Features of manifestations of anxiety conditions of primary schoolchildren from incomplete families: empirical experience

In the article notes the relevance of the problem of manifestations of anxiety states in junior schoolchildren from single-parent families. The essence of anxiety as an emotional state (the experience of emotional discomfort associated with the expectation of trouble) and a personality trait (an increased tendency to feel safe in any life situations) is revealed. The results of the study of anxiety states in junior schoolchildren from single-parent families, which made it possible to determine the high level of manifestation of anxiety in various life situations and to highlight the dominant factors of its formation, are presented.

Gabapentin and pregabalin in bipolar disorder, anxiety states, and insomnia: Systematic review, meta-analysis, and rationale

The gabapentinoids, gabapentin, and pregabalin, target the α2δ subunits of voltage-gated calcium channels. Initially licensed for pain and seizures, they have become widely prescribed drugs. Many of these uses are off-label for psychiatric indications, and there is increasing concern about their safety, so it is particularly important to have good evidence to justify this usage. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence for three of their common psychiatric uses: bipolar disorder, anxiety, and insomnia. Fifty-five double-blind randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 15 open-label studies were identified. For bipolar disorder, four double-blind RCTs investigating gabapentin, and no double-blind RCTs investigating pregabalin, were identified. A quantitative synthesis could not be performed due to heterogeneity in the study population, design and outcome measures. Across the anxiety spectrum, a consistent but not universal effect in favour of gabapentinoids compared to placebo was seen (standardised mean difference [SMD] ranging between -2.25 and -0.25). Notably, pregabalin (SMD -0.55, 95% CI -0.92 to -0.18) and gabapentin (SMD -0.92, 95% CI -1.32 to -0.52) were more effective than placebo in reducing preoperative anxiety. In insomnia, results were inconclusive. We conclude that there is moderate evidence of the efficacy of gabapentinoids in anxiety states, but minimal evidence in bipolar disorder and insomnia and they should be used for these disorders only with strong justification. This recommendation applies despite the attractive pharmacological and genetic rationale for targeting voltage-gated calcium channels.

An extended amygdala-midbrain circuit controlling cocaine withdrawal-induced anxiety and reinstatement

While midbrain dopamine (DA) neuronal circuits are central to motivated behaviors, much remains unknown about our knowledge of how these circuits are modified over time by experience to facilitate selective aspects of experience-dependent plasticity. Most studies of the DA system in drug addiction focus on the role of the mesolimbic DA pathway from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in facilitating drug-associated reward. In contrast, less is known about how midbrain DA cells and associated circuits contribute to negative affective states including anxiety that emerge during protracted withdrawal from drug administration. Here, we demonstrate the selective role of a midbrain DA projection to the amygdala (VTADA-Amygdala) for anxiety that develops during protracted withdrawal from cocaine administration but does not participate in cocaine reward or sensitization. Our rabies virus-mediated circuit mapping approach revealed a persistent elevation in spontaneous and task-related activity of GABAergic cells from the bed nucleus of the stria terminals (BNST) and downstream VTADA-Amygdala cells that could be detected even after a single cocaine exposure. Activity in BNSTGABA cells was related to cocaine-induced anxiety but not reward or sensitization, and silencing the projection from these cells to the midbrain was sufficient to prevent the development of anxiety during protracted withdrawal following cocaine administration. We observed that VTADA-Amygdala cells, but not other midbrain DA cells, were strongly activated after a challenge exposure to cocaine, and found that activity in these cells was necessary for the expression of reinstatement of cocaine place preference. Lastly, the importance of activity in VTADA-Amygdala cells extends beyond cocaine, as these cells mediate the development of anxiety states triggered by morphine and a predator odor. Our results provide an exemplar for how to identify key circuit substrates that contribute to behavioral adaptations and reveal a critical role for BNSTGABA-VTADA-Amygdala pathway in anxiety states induced by drugs of abuse or natural experiences as well as cocaine-primed reinstatement of conditioned place preference.

Effects of Patient-Selected Music Listening on the Pain and Anxiety of Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

This study aimed to analyze the influence of patient-selected music listening on the pain and anxiety levels of hemodialysis patients after undergoing a vascular access operation. Methods: Sixty five patients were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n = 32) or the control group (n = 33). The experimental group was instructed to listen to their favorite music using headphones during their operations at the center. The control group underwent the operations without listening to any music. The pain measurement during vascular access operation was measured by subjective pain and objective pain behavior; anxiety was measured by subjective anxiety and anxiety states. Results: The experimental group reported significantly lower subjective pain levels than the control group (t = 9.36, p = 0.003). Regarding objective pain behaviors, the experimental group had a significantly lower score than the control group (t = 4.59, p = 0.036). The experimental group had significantly lowered subjective anxiety compared to the control group (F = 10.10, p = 0.002). Regarding anxiety states, the experimental group had significantly lower scores than the control group (F = 23.34, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results suggest that patient-selected music listening reduced hemodialysis patients’ pain and anxiety levels during vascular access operations. Therefore, music medicine can be included as a new clinical intervention.

