Anxiety

People with high social anxiety tend to change their own emotions to match negative peer feedback, while mostly ignoring positive feedback. Brain wave data reveals this biased conformity is driven by intense, prolonged mental effort.

New research shows that just 10 minutes of watering indoor plants can lower blood pressure and induce a state of alert relaxation in older adults, offering a simple way to boost mental and physical well-being.

A large Danish study reveals that girls who begin puberty earlier and progress faster are significantly more likely to develop anxiety disorders, highlighting a critical window for early mental health interventions.

A recent review of scientific literature reveals that therapeutic gardening offers a moderate boost to mental health for adults with chronic diseases, though the benefits for physical health conditions are much less pronounced.

A new study finds you don't need to lift heavy to see mental health benefits. Researchers discovered that both standard and low-intensity strength training significantly reduced depressive symptoms in young women experiencing high levels of anxiety.

A recent study reveals how the developing brain processes facial expressions based on gender and emotion, finding that elevated anxiety alters how children react to threatening faces.

A new study tracks how daily stress and bedtime worry impact sleep. Researchers found that racing thoughts predict nighttime wakefulness, especially for individuals with high sleep reactivity, while physical symptoms like elevated heart rate play a smaller role.

While childhood intelligence and grades do not predict how people view their memory in old age, a new study finds that early adolescent school anxiety does.

A recent study finds that childhood emotional abuse and neglect are strongly linked to adult anxiety. This relationship is largely explained by impairments in how a person perceives themselves and connects with others.

When anxious children have trouble managing their emotions, their families often bend over backward to help them avoid distress. Researchers suggest that teaching kids to tolerate negative feelings could reduce this well-meaning but counterproductive cycle.

A new study shows that targeted electrical brain stimulation can help socially anxious individuals overcome automatic avoidance behaviors. By synchronizing specific brain rhythms, the noninvasive technique improved participants' ability to control their emotional responses.

A new brain imaging study reveals that short-term use of the antidepressant escitalopram actually increases connectivity between key emotion-processing brain regions in anxious individuals, contradicting previous theories about how these drugs physically relieve anxiety.

A recent study found that autistic adults experiencing social anxiety have larger amygdalae and display more compliant behaviors. These distinct biological and behavioral markers suggest social anxiety in autism requires specialized diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

New parents expect to lose sleep, but a new longitudinal study reveals that early postpartum depression and anxiety can predict worse perceived sleep quality months later, creating a cycle of distress for both mothers and fathers.

A new virtual-reality study upends assumptions about social anxiety and personal space. Researchers found that highly anxious people only keep a greater physical distance from others when they incorrectly perceive themselves as standing too close.