Anxiety
Prednisone Can Cause Anxiety, Depression and Ins…
Corticosteroids are both a blessing and a curse. They can calm a serious allergic reaction and reduce inflammation. People with asthma may profit from a drug like prednisone during a flareup. Patients…
Vitamin D Supplements for Babies May Boost Kids&…
Vitamin D is an essential nutrient for both children and adults. Long ago, scientists dubbed it the "sunshine vitamin" because skin can synthesize it in the presence of sunlight. Doctors in northern c…
Are You “Addicted” to Your Prescription Medi…
Before you read another word, rethink the term addiction! It is loaded with emotional baggage and is a terrible description of drug dependence. It often implies character flaws or vulnerability and fr…
Is There a Downside to Ashwagandha?
Have you been looking for natural ways to get some sleep? That is certainly understandable. When you are worrying about family members and friends, you may not be able to sleep well. Some herbs could …
Coping with Anxiety During Really Stressful Time…
If you aren’t a wee bit anxious, you have either been living in a cave for the last few years or you pay zero attention to the news. An awful lot of your friends, neighbors and family members have b…
Benzodiazepine Dependence | A Hard Habit to Kick
When most people hear the words “drug abuse” they think of opioids like oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl or heroin. Other contenders include stimulants like cocaine and methamphetamine (“meth”…
Show 1262: How to Manage Your Anxiety (Archive)
More than two years of living through a pandemic has really increased anxiety for a lot of people. If we define anxiety as worry or unease about an imminent event with an uncertain outcome, it’s eas…
Do Doctors Know How to Help Patients Stop Medica…
Starting a new prescription is easy. If your doctor tells the pharmacist to write on the label, "take once a day with food," you know exactly what to do. Most people can manage such a simple instructi…
Long COVID Is Common and Scary!
When COVID-19 first appeared, it seemed as if there were just two outcomes for people who caught it: they died, or they got better. Now, though, many people who survive their bout with the coronavirus…
Show 1303: The Mental Health Crisis Affecting Am…
This week on our nationally syndicated radio show, we talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Matt Richtel. His latest series for The New York Times takes a long look at the mental health crisis a…
Show 1315: Are We Medicating Normal Emotions?
This week on our nationally syndicated radio show, we examine the consequences of prescriptions for anxiety or grief. All of us, at some point in our lives, will experience some of these emotions. If …
Stopping Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Suddenly Flipped …
Antidepressants like desvenlafaxine (Pristiq), duloxetine (Cymbalta), sertraline (Zoloft) and venlafaxine (Effexor) have become extremely popular. Millions take such drugs regularly. We have even seen…
Show 1271: New Approaches to Managing Depression…
For many months now, people have been dealing with the pandemic, Which has brought both grief for the lives lost and anxiety about the threat of infection. At the same time, fires and floods have made…
Can You Fight Depression by Eating the Mediterra…
Depression is challenging to treat during the best of times. During the pandemic it has been especially difficult, because therapists have been overwhelmed with cases. Zoom therapy is not always an id…
Show 1287: Managing Stress and Anxiety During CO…
The COVID-19 pandemic has been dragging on for longer than most people imagined possible. With each new variant, cases surge and people need to make complex risk calculations about school, work and so…
Can You Deal with Depression and Manage Anxiety?
