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Aziz Rahman Rasib,1 Arash Nemat,2,3 Mahmoodullah Azimi,4 Naqeebullah Zaki,5 Mohammad Faiq Sediqi,6 Nahid Raufi,7 Abdullah Asady2 1Department of Neuropsychiatry, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan; 2Department of Microbiology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan; 3Department of Cardiology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan; 5Department of Public Health, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India; 6Department of Histology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, Afghanistan; 7Department of Dermatology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, AfghanistanCorrespondence: Abdullah AsadyDepartment of Microbiology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences, Kabul, AfghanistanTel +93 731087928Email asady_abdullah@yahoo.comPurpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of symptoms of anxiety among residents of Kabul during the present COVID-19 pandemic.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional, community based survey was conducted in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from July 11, 2020, to July 16, 2020. A bilingual (Dari and English) questionnaire was used for data collection. The first section of the questionnaire collected sociodemographic information of the respondents and the second comprised a self-report standardized scale, i.e. Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) to assess symptoms of anxiety. The survey form was distributed through online platforms. All residents of Kabul who used social apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook were eligible to participate in the study and participation was voluntary and non-commercial.Results: Altogether 1135 complete responses were received. The majority of them were males and aged 18– 34 years. Almost 18% were healthcare workers. Overall, 28.2% of the respondents reported symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety, 38.8% reported symptoms of mild anxiety, and nearly one third of the respondents reported no symptoms. Female participants reported significantly higher levels of anxiety compared with males (39.7% versus 25.6%; p = 0.0001). No significant association was noted between anxiety levels and age groups, occupations, and healthcare workers versus non-healthcare workers.Conclusion: The findings suggest that a gender-specific psychosocial protocol needs be integrated into the public health emergency plans to fight against the current pandemic.Keywords: anxiety, mental health, capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, COVID-19 pandemic

Albaraa Alsini,1 Ishraq Alkhodaidi,2 Yasir Alsini,3 Sarh Alsseeni,4 Shrooq Alkhodaidi,5 Ehsan Alsini,6 Asim Alsini,7 Hamzah Sindi,8 Khaled Alswat9 1Resident, Department of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Alhada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 2Medical Student, Faculty of Medicine, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 3PharmD, Alhada Armed Forces Hospital, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 4PharmD Student, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 5Resident, Department of Dermatology, King Abdulaziz Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 6PharmD, Medical Representative in Eli Lilly and Company, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 7Medical Intern, Faculty of Medicine, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia; 8Medical Student, Faculty of Medicine, Umm AlQura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia; 9Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Taif University, Taif, 21944, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Albaraa AlsiniDepartment of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, Alhada Armed Forces Hospital, Alhada District, Taif, Saudi ArabiaTel +966530006201Email Dr.albaraa2015@gmail.comBackground: The development of beta-blocker (BB) medications is considered one of the most critical milestones of drug research. Several trials showed possible anti-anxiety effects of BBs. Our primary goal is to investigate the prevalence of anxiety disorder and the use of BBs as anxiolytic without medical prescription among medical and pharmacological students in Saudi Arabia.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at multiple universities in Saudi Arabia. Students were given a questionnaire containing 44 questions that included demographic data, school location, BB usage behavior, GPA status before and after using BBs, and a GAD-7 anxiety screening questionnaire.Results: A total of 3326 mainly female senior students participated in the study with a mean age of 21.9± 1.7 years. According to the GAD-7 score, half of the sampled students did not meet criteria indicative of anxiety disorder, and one-third were considered to have mild anxiety with a significant positive correlation between the BB usage and the GAD-7 score. A total of 6.4% of the sample reported usage of BBs. Therapeutics and Internal Medicine were the most common subjects for which BBs were used. When compared to pharmacy students, medical students were more likely to be male, smokers, diagnosed with psychiatric illness, having a higher mean GAD-7 score, report BB usage, and correctly identified common and serious BB side effects.Conclusion: The inappropriate use of BB drugs without medical advice might have short- and long-term effects, and those may be more vulnerable to have psychological issues in the future. Our findings shed light on the need to identify students who are taking BBs as being at high risk of underlying anxiety disorders.Keywords: beta-blocker, anxiety, student anxiety, self-prescription, undiagnosed anxiety

