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS) were filled out by parents. The children in the experimental group received the Friends for Life cognitive-behavioral training program for eight 1-hour weekly sessions. RCMA, CDI, SDQ, and DASS were filled out again by both groups at the end of the sessions and 3 months later. To evaluate comparability between the 2 groups, Mann-Whitney test was used for qualitative variables and paired t test and repeated measure for quantitative variables with normal distribution. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS-16 . Results: Children's depression and manifest anxiety scores were not significantly different in the 2 groups before the intervention; however, their changes immediately after intervention and at the 3- month follow-up were significant (p < 0.001). Moreover, hyperactivity (p = 0.039), peer problems (p = 0.011), and parental depression (p = 0.015) scores significantly changed in both groups over time. Conclusion: Implementation of Friends for Life program is effective in prevention and treatment of the symptoms of anxiety and depression in children.
Iranian Journal of Psychiatry, 12(4) : 269-277
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
Mothes, H., Leukel, C., Jo, H. G., Seelig, H., Schmidt, S., Fuchs, R.
The study investigated whether typical psychological, physiological, and neurophysiological changes from a single exercise are affected by one's beliefs and expectations. Seventy-six participants were randomly assigned to four groups and saw different multimedia presentations suggesting that the subsequent exercise (moderate 30 min cycling) would result in more or less health benefits (induced expectations). Additionally, we assessed habitual expectations reflecting previous experience and beliefs regarding exercise benefits. Participants with more positive habitual expectations consistently demonstrated both greater psychological benefits (more enjoyment, mood increase, and anxiety reduction) and greater increase of alpha-2 power, assessed with electroencephalography. Manipulating participants' expectations also resulted in largely greater increases of alpha-2 power, but not in more psychological exercise benefits. On the physiological level, participants decreased their blood pressure after exercising, but this was independent of their expectations. These results indicate that habitual expectations in particular affect exercise-induced psychological and neurophysiological changes in a self-fulfilling manner.
Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 40(2) : 293-306
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative Interventions (CAM)
, Physical activity, exercise
Johnson, C., Burke, C., Brinkman, S., Wade, T.
OBJECTIVE: Mindfulness is being promoted in schools as a prevention program despite a current small evidence base. The aim of this research was to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the .b ("Dot be") mindfulness curriculum, with or without parental involvement, compared to a control condition.
METHOD: In a randomized controlled design, students (Mage 13.44, SD 0.33; 45.4% female) across a broad range of socioeconomic indicators received the nine lesson curriculum delivered by an external facilitator with (N = 191) or without (N = 186) parental involvement, or were allocated to a usual curriculum control group (N = 178). Self-report outcome measures were anxiety, depression, weight/shape concerns, wellbeing and mindfulness.
RESULTS: There were no differences in outcomes between any of the three groups at post-intervention, six or twelve month follow-up. Between-group effect sizes (Cohen's d) across the variables ranged from 0.002 to 0.37. A wide range of moderators were examined but none impacted outcome.
CONCLUSIONS: Further research is required to identify the optimal age, content and length of mindfulness programs for adolescents in universal prevention settings.
Trial registration: actrn12615001052527.
Behaviour Research & Therapy, 99 : 37-46
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: Universal prevention
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Mindfulness based therapy, Other service delivery and improvement interventions
Kuosmanen, T., Fleming, T. M., Newell, J., Barry, M. M.
Aim The use of computerized mental health programs with vulnerable youth, such as early school leavers, remains relatively unstudied. This pilot study examined the feasibility of delivering a computerized cognitive behavioral therapy (cCBT) gaming intervention (SPARX-R) for young people (age 15-20 years) who have left school early and are attending Youthreach, an alternative education (AE) program in Ireland. Method Students (n = 146) from twenty-one Youthreach Centers were randomized to SPARX-R and no-intervention control. All students within the group were included in the study whether or not they were exhibiting heightened levels of depression. Program impact was examined on both negative and positive indicators of mental health, including depression (primary outcome), generalized anxiety, general mental wellbeing, coping and emotion regulation. Assessments were conducted at baseline and post-intervention (7 weeks). Participants that provided data at post-assessment (n = 66) were included in the analysis. Results The participants completed on average 5.3 modules of SPARX-R with 30% (n = 9) completing the entire program. A significant improvement in emotion regulation strategies was detected, with expressive suppression decreasing significantly in the SPARX-R group in comparison to the control (- 2.97, 95% CI - 5.48 to - 0.46, p = 0.03). Conclusions Findings suggest that SPARX-R has a positive impact on emotion regulation. The lack of significant findings on other outcome measures may be attributed to inadequate sample size, and therefore, further research with larger samples are required to establish the effectiveness of the program in reducing depression and anxiety and improving psychological wellbeing among young people attending AE. Copyright © 2017 The Authors
Internet Interventions, 8 : 40-47
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Service Delivery & Improvement, Psychological Interventions (any)
, Cognitive & behavioural therapies (CBT)
, Technology, interventions delivered using technology (e.g. online, SMS)
Kyrou, I., Christou, A., Panagiotakos, D., Stefanaki, C., Skenderi, K., Katsana, K., Tsigos, C.