For more than two years now, all of us have had to deal with major disruptions in our lives. Coronavirus changed the way we live almost overnight. What's more, every time we've thought it might be com…
How To Stop Duloxetine (Cymbalta) Without Withdr…
Based on what we hear from readers of our syndicated newspaper column and visitors to this website, most patients are not warned about how to stop duloxetine (Cymbalta). Perhaps the prescriber assumes…
Do Lonely Older People Take More and Riskier Dru…
Doctors write a lot of prescriptions for anti-anxiety agents, pain medicine, sleeping pills and antidepressants. The last time we checked, 22 million Americans were filling more than 100 million presc…
Show 1260: The Pros and Cons of Online Therapy D…
Last year, just when more people than ever needed the help of a therapist, stay-at-home restrictions made it difficult or impossible to get face-to-face counseling. Moreover, most therapists were comp…
Show 1248: How to Keep Moving and Feel Better Du…
COVID-19 restrictions have interfered with the way many of us exercise. Yet the benefits of moving, for both our physical and mental health, are more important than ever. How can we keep moving to fee…
Show 1238: How Is COVID-19 Affecting Mental Heal…
These are stressful times. Many people are grieving the death of a loved one, while others are struggling with working or studying from home. Being separated from loved ones can be emotionally drainin…
Show 1237: Improving Your Mood With Food
Working from home during the pandemic has wrought havoc with a lot of healthy eating habits. It’s harder to shop safely, and minimizing time in the grocery store may mean people have stocked up on s…
Zolpidem for Insomnia | COVID-Related Anxiety
Under the best of conditions, tens of millions of people have trouble getting a decent night’s sleep. These days, though, it’s harder than ever. News about the coronavirus is nonstop. People have …
COVID-19 Is Making People Anxious and Depressed
Not surprisingly, the pandemic that has many people trapped in their homes and others putting their lives on the line as they do essential work has affected mental health as well as physical health. C…
Show 1208: Keeping Kids Healthy in the Age of Co…
Schools are closed and kids are home so that they don’t catch COVID-19 and spread it to family members. Of course, parents don’t want their children to get sick, either. How are we keeping kids he…
Show 1204: How Brain Function Affects Mental Ill…
Mental health problems cause widespread disability in today’s world. Large numbers of people suffer with depression or severe anxiety. While these ailments are real, we may not be considering their …
How Can You Overcome a Fear of Public Speaking?
Some people are afraid of spiders, while others are terrified of heights. One of the most common phobias appears to be a fear of public speaking. Nonetheless, people often need to speak up in a gather…
Do Psychological Benefits from Psilocybin Last?
Several years ago, scientists at New York University Langone Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University reported on an extraordinary pilot study. Both research groups reported that cancer patients co…
Clonazepam Withdrawal | Safe Sedative or Poison?
Klonopin (clonazepam) was first marketed by the Hoffman La Roche pharmaceutical company in 1975. Roche had already cleaned up with this benzodiazepine class of medications. Librium (chlordiazepoxide) …
Show 1180: How to Eat to Nourish Your Brain
You know your body needs food to fuel it. You’ve probably thought about whether you should be eating more fat or less, how much protein you might need and if you are getting enough vegetables and fr…
Can Resveratrol Help Ease Stress, Anxiety and De…
Scientists have been investigating resveratrol, a compound found in grapes, berries, peanuts, cacao beans, knotweed and many other plants for about four decades. They have discovered that this polyphe…
Will Lavender Oil Ease Your Anxiety and Insomnia…
Aromatherapy, the use of plant materials with notable fragrance, has long been popular in Europe. It is now becoming more widely adopted in the US as well. In this approach, people utilize the "essent…
Can Clonazepam Increase the Risk for Dementia?
Millions of people take benzodiazepines every day. Such drugs are variously described as anti-anxiety agents, sedatives, hypnotics (to aid sleep) or benzos for short. At last count about five million …
Will a Whiff of Lavender Ease Your Anxiety?
Many people think of lavender as a calming herb. Research in mice now shows that this reputation goes beyond folklore. A whiff of lavender has anti-anxiety effects. How Do Mice React to a Whiff of Lav…
Will Fish Oil Supplements Ease Your Anxiety?
Fish oil has gotten a lot of bad press lately. After a decade or two of enthusiasm for its benefits in preventing heart disease, arthritis and dry eyes, scientists concluded that there is little or no…
Should You Stop Taking Your Sleeping Pills?
Older individuals who take a benzodiazepine are more likely to experience falls. Medications like alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium) or lorazepam (Ativan) are frequently used as sleeping pills or f…
Why Is Antidepressant Withdrawal So Hard?
It is estimated that one out of every eight Americans takes an antidepressant medication (JAMA Internal Medicine, Feb. 2017). According to the New York Times, roughly 25 million Americans have been ta…
How to Lift Worry Along with Weights
Lifting weights makes your muscles stronger; it may also make you feel less anxious. Can you really lift worry off your shoulders as you do your weight-lifting routine? Studies Show Weight-Lifting Hel…
How Can You Help Kids with Anxiety?
Anxiety can affect children as much as adults. It is estimated that anywhere from 15 to 20 percent of youngsters suffer from debilitating anxiety. When children are treated with medicines used to trea…
Curcumin Eases Both Depression and Anxiety
Curcumin is the active ingredient in the yellow spice turmeric. Numerous studies have confirmed its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Could it help against depression and anxiety? Studying…