Answer Addiction

Tag: anxiety

  • Memories Like Velvet: Fear and Panic in Childhood

    Memories Like Velvet: Fear and Panic in Childhood

    Knowing that it’s “an emotional thing” doesn’t help much when I’m going through the anxiety and the terror and the fear in me, wondering if it will ever go away.

    I listen to the radio mornings while I’m getting breakfast and I hear all of this bad news. I don’t like it. It’s too much. Too sad, too violent. Not my thing.

    All I can say is I’m glad these things don’t happen around me. Then people would really be sorry.

    I mean, the other day I had a dentist appointment. I was scared and jittery and I’d thought about calling the whole thing off. Of course my dentist is a man. He could have started right in, slipping his hand along my legs, up around my thighs and that would have been that.

    And Saturday I had to go shopping. Needed some shampoo and conditioner and things like that. I was sixth on line and there was only one cashier so it was taking forever. I felt the sweat build up then drip down my face in little droplets but I don’t think anyone noticed.

    The skinny lady ahead of me turned sideways once but I think that was to see the price on these furry little doggies hanging down that the store was trying to get rid of fast. I don’t think she was too impressed because it didn’t take her long to read the tag and turn forward again. To wait, bored, wait her turn.

    Meantime I kept shifting from foot to foot and back again but so did everyone else so I felt like part of the crowd.

    As I kept hopping around I kept praying that no one ahead of me would get grumpy and start a fight with the cashier because, slow as she was, it was one of my days and I would have burst right out crying. I can’t help it. People say “stop it” and they think that’s so easy to do but it ain’t. Just being around people fighting and cussin’ gets me going and once that starts there’s no telling what’ll happen next. It’s what I call unpredictable.

    It’s one of those emotional problems, that’s what they call it. All I know is when things are calm, I’m okay. But once people get to fussing, it touches off something inside — sort of a frightened part — and I get hysterical.

    Like the time Jessica and I were playing some music. Things were good — we had raided the refrigerator and gotten pretzels and Diet Cokes and everything we wanted when all of a sudden her parents burst in the front door yelling at the top of their lungs. It was a fight between them, I knew that, but that didn’t stop the upset that started rising.

    I tried telling myself that it was nothing, that it wasn’t my fault or Jessica’s but sure enough I felt the lump in my throat grow bigger and bigger and lodge itself right smack where I didn’t want it. My hands grew clammy and I got up and walked around.

    Jessica could tell that something was going on, something was definitely brewing. She asked, “What’s up?” but when I tried to respond the words just didn’t come out right. Sounded like I was talking backwards.

    Meantime they kept at it and I got frantic. Did they always fucking talk this way? They glanced over at us girls and I thought they knew something was wrong, thought they could tell I wasn’t right, but I guess since I didn’t show any outward sign, they couldn’t tell. They weren’t perceptive.

    They just kept going so Jessica called them to come quick and then — then — they knew that something was up so they stopped yelling at each other’s foolishness and insanity and concentrated on me and kept holding my hands asking what was wrong. I couldn’t even begin to explain.

    After a while of no yelling and peace and quiet, I came back to reality. I calmed down. My distress sure scared the hell out of them and out of me. Knowing that it’s “an emotional thing” doesn’t help much when I’m going through the anxiety and the terror and the fear in me, wondering if it will ever go away. Then wondering if this thing is a keeper. I don’t want it to be a keeper. Go away, I say to myself and sometimes out loud. Go away and don’t come back again. It’s a nice sentiment but the reality is that the peace, quiet, and calm don’t last. They never do.

    Last year and the year before that I thought drinking some beers would help the anxiety — so I drank myself senseless — but the beers didn’t help at all. The high just made me feel paranoid and during the lows I’d feel even more depressed than before I started drinking. So that was that. No more beers, I said to myself. It was a horror giving it up and going through the feelings. Going through the terror.

    Will this always be with me?

    Will “e” always mean “emotional” to me or will there come a time when, someday down the road, when I’m all grown up and working and thinking of other things, will the letter “e” represent anything else to me other than emotional? Will I maybe think of “enterprising” or “entrepreneurial” or even “evergreen”?

