Anxiety Archive

Proper dental care is essential for all children, including learning how to brush and going for regular dental visits. But for children with autism spectrum disorder, the sensory aspects of a dental office may be uncomfortable, difficult, or overwhelming. But there are things parents can do to make these visits easier.

During pregnancy it's completely normal to experience a certain amount of anxiety about the baby, giving birth, and becoming a new parent. But for some women this worry takes over their thoughts and becomes debilitating. There are treatments available that may or may not involve medication, depending on the individual situation.

Negative traits such as anger and insecurity have been linked to heart-related problems. Taking steps to temper these tendencies may help.

Remember the Type A personality? First coined back in the 1950s, the term refers to people who are aggressive, ambitious, competitive, and time-conscious. But the notion that Type As were more likely to have heart attacks than their more laid-back counterparts turned out to be untrue, as numerous studies in the 1980s and 1990s revealed.

But in the early 2000s, another personality type — Type D for distressed — began getting more attention. Type D people are anxious, irritable, and angry; they also tend to feel ill at ease in social situations and are uncomfortable opening up to others. According to a 2018 review in Current Cardiology Reports, having a Type D personality is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The lead author, psychologist Johan Denollet, first described Type D and created a test for it (see "Type D personality test").

In the journals

People with anxiety or depression often have trouble making sound decisions. But a study suggests their judgment can improve if they focus on past successes instead of mistakes. The findings were published online Dec. 22, 2020, by the journal eLife.

Researchers recruited 86 adults, divided into three groups. In one group were people diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder or major depression. Another group consisted of people who showed anxiety or depression symptoms, like excessive worrying and not feeling good about the future, but were not clinically diagnosed. The final group included those without anxiety or depression.

Many cases of memory loss aren't related to dementia, but stem from other, treatable conditions.

You've been forgetting things lately — your keys, or maybe names. Sometimes you struggle to find the right word in conversations or repeat yourself to others. You may worry: are these signs of dementia?

If this sounds like you, you're not alone. Many people find their way into Dr. Tammy Hshieh's office wondering the same thing. But most of the time, it's not dementia causing their problems, says Dr. Hshieh, a geriatrician at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Listening to music may boost exercise ability, ease stress and anxiety, and enhance recovery from strokes.

 Image: © shironosov/Getty Images

Whether you prefer Stravinsky's symphonies or the Beatles' ballads, you probably listen mostly because you simply like how they sound. You might not realize that music engages not only your auditory system but many other parts of your brain as well, including areas responsible for movement, language, attention, memory, and emotion.

"There is no other stimulus on earth that simultaneously engages our brains as widely as music does," says Brian Harris, certified neurologic music therapist at Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. This global activation happens whether you listen to music, play an instrument, or sing — even informally in the car or the shower, he says. And it helps to explain how and why music therapy works (see "Singing — and striding — stroke survivors").