Two weeks after separating from my first husband, I booked a bus tour through Italy, my first trip alone. Just two years prior, my anxiety, obsessive compulsive and panic attack disorders had become so intense and all-consuming they rendered me agoraphobic. 

Younger people are at lower risk of severe health outcomes if they develop COVID-19, and are therefore not a priority group for vaccine rollout. However, a silent mental health pandemic wave is in full force, and this time it is targeting younger age groups.

This month I'm going to discuss three topics that have at their roots our unexpressed fear: stress, taxes, and sleep, or lack thereof!

This month I'm going to discuss three topics that have at their roots our unexpressed fear: stress, taxes, and sleep, or lack thereof!

You probably still remember public service ads that scared you: The cigarette smoker with throat cancer. The victims of a drunk driver. The guy who neglected his cholesterol lying in a morgue with a toe tag.

Most of us take big and small risks in our lives every day. But COVID-19 has made us more aware of how we think about taking risks.

For some people, making or receiving calls is a stressful experience. Phone anxiety – or telephobia – is the fear and avoidance of phone conversations and it’s common among those with social anxiety disorder.

The COVID vaccine rollout has placed the issue of vaccination firmly in the spotlight. A successful rollout will depend on a variety of factors, one of which is vaccine acceptance. One potential hurdle to vaccine acceptance is needle fear.

Fear is debilitating. It affects us our thinking, our health, and our relationships. And we know, it is very present in these times. But there are ways to leave fear behind and enter a life of joy...

Being forced into isolation and confinement creates a number of potentially stressful demands. However, we might be able to learn a thing or two about coping with these demands, from people who choose a life in such settings.

There has been a proliferation of conspiracy theories about COVID-19 that either reject the existence of the virus altogether or question the official account of its origins, its mode of transmission, its effects and its remedies.

To say the world is going through some challenges is the understatement of the year. Never in history have we ever collectively faced such a challenge on a world level, despite the November 9, 2020 discovery of a hopefully efficient vaccine.

In July 2009, a woman brought her husband to the hospital where our colleagues work in western Kenya.  She reported that for several years he had been behaving abnormally, sleeping poorly, hearing voices that no one else could hear, and believing that people were talking about him and plotting to harm him.

Although depression and anxiety affect millions of people worldwide, there’s still much we don’t know about them. In fact, we still don’t fully understand which brain regions are involved in depression and anxiety, and how they differ between people with varying symptoms. 

Ever had the feeling that you can’t make sense of what’s happening? One moment everything seems normal, then suddenly the frame shifts to reveal a world on fire, struggling with pandemic, recession, climate change and political upheaval.

Some of our fears are so slight, or come up so rarely, that we ignore them for the most part. Yet, all our fears are with us constantly whether or not we acknowledge their presence. They reside in our subconscious and create havoc in our life. Whether your fear is of death or of spiders, that fear runs your life.

You have been instructed to worry and fret all of your life. This has occurred through all sorts of means—school, friends, religious doctrine, literature, television, movies, history, and family. The idea of worrying about your family has even been exalted as a form of love. It is NOT! Worry is a mental construct that obstructs flow and naturalness.

Our minds are constantly in the past, focusing on our memories; or in the future, focusing on our expectations. But both of these states of mind are breeding grounds for fear. If we can pull our attention back to the present moment, the fear subsides. Here’s how to shift into ...

Fear patterns begin early in life, affect every relationship we have, and waste a lot of energy. Our inner dragons of fear can make us run from love and intimacy, hide from the very things we say we most want, repeat the same mistakes over and over, and see the world in black and white terms.

The pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges. Many of us have lost work, gained carer responsibilities and grappled with social isolation.

Spiders have an unfortunate media presence. No number of studies emphasising their ecological value or the potential of their silks to inspire wonder materials can overcome the negative press.

Between the global COVID-19 pandemic, the associated economic downturn and widespread protests over racism, it’s difficult for everyone.

It’s 1:36 a.m. and I’ve just gotten my daughter back to sleep after she threw up violently. She has no fever, no cough, no shortness of breath, but what if….