Ethics Anxiety

This case report, drawn from an American hospital, explores a phenomenon best described as ethics anxiety, a feeling of uncertainty as to what is ethically required or permitted, leading to clinical delay and confused decisions. In the specific clinical situation presented, the clinicians find themselves confronting, under severe time constraints, a complex, multidimensional problem with ethical and legal implications. The situation deteriorates as the clinicians find themselves unable to find what they perceive as the expert advice, either clinical or ethical, that would enable them to resolve the problem presented. In the discussion section of the case report, some attention is given to the role that the bioethics movement itself has had in creating these situations and undermining clinical decision‐making.     

Math Anxiety

Social work students often complain and grumble about having to take courses in research methods and statistics. Do their complaints originate from deep-seated math anxiety? The current study investigated the math anxiety and math backgrounds of 163 undergraduate social work students and 256 non—social work majors. Social work majors were found to have much higher levels of math anxiety than a cross section of students enrolled in introductory statistics courses and found to have taken fewer math courses in high school and college.     

Relational Anxiety and Sexting

Individuals in pursuit of, or currently in, a romantic relationship typically communicate via technology, extending to sexting with one another. Sexting is commonly understood as the sending and receiving of sexually suggestive or sexually explicit photos, video, or text via cell phone or other technologies. The characteristics that fuel whether one engages in sexting are not well understood. In this study, 459 unmarried, heterosexual undergraduate students (female = 328; male = 131), aged 18 to 25 years, from three universities completed an online questionnaire about their behaviors with technology and romantic relationships. In general, low attachment avoidance and high fear of negative evaluation from the dating partner predicted sending a sexually suggestive photo or video, sending a photo or video in one’s underwear or lingerie, and sending a sexually suggestive text. High fear of negative evaluation predicted sending a nude photo or video as well as sending a text message propositioning sex. Low attachment avoidance, greater fear of negative evaluation, and greater social distress when dating were associated with sexting behaviors.     

Anxiety Disorders and Family Therapy

The role of family therapy in anxiety disorders is controversial. Empirical data exist only in relation to agoraphobia and obsessive compulsive disorders. Experienced clinicians, generally working with complex cases, regard marital and family conflict as central to many cases, which require a family approach for optimal therapy. In contrast, research workers generally regard marital and family factors as irrelevant to treatment. This is because complex cases are usually excluded from empirical research. This leaves mainly uncomplicated cases without significant family conflicts, for which a family approach is rarely necessary. Techniques for treating anxiety disorders in a marital/family setting are outlined.     

Comparison: Israeli Families Anxiety from SCUD Missiles Versus Palestinian Families Anxiety Since the Intifada

This is a study of 309 Palestinian families comparing their current trauma with the trauma experienced by Israeli families during the Gulf War during the SCUD missile attacks. Both populations have experienced adaptations of trauma but the Palestinian fathers have generally been more effected than their counterpart Israeli fathers. There are less reported symptoms of trauma when the victims have an active role to resist trauma.     

Differences in Refugee Anxiety and Depression

ABSTRACT

Using the HSCL-25, the lev els of anx i ety and de pression were mea sured for ref u gees from Viet nam, So ma lia, and the for mer Yugoslavia (N = 60) who were clients of a community social services agency. De pression and anx i ety lev els were high est among the Viet nanr ese cli ents, anx i ety lev els were high est among the Somalians, and both anxiety and depression level were lowest for former Yugoslavians. Based on gen der, anx i ety lev els were high for both the Viet nam ese and Somalian males, while de pression lev els were high est for the Viet nam ese males. Single fe males as a group ex ceeded the cut ting score at higher rates than single males; in con trast, mar ried males ex ceeded the cut ting score at a higher rate than mar ried fe males. A highly cor re lated re lation ship was dem on strated between anx i ety and de pression (£ = 0.70, p < 0.001). Using ANO VA, de pression sig nif i cantly differed be tween the ref u gee groups (p = 0.007); differ ences in anx i ety be tween ref u gee groups were not sta tis ti callysignificant.     

Children and Young Adults' Recognition of Anxiety

Previous research has shown that decoders (judges) accurately identified state anxiety in peers when provided with brief, single channel (audio-only, video-only) stimuli, and appropriately differentiated trait anxiety. Using a similar approach in the present study with decoders and encoders from three distinct age groups, we discovered that the ability to detect state anxiety transcended age. Children and young adults showed an ability to identify level of state anxiety in young adult and elder encoders. Young adults differentiated levels of state and trait anxiety in young adult and elder encoders. Discussion is focused on the adaptive and practical value of cross-generational identification of state anxiety and trait anxiety, and the difficulty of inferring personality traits in individuals from different peer groups.     