    Perhaps, but I doubt it. I think that my first thought will be “emotional.” And if you say “what’s an ‘a’ word,” I’ll always say “alcohol.” Hey, it’s the hand I was dealt. It’s the genes I got or maybe, just maybe I was conditioned to be fine-tuned. Sensitive is what some people call it.

    Some people react so strangely when they find out what’s wrong. They think it’s either imagined or it isn’t that bad. So they smile or wave or talk condescendingly to me. They use simple words and they try to placate me, and when the waves of panic are still riding over me I look at them like they’re crazy. Can’t they even imagine what sheer terror is like?

    In front of Jessica’s parents my anxiety passed eventually. It rode its course. I breathed again, normally, and the clamminess began to subside. They still looked at me funny, like Jessica’s friend here is a bit of an oddball but I looked at them funny, too, because why would they walk into their home yelling and screaming like some fucking idiots? Besides, I know what’s wrong with me. It’s emotional.

    Sometimes I think that the world is nice and sometimes I wonder what it’s all about. I can’t take it when people scream, as I already told you, or when pans crash to the floor. Or when a balloon bursts. When several balloons burst at the same time it’s not good. Not good at all.

    I hate it when we’re driving along nice and smooth and someone gets too close to our car and we hit the brakes hard, hard, hard; the screech of the tires on the road just gets right under my skin.

    Backed up lines on parkways? Traffic stopped on New York bridges? Especially when we’re at the highest point on the bridge — no longer going up and not yet heading down? That damn pinnacle is not my favorite place to be.

    I imagine all of us dangling over the side of that metal bridge with each one of us holding on with one hand, holding on for dear life and that sweat breaks out once again as I concentrate so hard to hold on and wait, wait, wait for someone to come along and rescue us. And I know it’s my overactive imagination at work, but why do the pictures it paints have to be so damned vivid?

    Walking along from one house to another when suddenly a lawn mower starts up so loudly I jump and cover my ears. Talk about breaking the sound barrier. That’s how it seems to me, anyway. I freeze in my tracks but then realize I’m not getting anywhere at all so I carry on, wondering why it is that a silent lawn mower can’t be made or at least a lawn mower that’s nice and quiet? That would be good. That shouldn’t be too hard to invent.

    I like the Fourth of July because everything looks so pretty with the sky all lit up like that with the pyrotechnics going off in various designs but I get so scared when a cherry bomb or something goes off next door. I just have to cry. I can’t help it.

    Noises aren’t the only things. Flashing lights set me off, too, like the time we had a school dance on a Friday night and someone hit the ceiling lights and suddenly those strobe lights were flashing, flashing, flashing and I know those disco lights were meant to add a certain ambiance to the party but my head started spinning and I had to just get out of there. Fast.

    It’s a weird thing. But the good times are good times. I like looking at flowers out in the backyard so closely, I want to squint to see every inch of them. Velvet they feel like.

    I love running around with my dog Penny, spinning and twirling and feeling the grass cool beneath my feet while an airplane flies gently overhead. You could call that one of my good days. It’s peace, quiet, and feeling comfortable. I call it progress. I’ll take it.

    I guess for once I feel I’m as free as the birds I see gliding overhead and I know there’s nothing to cry over and nothing to be afraid of anymore.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • What The "Painless Woman" Can Teach Us About Anxiety, Pain

    What The "Painless Woman" Can Teach Us About Anxiety, Pain

    A woman with a rare insensitivity to pain may be able to help researchers develop new drugs to treat pain and anxiety.

    Jo Cameron experiences less pain, less anxiety and less depression than most people—but for the first 65 years of her life, she had no idea she was so unique. 

    “I was just a happy soul who didn’t realize there was anything different about me,” Cameron said, according to ABC News.

    It wasn’t until Cameron was in the hospital for a normally very painful surgery that doctors realized she had a much higher than normal pain tolerance. After learning more about her life that has been almost entirely free from pain, researchers began studying Cameron. The results were recently published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia.