Detecting Subclinical Social Anxiety Using Physiological Data From a Wrist-Worn Wearable: Small-Scale Feasibility Study

Background Subclinical (ie, threshold) social anxiety can greatly affect young people’s lives, but existing solutions appear inadequate considering its rising prevalence. Wearable sensors may provide a novel way to detect social anxiety and result in new opportunities for monitoring and treatment, which would be greatly beneficial for persons with social anxiety, society, and health care services. Nevertheless, indicators such as skin temperature measured by wrist-worn sensors have not been used in prior work on physiological social anxiety detection. Objective This study aimed to investigate whether subclinical social anxiety in young adults can be detected using physiological data obtained from wearable sensors, including heart rate, skin temperature, and electrodermal activity (EDA). Methods Young adults (N=12) with self-reported subclinical social anxiety (measured using the widely used self-reported version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale) participated in an impromptu speech task. Physiological data were collected using an E4 Empatica wearable device. Using the preprocessed data and following a supervised machine learning approach, various classification algorithms such as Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) were used to develop models for 3 different contexts. Models were trained to differentiate (1) between baseline and socially anxious states, (2) among baseline, anticipation anxiety, and reactive anxiety states, and (3) social anxiety among individuals with social anxiety of differing severity. The predictive capability of the singular modalities was also explored in each of the 3 supervised learning experiments. The generalizability of the developed models was evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation as a performance index. Results With modalities combined, the developed models yielded accuracies between 97.54% and 99.48% when differentiating between baseline and socially anxious states. Models trained to differentiate among baseline, anticipation anxiety, and reactive anxiety states yielded accuracies between 95.18% and 98.10%. Furthermore, the models developed to differentiate between social anxiety experienced by individuals with anxiety of differing severity scores successfully classified with accuracies between 98.86% and 99.52%. Surprisingly, EDA was identified as the most effective singular modality when differentiating between baseline and social anxiety states, whereas ST was the most effective modality when differentiating anxiety among individuals with social anxiety of differing severity. Conclusions The results indicate that it is possible to accurately detect social anxiety as well as distinguish between levels of severity in young adults by leveraging physiological data collected from wearable sensors.

Detecting Subclinical Social Anxiety Using Physiological Data from a Wrist-worn Wearable: A Small-Scale Feasibility Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Subclinical (i.e., threshold) social anxiety can greatly affect young people’s lives, but existing solutions appear inadequate considering its rising prevalence. Wearable sensors may provide a novel way to detect social anxiety and result in new opportunities for monitoring and treatment that would be greatly beneficial for sufferers, society and healthcare services. Nevertheless, indicators such as skin temperature from wrist-worn sensors have not been used in prior work on physiological social anxiety detection. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to investigate whether subclinical social anxiety in young adults can be detected using physiological data obtained from wearable sensors, including Heart Rate (HR), Skin Temperature (ST) and Electrodermal Activity (EDA). METHODS Young adults (N = 12) with self-reported subclinical social anxiety (measured by the widely used self-reported version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, LSAS-SR) participated in an impromptu speech task. Physiological data was collected using an E4 Empatica wearable device. Using the pre-processed data and following a supervised machine learning approach, various classification algorithms such as Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree, Random Forest and K-Nearest Neighbours (KNN) were used to develop models for three different contexts. Models were trained to (1) classify between baseline and socially anxious states, (2) differentiate between baseline, anticipation anxiety and reactive anxiety states, and (3) classify between social anxiety experienced by individuals with differing social anxiety severity. The predictive capability of the singular modalities was also explored in each of the three supervised learning experiments. The generalisability of the developed models was evaluated using 10-fold cross validation as a performance index. RESULTS With modalities combined, the developed models yielded accuracies between 97.54% and 99.48% when detecting between baseline and socially anxious states. Models trained to differentiate between baseline, anticipation anxiety and reactive anxiety states yielded accuracies between 95.18% and 98.10%. Alongside this, the models developed to detect between social anxiety experienced by individuals with differing anxiety severity scores successfully classified with accuracies between 98.86% and 99.52%. Surprisingly, EDA was identified as the most effective singular modality when differentiating between baseline and social anxiety states, whereas ST was the most effective modality when differentiating between anxiety experienced by individuals with differing social anxiety severity. CONCLUSIONS The results indicate that it is possible to accurately detect social anxiety as well as distinguish between levels of severity in young adults by leveraging physiological data collected from wearable sensors.

ANALYSIS OF ANXIETY AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENON AND USING ART THERAPY WORK WITH CLAY IN THERAPY FOR ANXIETY

The article contains an exposition of the theoretical analysis of the main scientific approaches to the study of the concept of "anxiety states" and the differentiation and correlation of the concepts of anxiety, situational and personal anxiety, anxiety state. The psychological, physiological and social aspects of the emergence and manifestation of anxiety states are analyzed. Phobic to asthenic components of anxiety states are described. The reasons and consequences of anxiety in various senses of anxiety as an emotional and psychological state are considered. We see the importance of studying anxiety states in the growth trend of negative emotions in society, and in the demand for psychological support. Among modern methods of psychotherapy for anxiety states, we choose art therapy as one of the ecological means of overcoming feelings of fear, anger, shame and other negative emotional states. Particular attention is paid to the consideration of art therapy work with clay as a psychotherapeutic method of anxious personality states. A description is made and general characteristics and features of art therapy work with clay are given. Based on the study of a number of foreign studies on art therapy with clay, we saw evidence of a close correlation between the physiological and psychological aspects of human life through the experience of contact, as one of the very first basic personal experiences. When interacting with clay in the context of an art therapy process, each hand movement provides instant feedback to the brain, provides non-verbal access to psychological and sensorimotor processes. Natural clay is a natural, ecological and affordable material that provides the creation of three-dimensional objects and naturally promotes significant psychological processes through touch, revealing significant information about the inner world of the creators. Therefore, clay art therapy can be a powerful tool for solving many basic problems and stimulating an individual to social-emotional development. The relevance of the upcoming study is due to the urgent need to use psychotherapeutic methods of an innovative and systemic nature in working with anxiety states. We determine the prospect of our research in the development of a program for a therapeutic program for anxiety states using clay as a method of art therapy.