News and Features Related to Anxiety & Panic Disorders

1. Gamma Knife Snips OCD in Bud
   

   May 8, 2008 (Washington) -- A high-tech procedure that delivers radiation deep within the brain relieved symptoms in half of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder who got no help from medication or talk therapy, a small study shows. The procedure uses a gamma knife to target brain circuits tha

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2. Lower Your Stress, Spare Your Heart
   

   March 31, 2008 (Chicago) -- Here's another reason to learn relaxation techniques. Researchers have found that lowering or keeping anxiety levels in check dramatically cuts the risk of heart attack or death in people with heart disease. In a study of more than 500 heart patients, those who reduced or

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3. Coping With Anxiety
   

   Divorce, layoffs, threat of terrorism -- there's plenty of anxiety around for everyone these days. And very often, the source is something we can't change. How do you know when it's time to get help dealing with your anxieties? To better understand the underpinnings of anxiety -- and how to better c

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4. When Panic Attacks
   

   By Lauren Russell Griffen One night seven years ago, I completely lost my mind. I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep. Suddenly, my nerves seemed to catch on fire, my muscles became as stiff as steel rods, and my heart felt like it would explode. I clutched the mattress t

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5. The United States of Anxiety
   

   By Lauren Iannotti It's the most common mental illness in America. One worrywart stares down her (and our) tendency to fret.   Actually, much of the country does — anxiety disorders affect nearly 40 million Americans. Author Patricia Pearson explores our national epidemic in her new book, A Brief Hi

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6. Talk Therapy Curbs Panic Disorder
   

   Jan. 17, 2008 -- A 12-week course of talk therapy may help curb the often debilitating symptoms of panic disorder -- including intense fear, chest pain, heart palpitations, and shortness of breath. The new findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association in Ne

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7. Conquering Fear of Public Speaking
   

   Steve Tingley’s promotion came with a new duty he dreaded. When the 52-year-old was appointed director of media services for a Madison, Wis., insurance company, he was expected to make presentations to other divisions and outside groups. “I’d break out in a sweat, get very nervous, stutter on the st

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8. Panic Attacks May Increase Heart Risk
   

   Oct. 1, 2007 -- Older women who experience panic attacks appear to have an increased risk for having heart attacks or heart-related death, new research suggests. Postmenopausal women in the study who reported at least one full-blown panic attack within six months of being interviewed were four times

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9. Transition Anxiety
   

   By Martha Beck Emma is a poster girl for Newton's first law of motion: Once she starts doing something, she just keeps doing it until acted upon by some external force. Each day when Emma's alarm clock rings, she drowsily hits the snooze button several times. The shower, when she finally gets there,

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10. The Truth About Phobias
    

    Weddings are generally joyous occasions, but not so for Marissa Wolicki, 25, of Toronto, Canada, who reluctantly attended one recently with her boyfriend. "All of a sudden, the room started to spin. I started to feel really nauseated. My heart went pound-pound-pound-pound. I grabbed my boyfriend's h

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