    Researchers found that Cameron has mutations in her DNA that affect her body’s cannabinoid system, and thus how she experiences pain. Cameron has low levels of the enzyme FAAH (fatty-acid amide hydrolase), which breaks down anandamide, a cannabinoid neurotransmitter, Colin Klein explained in The Conversation. 

    “Since Cameron doesn’t break down anandamide, it accumulates in her blood,” Klein writes, pointing out that animal studies show that elevated anandamide decreases pain and anxiety. “So she not only feels less pain, she also feels less anxiety about the pain she does feel.”

    This is consistent with what researchers found. 

    “[Cameron] also reported never panicking, not even in dangerous or fearful situations, such as in a recent road traffic accident,” they wrote. 

    Cameron’s condition isn’t without negative side effects—she often is forgetful, and she doesn’t have pain to alert her when something is wrong with her body. “It would be nice to have warning when something’s wrong,” she said. 

    Researcher James Cox said that cases like Cameron’s can help the medical community better understand pain, anxiety, and how they interact. “People with rare insensitivity to pain can be valuable to medical research as we learn how their genetic mutations impact how they experience pain,” he said. 

    Understanding how FAAH interacts with the cannabinoid system could help researchers develop new drugs. 

    “FAAH is therefore an attractive drug target for treating pain, anxiety, and depression, although recent clinical trials with FAAH inhibitors were unsuccessful,” they wrote.

    Despite that, researcher Devjit Srivastava said that Cameron’s case is very important. 

    “The implications for these findings are immense,” Srivastava said. “The findings point towards a novel painkiller discovery that could potentially offer post-surgical pain relief and also accelerate wound healing. We hope this could help the 330 million patients who undergo surgery globally every year.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Big Sean Gets Candid About Depression, Anxiety

    Big Sean Gets Candid About Depression, Anxiety

    “I wasn’t feeling like myself and I couldn’t figure out why. I just felt lost—and I don’t know how I got there,” the rapper revealed on Instagram.

    Rapper Big Sean is getting candid about mental health—and according to the BBC, it’s inspiring other men of color to do the same.  

    Recently the 31-year-old rapper utilized Instagram videos to discuss a period of his life that he says was difficult because of anxiety and depression. He says around his 30th birthday, he sought therapy for issues needing “special attention.”

    “I wasn’t feeling like myself and I couldn’t figure out why,” he said on Instagram. “I just felt lost—and I don’t know how I got there.”

    The rapper continued, “I got a good therapist. I was blessed enough to talk to some super spiritual people. They made me realize one thing I was missing in my life, and the one thing I was missing was clarity. Clarity about who was around me, what I was doing.”

    Sean also mentioned that since the age of 17, he has leaned on meditation to manage depression and anxiety, but this time around he needed more. Sean says that seeking therapy brought him “clarity,” especially in relationships.

    “I had a lot of toxic relationships around me,” he said in the videos. “Even the relationship with my mum was getting to a point where we weren’t talking like that. It was just weird because it had never been like that with me and her.”

    Sean also touched on how his mental health affected his career, stating that he lost the enjoyment he initially had in music. 

    “I realized that it all started with me,” he said. “I couldn’t point the finger at anyone else, I had to point it at myself, nurture those relationships that were important to me but most importantly nurture the relationship with myself.”

    Sean’s openness about mental health has had a positive impact on other men of color, including Ben Hurst, who works to promote gender equality in young men and boys. 

    “I’m in awe that he’s having that conversation,” Hurst told the BBC. “It just makes it OK. I started therapy recently and I remember when I started, I didn’t tell my family, there was a big reluctance inside of me to tell my friends and to have that conversation.”

    Hurst tells the BBC that when he was younger, it was ingrained in him to not discuss his feelings. 

    “Particularly in POC (people of color) communities, there’s a big pushback on talking about emotion, especially for men,” Hurst added. “It’s almost like when you’re young, you’re taught to not air business out in public, to not talk about stuff outside of the house.”

    Alex Leon, a charity worker, tells the BBC that openness from public figures such as Sean makes a difference when it comes to the dialogue around mental health. 

    “Sometimes we see statements where artists, musicians or activists talk about ‘difficult periods’ but they rarely give the name and say they were suffering from anxiety or depression—or, more importantly, say they saw a therapist,” said Leon. 