OBJECTIVE: The Humulus lupulus L. plant (hops) is used as a herbal medicinal product for anxiety/mood disorders. Our aim was to study the effects of a hops dry extract on self-reported depression, anxiety and stress levels in young adults.
DESIGN: Apparently healthy young adults from our university completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) and those reporting at least mild depression, anxiety and stress were invited to complete the study intervention. This followed a randomized (1:1), placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover design with two 4-week intervention periods (Melcalin hops or placebo; two 0.2 gr capsules once daily) separated by a 2-week wash-out. Anthropometric measurements, DASS-21 assessments and measurements of morning cortisol plasma levels were performed at the beginning and the end of the 4-week treatment periods.
RESULTS: 36 participants (Females/Males: 31/5; age: 24.7+/-0.5 years) completed the study intervention (attrition: 6/42). No significant changes in body weight and composition or morning circulating cortisol were noted with the hops or placebo. Significantly decreased DASS-21 anxiety, depression and stress scores were documented with hops (9.2+/-7.3 vs. 5.1+/-5.9, 11.9+/-7.9 vs. 9.2+/-7.4, and 19.1+/-8.1 vs. 11.6+/-8.1; all p values <0.05), which were significantly greater compared to those caused by the placebo (all p values <0.05).
CONCLUSION: In otherwise healthy young adults reporting at least mild depression, anxietyand stress symptoms, daily supplementation with a hops dry extract can significantly improve all these symptoms over a 4-week period. These beneficial effects agree with the indication of hops for anxiety/mood disorders and restlessness, as approved by the German Commission E.
Hormones, 16(2) : 171-180
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any), Depressive Disorders
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative Interventions (CAM)
, Homeopathic, plant-based medicines
Lazarov, A., Abend, R., Seidner, S., Pine, D. S., Bar-Haim, Y.
Current attention bias modification (ABM) procedures are designed to implicitly train attention away from threatening stimuli with the hope of reducing stress reactivity and anxiety symptoms. However, the mechanisms underlying effective ABM delivery are not well understood, with awareness of the training contingency suggested as one possible factor contributing to ABM efficacy. Here, 45 high-anxious participants were trained to divert attention away from threat in two ABM sessions. They were randomly assigned to one of three training protocols: an implicit protocol, comprising two standard implicit ABM training sessions; an explicit protocol, comprising two sessions with explicit instruction as to the attention training contingency; and an implicit-explicit protocol, in which participants were not informed of the training contingency in the first ABM session and informed of it at the start of the second session. We examined learning processes and stress reactivity following a stress-induction task.
Behavior Therapy, 48(5) : 638-650
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
-
Treatment and intervention: Psychological Interventions (any)
, Attention/cognitive bias modification
Leung, B., Takeda, W.
Background The prevalence of anxiety disorders in children has been estimated to be as high as 40%. Current treatments for paediatric anxiety have had limited success. Recently, studies show acupuncture to be relatively safe and effective, even in children. Objectives To study the use of acupuncture for pediatric anxiety, and evaluate the feasibility of the randomization process, adherence to the inter-vention by this population, and changes to measures of anxiety. Methods This pilot study was a randomized control trial of children with anx-iety, age 9 to 15, and living in Lethbridge, AB and the surrounding communities. Participants were randomized to acupuncture or wait-list control groups. Participants in the waitlist group was given acu-puncture after a wait-period of 5 weeks (matching the time the treat-ment group received acupuncture). Anxiety was measured using the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) self and parent rating forms, and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale for Children and Adolescent (HAM-A). Acupuncture was provided by a licensed acupuncturist at 1 session per week for 5 weeks. The nurse using the HAM-A was blinded to the children"s group assignment. Results Nineteen participants were enrolled, with 10 in the treatment and 9 in the waitlist group. Children in the acupuncture group had lower MASC-parent scores following completion of the acupuncture session than children in the waitlist (no acupuncture) group (p <.05). Scores were significantly lower for all 3 measures of anxiety from the pre-to post-acupuncture assessments (p <.01). Conclusion Children who received acupuncture treatments had lower anxiety scores from pre-to post assessments, and compared to the wait-list group. Acupuncture was tolerated and acceptable to patients and their families.
BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Conference: World Congress Integrative Medicine and Health, 17(Supplement 1) :
- Year: 2017
- Problem: Anxiety Disorders (any)
- Type: Randomised controlled trials
-
Stage: At risk (indicated or selected prevention)
, Disorder established (diagnosed disorder)
-
Treatment and intervention: Complementary & Alternative Interventions (CAM)
, Acupuncture, acupressure