Adolescents experiencing excessive anxiety are often under-identified in the school context, and consequently under-referred for in-school counselling or other mental health support. This is despite anxiety being the most prevalent mental health condition currently experienced by adolescents. The purpose of this study was to explore secondary teachers’ ability to recognise the need to refer adolescents with excessive anxiety symptoms. One hundred and fourteen secondary school teachers completed a questionnaire with five vignettes describing students experiencing various degrees of anxiety. Statistical analysis of the data involved use of the one-sample Wilcoxon test and Spearman's Rank Non-Parametric Correlation Coefficients. Results indicated that teachers recognised the need to refer adolescents with very severe anxiety symptoms. However, they were less likely to correctly identify and refer students with severe, moderate or mild anxiety symptoms. There was no statistically significant difference between male and female teachers’ decision to refer students for school counselling. These findings are an important step forward in understanding how teachers decide whether or not to refer anxious children for support, and in identifying areas for further training and professional development. Implications are discussed for future professional development for secondary school teachers.

We examined mock jurors’ judgments in a rape case that was either prototypical (late-night assault by a stranger in a public place) or non-prototypical (daytime assault by an acquaintance in a private home). We also varied the psychological harm experienced by the victim as a result of the rape (mild anxiety or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)). We hypothesized that participants’ expectations regarding the level of harm the victim is likely to experience would mediate the effect of harm level on ratings of the victim’s credibility, and this indirect effect would be contingent on the prototypicality of the case. In a pilot experiment we demonstrated that people expect prototypical rape cases to be more traumatic for victims than non-prototypical cases. In the main experiment, and as predicted, participants in the Prototypical condition expected the victim to develop PTSD more than mild anxiety, but Non-Prototypical condition participants expected the opposite. In addition, a level of harm that ...

The invitation to join the first An-Turus Wilderness Therapy Journey filled me with excitement and mild anxiety in equal measure. As the mother of a toddler, writer and part-time facilitator, I was struggling to squash the daily grind into its 24-hour timeslot. But deeper than my preoccupation with regular meals, clean clothes, sleeping enough and returning the phone calls that keep things on track, I knew that this journey down the Spey River was just what I needed. As ever, my deeper sense was spot-on.Living with my family in London, it had been a while since I had experienced nature in chunks bigger than my own garden, or the local playground. But whenever I go abroad to somewhere wild and beautiful, or visit the Lake District, Cornwall, or Snowdon (where I grew up) I feel an inward sigh and an upwards soar. Despite my love of nature, the thought of joining a group I didn't know, to do a sport I had never done (canoeing) was one of the more anxiety provoking ones…

This study addresses the need to reduce student anxiety to levels that are productive, rather than destructive. Student cognitive styles are matched to the cognitive style of the instructional mode to see if student anxiety levels are reduced. A review of the literature indicates that while mild anxiety might serve as a stimulus to learning, high anxiety is debilitating. The subjects, 51 freshman students, were enrolled in an audiotutorial life science course at Oakland Community College, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The measurement instruments employed included the Cognitive Style Diagnostic Test Battery and the State—Trait Anxiety Inventory. Hypotheses were tested using the Kolmogorov—Smirnov analysis of variance and the two-sample chi-square at the .05 alpha level. High A-trait students with cognitive styles matched to the cognitive style of the instructional mode tend to have greater reduction of A-state anxiety levels than do nonmatched students. Students with cognitive styles matched to the ...

Many women are traumatized by pelvic examinations, resulting in reactions ranging from mild anxiety and embarrassment to avoiding the exam altogether. Studies which surveyed how women feel about pelvic exams are discussed and analyzed as are projects utilizing the educational pelvic exam approach. The concept of psychological preparation for pelvic exams is presented incorporating the importance of personal control. The main theme is the proposal that preparation for pelvic exams should be tailored to each individual patient. The role of the examiner is also discussed, stressing physician education and sexual conflicts involved in the performance of pelvic exams.