Perinatal intrusions: A window into perinatal anxiety disorders.

Mental health is the leading cause of preventable perinatal maternal mortality. Studying perinatal intrusions can shed light on determinants of maternal mental health.

The power-and complexity-of policy to drive advances in women's health.

As international investments in women's health increase, funders are adopting sex and gender policies and regulators are requiring disaggregated data, actions which impact research design.

Catalysing change in health and medical research policy: an Australian case study of deliberative democracy to reform sex and gender policy recommendations.

Revising public health policy based on new data does not happen automatically. This is acutely relevant to the now undeniable evidence that many diseases develop differently between the sexes and may also be affected by gender. Current health and medical practices across the globe generally fail to cater for sex and gender effects in common diseases.

Perceptions and Use of Extended-Duration Exposure Therapy Amongst Psychologists.

Background: Extended-duration exposure therapy, in which treatment is delivered over a single prolonged session or cluster of long-duration sessions, is a highly efficacious and efficient treatment for anxiety disorders such as specific phobias. Despite this, little is known about the use of extended-duration exposure therapy in clinical practice.

Methods: In the present study we investigated the perceptions and use of extended-duration exposure therapy amongst a sample of Australian psychologists via a survey, and the Therapist Beliefs about Exposure Scale.

Exposure therapy consortium: Outcomes of the proof-of-principle study.

Background: This paper reports on the outcomes of a proof-of-principle study for the Exposure Therapy Consortium, a global network of researchers and clinicians who work to improve the effectiveness and uptake of exposure therapy. The study aimed to test the feasibility of the consortium's big-team science approach and test the hypothesis that adding post-exposure processing focused on enhancing threat reappraisal would enhance the efficacy of a one-session large-group interoceptive exposure therapy protocol for reducing anxiety sensitivity.

Methods: The study involved a multi-site cluster-randomized controlled trial comparing exposure with post-processing (ENHANCED), exposure without post-processing (STANDARD), and a stress management intervention (CONTROL) in students with elevated anxiety sensitivity.

Using electrodermal activity to estimate fear learning differences in anxiety: A multiverse analysis.

Meta-analyses indicate differences in Pavlovian fear responses between anxious and non-anxious individuals using electrodermal activity (EDA). Recent research, however, has cast doubt on whether these effects are robust to different analytic choices. Using the multiverse approach conceived by Steegen et al.

The impact of estrous cycle on anxiety-like behaviour during unlearned fear tests in female rats and mice: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Anxiety fluctuates across the human menstrual cycle, with symptoms worsening during phases of declining or low ovarian hormones. Similar findings have been observed across the rodent estrous cycle, however, the magnitude and robustness of these effects have not been meta-analytically quantified. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of estrous cycle effects on anxiety-like behaviour (124 articles; k = 259 effect sizes).

The effects of diazepam on fear extinction in nulliparous and primiparous female rats.

Benzodiazepines undermine the success of exposure therapy in humans with anxiety disorders, and impair the long-term memory of fear extinction (the laboratory basis of exposure therapy) in rodents. However, most rodent studies on fear extinction and benzodiazepines have been conducted in male rodents. In female rodents, the estrous cycle influences the consolidation of fear extinction memories and sensitivity to benzodiazepines.

Dissociable role of the basolateral complex of the amygdala in the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear following reproductive experience in female rats.

In female rats and humans, reproductive experience (i.e., pregnancy) alters the behavioral, hormonal and molecular substrates of fear extinction.

Reproductive experience alters the effects of diazepam and fluoxetine on anxiety-like behaviour, fear extinction, and corticosterone levels in female rats.

Overview: Reproductive experience (pregnancy and motherhood) leads to long-term changes in the neurobiological and hormonal features of anxiety in rats and humans. The aim of this study was to examine whether reproductive experience alters the effects of two pharmacological treatments for anxiety, a benzodiazepine (diazepam) and a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (fluoxetine), on animal models of anxiety.