    “What Big Sean has done is a good step in the right direction for us to be able to tell men of color in the media that they should be speaking more openly because we need that representation,” he added.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Wearable Sensor Could Point To Anxiety, Depression In Kids

    Wearable Sensor Could Point To Anxiety, Depression In Kids

    New tech may help children better identify their own feelings.

    Whether or not a child suffers from an internalizing disorder like depression or anxiety may soon be identifiable through a wearable sensor, new research indicates.  

    According to PsyPost, a recent study put the sensors to the test. The study involved 63 children ages 3 to 8, both with and without internalizing disorders. The children wore a motion sensor which tracked their movement, and a machine learning algorithm then analyzed those movements. 

    Study author Ellen W. McGinnis, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Vermont Medical Center, says children struggle to identify their own feelings, so the sensor may help do so. 

    “Young children who suffer from anxiety and depression often have a lot of difficulty understanding and communicating their suffering—and for parents, it’s really difficult to read inner emotions of someone who doesn’t even understand themselves,” she said.  

    “This is also a large problem, with up to 1 in 5 children experiencing an internalizing disorder during childhood, that can lead to increased risk for serious health problems like chronic anxiety and depression, substance abuse, and suicide, later in life if left untreated,” added study co-author Ryan S. McGinnis, an assistant professor at the University of Vermont. 

    During the study, children were taken into a “dimly lit” room. A research assistant then made statements meant to increase the children’s anticipation. The statements included things like, “I have something to show you,” and, “Let’s be quiet so it doesn’t wake up.”

    The back of the room housed a covered terrarium. With the children in the room, the research assistant then pulled out a fake snake, assuring the children the assistant was allowed to play with the reptile. 

    This exercise and the sensors led researchers to determine that the children in the study with disorders like anxiety and depression were more apt to turn away before the snake was taken out. The algorithm from the machine did pick up on some variations between children with internalizing disorders versus those without—in fact, it was 81% accurate. 

    “Feasible objective screening of child anxiety and depression in young children is possible using wearable technology and is proving to be very sensitive—meaning we can find those previously overlooked kids and connect them to the services they need,” Ellen McGinnis told PsyPost.

    “Hopefully people will start to see technologies like these being deployed during their children’s pediatric well visits in the coming years,” Ryan McGinnis added.

    Though the results are promising, as with most small studies, researchers say a larger sample is needed to prove their results further.

    “A big caveat is that, although our results are intriguing and promising, we need to replicate them in a much larger, more diverse sample,” Ellen McGinnis told PsyPost. “In so doing, we’d like to partner with pediatricians to ensure that the resulting technology can easily fit within the workflow of a standard pediatric well visit.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Daniel Radcliffe Used Alcohol To Cope With Fame

    Daniel Radcliffe Used Alcohol To Cope With Fame

    Radcliffe discussed his past relationship with alcohol and decision to get sober on “Off Camera With Sam Jones.”

    Actor Daniel Radcliffe, who shot to fame when he was cast as Harry Potter, said that he used alcohol to cope with his sudden fame. 

    Radcliffe was discussing his sobriety on “Off Camera With Sam Jones.” According to E! News, Radcliffe was uncomfortable with how often he was recognized in his teens after he starred in the Harry Potter films. He would drink to cope with that anxiety, but realized that just led to more attention. 

    “There is an awareness that I really struggled with particularly in my late teens when I was going out to places for the first time where you would feel…again it could have largely been in my head but…you would feel watched when you went into a bar, when you went into a pub,” said Radcliffe, who is now 29. “Then, in my case, the quickest way of forgetting about the fact that you were being watched was to get very drunk and then as you get very drunk, you become aware that, oh people are watching more now because now I’m getting very drunk, so I should probably drink more to ignore that more.”

    Radcliffe said that it took him some time to break this cycle, but he was able to do it with the help of family. 

    “It took a few years and it took a couple of attempts. Ultimately, it was my own decision…I woke up one morning after a night going, ‘This is probably not good.’”

