Fear and Phobias 1: Arachnophobia

Photo Credit: Daniel Catt

Arachnaphobia is the fear of spiders and of being bitten or even touched by a spider. This phobia, again, has its uses since some spiders are poisonous, so steering clear is a good idea.

But spiders also have their good points, including getting rid of insects and cleaning up those insects that can make life even more difficult. The phobia may be caused by either having had a bad experience in or near a spider of by witnessing someone else's fear of spiders. The latter is called a phobia by contagion. It's a common concern for many people.

Behavioral treatments for those who find this phobia incapacitating is very helpful as is relaxation exercises while either thinking of spiders, looking at pictures of them or being in the same room as a spider.

Related Topics:

• Fear and Phobias: The Top 10 Plus One
• Understanding Phobias

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Ten Tips for a Stress-Free School Year

Fall brings with it a return to the work world for adults and to school for children. Whether it's kindergarten, grade school, high school or college, school has its challenges and so does work. The US Government recognized that school was actually children's "work" when it permitted disability allowances for children who couldn't perform adequately at school. How children perform in school isn't only a function of their individual abilities, but it's a part of the equation where parents and community play a major role.

The number of children who will be diagnosed as having anxiety disorders or depression is sufficient for us to recognize that it's a very real problem that has life-long consequences. I've seen estimates of 19 million children diagnosed with anxiety.

An anxious child cannot concentrate sufficiently to absorb what is taught in the classroom and, therefore, that child is at a disadvantage academically. If this goes on for a few years, the child falls farther and farther behind his/her peers and the problems associated with going to school mount as do the behavioral problems associated with poor performance in school. It was once called "school phobia," but it is more appropriately recognized as much more than one single problem. The anxiety these children feel stems from their social interactions, the school requirements, their preparation for school and the home to which they go each afternoon. All of it must mesh in order for this child to succeed to the best of their abilities.

Here are my new "golden rules" for a child's school success.

1. Read to your young child each evening, if you can and help them to discover the wonder of reading. "Reading is probably your child's most valuable key to learning. If they can't read well, it is like putting a huge boulder on the road before them and giving them no tools to move it. Reading builds vocabulary and this is one central element in all testing."


2. Help your child "grow" their vocabulary. If possible, encourage participation in word games or even word-find puzzles. Words can be the key to opening an interest in history and social studies, so use the origin of words to broad their interests.


3. Teach your child how to organize their activities and their study materials. Anxiety is compounded by not being able to find materials and when deadlines are put off until the last minute. Here we have the beginning of the 'the dog ate my homework' scenario.


4. Set up a schedule for school-related activities and those your child enjoys with friends or family. Remember the saying "all work and no play makes Jack/Jill a dull boy/girl?" Don't make your child's day an endless series of "must do" activities.


5. Remember that later in their school experience critical thinking will be invaluable and it's in the beginning years of school that you help shape this ability. "Why" questions are a way children begin this search for meaning in their world. Direct them to something that will provide answers they can understand and enjoyment at the same time.


6. Relaxing is just as an important part of your child's day as working. How many children are taught how to relax? I don't think people realize their children may need some help in learning to relax, because they still think that a child's world is one devoid of problems and just packed with fun. If it were, how come so many kids are anxious? Try teaching them some relaxation breathing techniques that can be done at home or in school when they become tense.


7. Plan family activities and give your children something to look forward to other than summer vacation. It's good for them and it's good for you.


8. Begin to help them develop problem-solving skills and help them understand that some things take thought and planning and can't be solved immediately. Build up their ability to control their impulsivity. "It's wonderful to want to do things NOW, but it's not always the best route. Maze games make this point beautifully."


9. Encourage skill development in some sport or activity. This helps build self-confidence and acceptance that sometimes mistakes are a part of learning. Who ever shot a hole-in-one the first time they went on the golf course? Why should you expect your child to do something like this the first time they try something? First times are beginnings and you want to let them have as many beginnings as they want or need.


10. Offer a helping hand, a soft shoulder and a ready ear and you will be giving your child one of the greatest gifts they will ever receive.

Related Topics:

• Overcoming First-Day Jitters
• WebMD Video: Preparing for School

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Sleep and Its Increasing Importance in Our Mental Health

Our society does not have an adequate understanding of sleep and the many aspects of our life which are affected by a lack of sleep. Many years ago, I had the pleasure of working with some of the best-known sleep researchers in the world and I learned, first-hand, how important sleep was. I even met one of the truly outstanding researchers in the sleep field, Dr. William C. Dement of Stanford University. Dr. Dement is now the Chairman of the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research. Dr. Dement, in fact, was one of the first people to talk about "sleep debt" and how it hurts us.

We know that sleepy drivers probably cause more traffic accidents and deaths than any other drivers on the road. While there are a few devices meant to keep these drivers alert, nothing beats a good night's sleep and this has been tested out in studies done with over-the-road truck drivers and airline pilots. I'm sure they've even done work with air traffic control personnel. But does lack of sleep affect us in ways other than our ability to perform complex tasks? It seems it does.