A Review of Lesbian Depression and Anxiety

SUMMARY

The Surgeon General's first report on mental health identified depression and anxiety as significant mental health issues that disproportionately affect women. Research indicates that lesbians experience depression at rates that parallel those of the general female population, suggesting that depression is an important mental health issue for lesbians. Given the high rate of comorbidity between depression and anxiety disorders, it is likely that many depressed lesbians have struggled with problems related to anxiety as well. This paper reviews literature pertaining to lesbians and depression including incidence rates, risk factors, suicidality and treatment approaches, and stress and anxiety that may also contribute to the experience of depression among lesbians.     

Anxiety and Depression: Implications for Older Adults

By the year 2030, it is projected that one in every three Americans will be 55-years-old or older. This age group is by far the fastest growing segment of the population. With the growing number of older adults, the importance of understanding aging and common disorders of later life is essential. In particular, anxiety and depression are among the most common problems in older adults. However, differentiating anxiety and depression at the mood, symptom, and syndromal levels has been a long-standing problem in psychopathology research. In addition to a growing need for research, clinicians will also need to take an active role in the development and implementation of treatment as the population of older adults increases. In particular, mental health service providers must become informed about the economic implications for older adults as the structure of health insurance continues to change.     

Anxiety and Depression: Implications for Older Adults

By the year 2030, it is projected that one in every three Americans will be 55-years-old or older. This age group is by far thefastest growing segment of the population. With the growing number of older adults, the importance of understanding aging and common disorders of laterlife is essential. In particular, anxiety anddepression are among the most common problems in older adults. However, differentiating anxiety and depression at the mood, symptom, and syndromal levels has been a long-standing problem in psychopathology research. In addition to a growing need for research, clinicians will also need to take an active role in the development and implementation of treatment as the population of older adults increases. In particular, mental health service providers must become informed about the economic implications for older adults as the structure of health insurance continues to change.     

Perfectionism,Anxiety, and Depressive Distress: Evidence for the Mediating Role of Negative Automatic Thoughts and Anxiety Sensitivity

Abstract

Objective: This study assessed a mediational model in which negative automatic thoughts and anxiety sensitivity were hypothesized to mediate the relationship between perfectionism cognitions and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Participants: Participants were undergraduate students from an urban Canadian university. The data were collected from July 2009 to August 2010. Methods: In a cross-sectional evaluation, 992 undergraduate participants completed questionnaires that assessed perfectionism cognitions, negative automatic thinking, anxiety sensitivity, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Results: Mediational analysis confirmed the role of anxiety sensitivity and negative automatic thoughts in mediating the association between perfectionistic cognitions, anxiety symptoms, and depressive distress. Furthermore, in line with previous studies, nearly a third of students displayed an elevated prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Conclusions: This study further clarified the associations and mediating relationships among mood states associated with perfectionism.     

Foreign Language Listening Anxiety: A Self-Presentational View

This study used a self-presentational framework to investigate second language listening anxiety among university students and demonstrated that second language listening involves social concerns that are specific to second language settings. A set of anxiety questionnaires was administered to 1,177 students, and 17 learners provided verbal protocol data. The results demonstrated that second language listening anxiety is a higher-order construct composed of two related but distinct dimensions: Self-Focused Apprehension and Task-Focused Apprehension. The former is a concern over social evaluative threat, and the latter is worry over effective processing of aural input. Levels of social anxiety influenced both dimensions.     

Social Anxiety in Obese Youth in Treatment Setting

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of social anxiety in obese children treated in a weight management clinic. We hypothesized that social anxiety would positively correlate with obesity, and that “extremely obese” patients would have significantly higher rates of social anxiety when compared to “obese” patients. Information was collected at a multidisciplinary treatment clinic for obese youth during the first clinic visit. The social anxiety scale was administered (including parent-report and self-report scales for both elementary and adolescent versions) and demographic data was obtained. Social anxiety was found to be significantly positively correlated with BMI percentile. In addition, “extremely obese” patients had significantly higher social anxiety scores than “obese” youth at least for elementary-age youth. Trends in gender differences and racial differences in this obese pediatric clinical sample were consistent with results found in community samples. Social anxiety and obesity were found to be positively correlated in this pediatric clinic-based population. For elementary-age patients, “extremely obese” patients were at greater risk than “obese patients” for social anxiety and its various symptoms—fear of negative evaluation, social avoidance/distress in new situations, and social avoidance/distress in general. Results for adolescents were less clear. Clinical implications of these results were discussed. Limitations of this study, and directions for future research were also discussed.