    He said in part his excessive drinking was an attempt to reconcile his new lifestyle. 

    “When I think of the sort of chaos that I used to invite into my life, I’m really much happier now and I think there was some part of me that was like actors have to be like crazy, cool drunks. I have to live up to this weird image that I have in my head of what it is to be a famous actor or something.”

    He also felt that he couldn’t be open about the downsides of his fame. 

    “Part of the thing is the expectation that you should just be delighted all the time. You have a great job, you’re wealthy, you don’t have a right to ever feel sad or to not be excited about the whole thing all the time and I think that’s a pressure as well.”

    Despite the challenges, he said he’s still grateful for the role that defined his career. 

    “Even at the lowest point, I still loved my job so much and I loved going to set and there was never a day where my own shit would affect how I was on set. There was never a point where I was like ‘I wished this didn’t happen to me. I wish I wasn’t Harry Potter,’ like that just didn’t happen.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Riverdale's Lili Reinhart Opens Up About Depression, Getting Treatment

    Riverdale's Lili Reinhart Opens Up About Depression, Getting Treatment

    “We are all human. And we all struggle. Don’t suffer in silence. Don’t feel embarrassed to ask for help,” Reinhart noted on Instagram.

    Riverdale actress Lili Reinhart used Instagram to announce through her Instagram story that she is again seeking help for anxiety and depression.

    The 22-year-old actress is best known for her Riverdale character, Betty—the part that launched her into stardom. By then, Reinhart had already experienced a profound bout with depression, at 18 when she came to Hollywood.

    She became physically sick from depression and moved home to North Carolina for help. After six months of working on her mental and emotional health, she returned to Hollywood, eventually landing the starring role that would make her a household name.

    Reinhart has been public about her mental health struggles, but not without concerns about the level of transparency she’s chosen. She told Teen Vogue, “It’s very much a constant balance of what do I share? What do I not share? I want to be authentic, but I also don’t want to give everyone parts of myself that they don’t need to know about.”

    Still, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the show’s creator and showrunner, told Teen Vogue of Reinhart, “She has a lot of contradictions, but the big thing is there’s nothing we can’t write for Lili that she cannot do. She’s sort of fearless.”

    This week Reinhart spoke about her depression and anxiety on Instagram, directly addressing those reading her words and encouraging anyone experiencing similar difficulties to speak out and get help if they’re feeling overwhelmed. 

    “Friendly reminder for anyone who needs to hear it,” Reinhart wrote, “Therapy is never something to feel ashamed of. Everyone can benefit from seeing a therapist. Doesn’t matter how old or ‘proud’ you’re trying to be.”

    The actress then added, “We are all human. And we all struggle. Don’t suffer in silence. Don’t feel embarrassed to ask for help. I’m 22. I have anxiety and depression And today I started therapy again.”

    Reinhart shared that her “journey of self-love” included therapy and medication.

    Selena Gomez is another young star who has been open about her mental health issues, which has included mental health facility stays and the therapeutic practice, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. DBT teaches skills such as emotional regulation, improving communication, and incorporating mindfulness practices.

    Gomez told Vogue, “I wish more people would talk about therapy. We girls, we’re taught to be almost too resilient, to be strong and sexy and cool and laid-back, the girl who’s down. We also need to feel allowed to fall apart.”

    Reinhart told Ocean Drive magazine a year ago, “I know so many other young people have [struggles with mental health], and I didn’t have someone who was talking about it. I remember being in middle and high school and hearing Demi Lovato speak up about her mental illness and that was comforting. But I wanted more people to stand up. I needed more people to relate to. I was like, all these people can’t be so happy, can they?”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Disney Alum Alyson Stoner Opens Up About Anxiety, Anorexia

    Disney Alum Alyson Stoner Opens Up About Anxiety, Anorexia

    The “Step Up” star got candid about her battle with anorexia and the rehab stay that saved her life in a recent interview.

    Alyson Stoner first broke through as a child star when she was nine years old as a dancer in Missy Elliott’s “Work It” video. She then transitioned to starring in films like Cheaper By the Dozen, Step Up, and the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock.

