Social Anxiety Resources
Help with social anxiety on the web courtesy of Google Health [a discontinued Google arm]. Questionnaires, assessments, information aplenty.
| The Shyness Home Page – http://www.shyness.com/ Links to resources; information about The Shyness Institute in Palo Alto, California. |
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| Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Association – http://www.socialphobia.org/ Non-profit organization, seeking to educate the public about social phobia, the most common anxiety disorder. |
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| Shake Your Shyness – http://www.shakeyourshyness.com Tips for overcoming shyness, recommended reading, links, and treatment resources for children and adults. |
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| Berent Associates Center For Social Therapy – http://www.social-anxiety.com Informational pages and self-assessment tools regarding shyness, social anxiety, social phobia, panic attacks, selective mutism, self-esteem and related problems. |
| The Social Anxiety Network – http://www.social-anxiety-network.com Defines, describes, and provides treatment alternatives for social anxiety disorder (social phobia). Articles, self-help books, audio tapes, a mailing list, a chat room, and therapeutic information is provided. |
CBT for Anxiety
Curious about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and its approach to anxiety? Take a look at this 106-page info and worksheet pack posted by the University of Huddersfield. Lays it out clearly and simply–might be helpful. Here’s the complete packet, “Working to Overcome Anxiety.” (via Therapy Worksheets)
Antidepressants for Pilots
Strong reactions from depression/medication/flying-wary net commenters to a story that the FAA has changed policy and now will allow pilots to take one of four approved antidepressants. The story, from MSNBC:
“We need to change the culture and remove the stigma associated with depression,” Babbitt said. “Pilots should be able to get the medical treatment they need so they can safely perform their duties.”
Anxiety v. Depression
MRIs and emotional word tests indicate depressed worriers may have an advantage.
The study found the brain scans of a worried and depressed person doing the emotional word task were very different from those of a vigilant or panicky depressed person.
Despite depression, the worriers did better on the emotional word task because they were better able to ignore the meaning of negative words and focus on the task — identifying the color and not the emotional content of the words.
Stress Studies
Just came across this collection of studies about stress–what helps, what doesn’t. The last few posts:
Acupuncture Treats Anxiety at the Dentist
And a new study about neurogenesis in lab-stressed mice.
Stress Gathering
My report from the first day of the L.A. Mind-Body Conference is up at the Huffington Post.
Happily Married
David Brooks surveys the happiness literature in an op-ed, The Sandra Bullock Trade.
If the relationship between money and well-being is complicated, the correspondence between personal relationships and happiness is not. The daily activities most associated with happiness are sex, socializing after work and having dinner with others. The daily activity most injurious to happiness is commuting. According to one study, joining a group that meets even just once a month produces the same happiness gain as doubling your income. According to another, being married produces a psychic gain equivalent to more than $100,000 a year.
Food Addiction
Posted at PsychCentral, Drug, Food Addiction Share Common Source:
A new study shows that the same molecular mechanisms that drive an individual into drug addiction are behind the compulsion to overeat, pushing an individual into obesity.
An individual rat, at least.
Tech Support
Article + resources: Social Networks a Lifeline for the Chronically Ill:
People fighting chronic illnesses are less likely than others to have Internet access, but once online they are more likely to blog or participate in online discussions about health problems […] They are gathering on big patient networking sites like PatientsLikeMe, HealthCentral, Inspire, CureTogether and Alliance Health Networks, and on small sites started by patients on networks like Ning and Wetpaint.
When Your Partner is a Sex Addict
A series of Q&A’s about sex addiction is underway at the NYT–therapists answering reader mail on the topic. Lively, diagnosis-doubting commenters by the dozen follow.