In a study which began in 1984 with 25,000 Norwegian adults, researchers found that chronic insomnia or lack of sleep led to an increased likelihood of suffering from both depression and anxiety and developing a disorder of either one or both.

We know that insomnia is associated with depression, normally, and that chronic anxiety can also lead to sleep problems, but here we have something that is pointing to the reverse; sleep disorders resulting in anxiety and depression.

You can read the report for yourself in the journal, Sleep.

Related Topics:

• Sleep Deprivation Blurs Moral Judgment
• Poor Sleep Hurts Job Satisfaction

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Secondhand Smoke: The Cause for Kids' Psychiatric Problems?

Photo Credit: Richard Miske

We've been hearing about it for a long time now. Second-hand smoke isn't good for anyone and that no one has a right to force anyone to be an "unwilling smoker" just by virtue of having to walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke. Businesses and restaurants have new rules about where people may smoke, but they don't seem to have gotten around to a rule about how many feet you have to be away from an entrance to a building to smoke. If you're right outside the entrance smoking, anyone entering the building is forced to "smoke" your discarded puffs.

The July issue of Child Psychiatry and Human Development carried an article which dealt with second-hand smoke in another context - that of children and possible psychological problems. The researchers enlisted 133 women and 171 children, boys mostly, in a study funded by The National Institute of Mental Health, that looked at three situations; one in which there was no prenatal smoke exposure, a second where mothers smoked in their last two trimesters and one where mothers were exposed to second-hand smoke either at work or in the home during the last two trimesters.

The second and third groups' children showed more symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorders than mothers who were in a smoke-free environment. The researchers concluded that the more smoke exposure, the more severe the symptoms in the children.

The culprit in these cases was nicotine, a potent compound that affects brain development in those crucial second and third trimesters of pregnancy. The researchers believe that the nicotine results in overstimulation of the important brain chemical, dopamine. These children may "have colic and are hard to sooth as infants. As toddlers they are overactive and oppositional. Later on they are irritable, inattentive and low on pleasure."

Related Topics:

• New Clues on Causes of ADHD
• WebMD Video: Does Your Child Have ADHD?

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Ketamine and Depression

The search for medications to alleviate the suffering of those with both depression and anxiety has led to many strange places. Now, one of the most promising drugs that is being looked at with renewed interest is ketamine, known in clubs as "Special K" because of the quick high it brings. It is also used in surgery on both humans and animals as an effective anesthetic.

Ketamine, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), seems to be effective in treating depression in hours, not days or weeks as current medications. The doses being studied are very low and the research is proceeding cautiously.

Not so long ago, we heard that LSD may hold promise for treating certain anxiety disorders, but that research doesn't seem as promising as ketamine. The research study on ketamine appears in the July 23, 2007 issue of Biological Psychiatry. The director of NIMH, Dr. Thomas R. Insel, believes that this study will point the way to new target areas in the brain that may provide even more promising research into the treatment of depression.

Link to the NIMH release

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• WebMD Video: Ketamine For Chronic Pain
• Insomnia May Spur Anxiety Disorders

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Fear and Phobias: The Top 10 Plus One

I had planned to begin a new series today on the 10 most common phobias, but in light of the news of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, I'm adding an extra.

Here are the 10 most common phobias, in the order listed:

1. Arachnophobia (spiders)
2. Social phobia
3. Aerophobia (flying)
4. Agoraphobia
5. Claustrophobia (enclosed or confined spaces)
6. Acrophobia (heights)
7. Emetophobia (vomit)
8. Carcinophobia (cancer)
9. Brontophobia (thunder)
10. Necrophobia (death or dead things)

Today, however, in this series on phobias, I am going to add one that is a serious phobia, but not in the top 10 list; gephyrophobia, an abnormal fear of crossing bridges.

By Tom Ruen

The bridge in Minneapolis, MN, no doubt, has heightened this fear in those who never liked crossing bridges in the first place, and has probably created a definite fear of crossing bridges in others. In some there will be yet another anxiety disorder as the result of this tragedy and that is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

This is a serious and often life-impairing disorder in terms of daily functioning. It will not be apparent immediately and it's important for those around people who were involved in the bridge collapse to help when needed. Often six months may pass before the more debiliatating form of PTSD makes itself apparent.

Immediately following the bridge collapse there will be stress-related traumatic disorder that may last up to three or four months when it will begin to subside.

While people with gephyrophobia know that their fear is unreasonable, it, nevertheless, grips them to the point that they may experience a panic attack when they approach a bridge. It is often associated with a fear of heights (acrophobia) because bridge have high spans over canyons, gorges and rivers. It is fairly common and is derived, as most phobias are, from combining the Greek words for bridge (gephyra) and fear (phobos).

How do we help those with the fear of crossing bridges? The most useful and successful techniques is a behavioral intervention where people are helped to learn relaxation techniques while envisioning going across a bridge and they are worked up with therapy to where they can, once again, cross a bridge. The term for this is systematic desensitization. It takes time, and sometimes a bit of medication, but it can be done and in parts of the world where bridge travel is an absolute necessity, is very helpful.

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• WebMD Magazine: The Truth About Phobias

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