    Yet as Stoner, now 25, revealed to People, she suffered from anxiety and anorexia as a result of the grueling pressures of stardom. As early as age six, Stoner had health issues from stress. Her anxiety gave her heart palpitations, and she also suffered from hair loss and seizures. Eventually, Stoner developed binge-eating disorder, anorexia and exercise bulimia.

    “Some people are complimentary of me when it comes to maybe not acting out in ways that they see other child stars behaving. I was acting out, but I chose vices that were societally acceptable and praiseworthy,” Stoner told People.

    Stoner’s weight loss left some casting directors concerned about her wellbeing.  

    “They would just tell me that I need help and [need] to go home and take care of my health because my eyes were sunken in and I was tired and lifeless,” Stoner told People. “The scary part is I wasn’t even the smallest person on set.”

    Stoner was hospitalized in 2011 then went to rehab to deal with her disordered eating when she was several months away from turning 18. “I had actually wanted to get help for some time, and my schedule didn’t allow for it. I had already needed hospitalization, but I had to complete projects.”

    Once her acting work was done, Stoner got help.

    “I still have my hospital gown, binder and letters from other patients tucked in a drawer as a reminder of one of the best choices I’ve made for my health,” Stoner revealed.

    “How much of my health am I willing to sacrifice for my job?” she wondered after her rehab stay.

    In the music video for her new song “Stripped Bare,” Stoner shaves her head. Stoner called the decision “an act of mental health and confidence, not self-destruction.” Symbolically, Stoner added that with every lock of hair that fell from her head, so did “many beliefs and opinions and insecurities… and I’m leaving them there. I’m shedding one era and rising as a new being in real time.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Emma Stone Is Doing Her Part To Shatter Mental Health Stigma

    Emma Stone Is Doing Her Part To Shatter Mental Health Stigma

    The actress has joined the board of an organization dedicated to helping children with mental health and learning disorders.

    Actress Emma Stone, who has spoken publicly about her struggles with anxiety, is joining the board of directors at The Child Mind Institute, a non-profit organization that supports children with learning and mental health disorders. 

    “I’m honored to join the board of The Child Mind Institute. This is a stigma-shattering organization I am deeply passionate about, and I’m looking forward to helping the Child Mind Institute continue to advance its critically important work,”  Stone, 30, said in a statement to PEOPLE.

    Stone has dealt with anxiety since she was a teenager, but has said that acting — and therapy — have helped her keep her anxiety under control. She works to let others, especially young people, know that they can have a fulfilling life despite anxiety. 

    “Emma’s courage in openly discussing her story with anxiety is inspirational,” said Dr. Harold S Koplewicz, president of The Child Mind Institute. “It offers hope to millions of kids that it is possible to overcome their own challenges and thrive.”

    In 2017, Stone recorded a video as part of the institute’s awareness campaign that asked people to share what they would like to tell their younger selves. 

    “What I could tell kids who are going through anxiety, which I have, is that you’re so normal it’s crazy,” she said. “It’s so normal, everyone experiences a version of anxiety or worry in their lives and maybe we go through it in a different or more intense way, or for longer periods of time, but there’s nothing wrong with you.”

    Stone talked about the often over-looked flip-side to anxiety.  

    “To be a sensitive person that cares a lot, that takes things in in a deeper way, is actually part of what makes you amazing and is one of the greatest gifts in life: you think a lot, you feel a lot, and it’s the best,” Stone said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world even when there are really hard times.”

    She said that over time she has learned how to manage her anxiety and what things are likely to set it off.  

    “There are so many tools you can use to help yourself in those [bad] time, and it does get better and easier as life goes on and you get to know yourself more and what will trigger certain instances of anxiety, and where you feel comfortable and safe.” 

    Overall, experiencing anxiety is very common, she said. 

    “Don’t ever feel like you’re a weirdo for it because we’re all weirdos.”

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Benzo Death Rates Among Women Skyrocket

    Benzo Death Rates Among Women Skyrocket

    A new report also shows the number of benzodiazepine prescriptions has sharply risen over an 18-year timeframe.

    New statistics suggest that the overdose death rates involving the prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines have risen dramatically over the past decade, and approach statistics for heroin – and synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths.

