Jessica received her MA in Biological Sciences and her DPhil in Neurobehavioural Genetics from the University of Oxford (Magdalen College). After completing her post-doctoral research, she moved into scientific editing and publishing, first working for Spandidos Publications (London, UK) and then moving to Nature Publishing Group. Jessica is now a freelance editor and science writer, and started writing for “The Bridge” in December 2017.
Anxiety disorders
Jessica received her MA in Biological Sciences and her DPhil in Neurobehavioural Genetics from the University of Oxford (Magdalen College). After completing her post-doctoral research, she moved into scientific editing and publishing, first working for Spandidos Publications (London, UK) and then moving to Nature Publishing Group. Jessica is now a freelance editor and science writer, and started writing for “The Bridge” in December 2017.
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Adult ABMT protocols need adapting for effective use in children
Attention bias modification treatment (ABMT) aims to target attention biases in threat processing in patients with anxiety1. While ABMT seems to be effective in adults with social anxiety disorder (SAD),2,3 its effect in youths with SAD and the potential treatment moderators are unclear. In 2016, Lee Pergamin-Hight and colleagues conducted a randomised controlled trial to explore the efficacy of ABMT in youths and the influence of possible moderators of treatment outcomes.
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Parent-led group CBT training can reduce anxiety in children
A brief psychological intervention in which parents and carers are supported in applying cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles in their child’s day-to-day life can lead to good outcomes for child anxiety disorders, according to new research.
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FRIENDS programme reduced anxiety, but has no effect on school academic performance
Professor Paul Stallard and colleagues have analysed data from the randomised controlled trial “Preventing Anxiety in Children through Education in Schools” that involved >1,300 children aged 9-10 years from 40 primary schools across England.
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MEG confirms hyper-vigilance followed by threat avoidance in children with anxiety disorder
A key etiological factor of anxiety disorders is an altered pattern of threat processing, but its neurobiological basis is relatively unclear.
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Effects of development must be considered when examining interpretation bias in children with anxiety
Anxiety is often treated using interventions that target interpretation bias, but the link between interpretation bias and anxiety in children is unclear. Now, in a Research Review published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, Suzannah Stuijfzand and colleagues have performed a meta-analysis of the literature to establish whether this association in children really does exist.
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Negative interpretation bias in adolescents with subclinical social anxiety disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a marked fear or anxiety of social situations where an individual may be exposed to possible scrutiny by others. Now, Yura Loscalzo and colleagues have examined the contribution of different components of interpretation bias — a model proposed to explain SAD whereby affected individuals systematically assign a threatening meaning to an objectively ambiguous stimulus with several possible interpretations.
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Self image estimations impact on mental health
Our overall estimation of “self image” is thought to be based on various parameters, such as perceptions of body image, mental function and social attitude. Now, a study by Maria Di Blasi and colleagues has investigated the extent by which these different parameters can influence psychological well-being.
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Elevated anxiety risk in sexual minority adolescents
Adolescents that are not exclusively heterosexual (“sexual minority”) are at an increased risk of developing an anxiety disorder compared to their heterosexual counterparts, according to recent data from a prospective birth cohort study.
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Rumination affects mother–infant interactions
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