    A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that between 1999 and 2017, the number of women between the ages of 30 and 64 who died from an drug overdose involving benzodiazepines – a family of drugs used for anxiety – rose 830% during that time period.

    The CDC also found that prescriptions for benzodiazepines rose by 67% during the approximate same time period.

    Benzodiazepines, which include such medications as Xanax, Valium and Klonopin, can prove effective in treating conditions like anxiety or insomnia if taken on an intermittent basis over a period of a few weeks. But with long-term use, they also carry an increased risk for overdose if taken with opioids.

    Their ability to calm or sedate the user through an increase in the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain, which can be dangerous if taken with drugs that slow breathing like opioids or even alcohol. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported in 2018 that 30% of opioid-related overdoses also involved benzodiazepines.

    The overall impact of benzodiazepine on overdose mortality rates paints a more alarming picture when observed over the time period covered in the CDC’s report. According to their research, overdose deaths involving benzodiazepines among women in the aforementioned target age group rose from 0.54 per 100,000 in 1997 to 5.02 per 100,000 in 2017 – a jump of 830%. 

    The number of benzodiazepine prescriptions also saw a startling increase during the study time frame, rising from 8.1 million adults in the United States who filled a prescription for the medication in 1996 to 13.5 million in 2013.

    Prescriptions began to drop or level off after 2013, but overdose deaths maintained their steady climb: in 2016 alone, there were 10,685 overdose deaths attributed to the drug, while in 1999, the US total as just 1,135.

    Commentary in the February 2018 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine suggested that education about the dangers of the drug and alternatives should be paired with national efforts to fight the opioid crisis.

    Informing doctors and patients alike about their dangers, and the effectiveness of alternative treatments for anxiety and insomnia, could help to bring the numbers reported by the CDC down.

    View the original article at thefix.com

  • Is There A Link Between Anxiety And Weight Loss?

    Is There A Link Between Anxiety And Weight Loss?

    Recent findings may make developing drugs to treat obesity and anxiety much easier.

    New research on mice suggests that there is a connection between anxiety and burning fat. 

    According to New Atlas, researchers say the connection comes from a molecule that seems to connect the two. Researchers believe these findings could aid in developing drugs for managing both anxiety and obesity. 

    The research was conducted by scientists at Florida’s Scripps Research Institute and carried out on mice. Researchers focused on a molecule called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is known to “promote the growth and function of brain cells and recent research has linked it to schizophrenia, memory and experimental Alzheimer’s treatments.”

    Baoji Xu, a Scripps Institute obesity researcher, says that in observing certain mice that were engineered to lack the BDNF molecule, she noticed another potential function of it.

    She notes that just like with humans, there was a connection between times of stress and anxiety and weight loss in mice, even when the mice were specifically given a diet intended to lead to weight gain.

    “Even on a high-fat diet, these mice were really lean,” Xu said, according to New Atlas. “Could the same thing be happening in humans?”

    To fully understand this connection, researchers adjusted their study in an attempt to learn more. 

    In order to do so, researchers needed BDNF to be working in certain parts of the brain, but not in other parts. So they first eliminated the BDNF gene in the brain’s cortex, hippocampus and amygdala regions, according to New Atlas.

    After doing so, the mice still displayed anxiety symptoms. Upon further study, researchers found that the elimination of BDNF was impacting the neurotransmitter GABA, which has to do with slowing signals in the brain and creating a sense of relaxation. 

    In studying the BDNF-less mice, researchers determined that they had an “elevated basal metabolic rate,” which means they were “expending more energy just to keep their anxious bodies in working order,” according to New Atlas.

    It was also discovered that the mice produced more brown fat, which is a type of fat that burns energy to create body warmth. 

    Though the results of this study could prove helpful in creating drugs to treat anxiety and weight loss, there will have to be more thorough research conducted first. However, researchers are still hopeful based on these preliminary results. 

    “We’ve found a relationship between anxiety and weight loss,” says Xu. “This research could guide new therapies for anxiety and help researchers design treatments for obesity.”

    View the original article at thefix.com