Methods: In Experiment 1, virgin (n = 47) and age-matched mother (n = 50) rats at 1-month post-weaning were injected with diazepam (1.

The relationship between salivary Fibroblast Growth Factor-2 and cortisol reactivity and psychological outcomes prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) is a biomarker that is associated with depression, anxiety and stress in rodents. In humans, we have previously demonstrated that salivary FGF2 increased following stress in a similar pattern to cortisol, and FGF2 (but not cortisol) reactivity predicted repetitive negative thinking, a transdiagnostic risk factor for mental illness. The current study assessed the relationship between FGF2, cortisol, and mental health before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impact of the ovarian cycle on anxiety, allopregnanolone, and corticotropin releasing hormone changes after motherhood in female rats and women.

Fluctuations in ovarian steroids across the estrous and menstrual cycle in female rats and women, respectively, are associated with changes in anxiety. Pregnancy causes long-term changes to ovarian hormone release, yet research on estrous- and menstrual-related changes in anxiety has focused on reproductively inexperienced females. Therefore, this study assessed whether the impact of estrous and menstrual cycles on anxiety differs pre- versus post-motherhood in female rats (n = 32) and a community sample of women (n = 63).

Battle of the sexes: who is more variable, and does it really matter?

New research using high-dimensional behavioural analyses has further undermined the “females are the more variable sex” trope that often accompanies all-male studies. But when we consider the benefits to the inclusion of females in research, their lesser variability is only the icing on the cake. It’s just good science, really.

Female rodents are not more variable than male rodents: A meta-analysis of preclinical studies of fear and anxiety.

Recent meta-analyses have demonstrated that data from female rodents, tested without regard for estrous stage, is no more variable than male data across a range of traits. Nonetheless, widespread use of male-only samples persists in preclinical studies of anxiety disorders, despite this condition being twice more prevalent amongst women relative to men. We conducted a meta-analysis of over 4900 data points obtained from 263 articles assessing behavioural measures of fear and anxiety in rodents.

The relative efficacy and efficiency of single- and multi-session exposure therapies for specific phobia: A meta-analysis.

Exposure therapy is the preferred treatment for specific phobia (SP), with evidence supporting its efficacy whether delivered over multiple sessions or as a single session, such as One-Session Treatment. In this meta-analysis, we compared the efficiency and effectiveness of single- and multi-session exposure for SP. PsycINFO, Embase, MEDLINE, and Cochrane were systematically searched for peer-reviewed articles reporting the effects of multi-session (k = 30) and/or single-session (k = 55) in vivo exposure on SP symptoms in clinical populations (n = 1758 participants).

What Pre-clinical Rat Models Can Tell Us About Anxiety Across the Menstrual Cycle in Healthy and Clinically Anxious Humans.

Purpose Of Review: Anxiety symptoms increase during the peri-menstrual phase of the menstrual cycle in people with anxiety disorders. Whether this reflects a heightened variant of normal menstrual-related changes in psychological states experienced by healthy (i.e.

The impact of hormonal contraceptives on anxiety treatments: From preclinical models to clinical settings.

Exposure therapy is a central component of the first-line treatment for anxiety disorders, a common mental health condition that is twice as prevalent in women relative to men. A key underlying mechanism of exposure therapy is fear extinction, which is an active learning process supported by a neural circuitry that is highly regulated by ovarian hormones. This review synthesises research examining the impact of hormonal contraceptives on laboratory fear extinction tasks in female rats and women, and on exposure therapy in women with anxiety disorders.

The Association Between Salivary FGF2 and Physiological and Psychological Components of the Human Stress Response.

Background: Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 (FGF2) is a neurotrophic protein that has been implicated as a biomarker for anxiety and depressive disorders, which comprise a significant component of the global burden of disease. Research using rodents has indicated that FGF2 is part of the stress response, but whether this translates to humans has yet to be investigated. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential role of FGF2 in the human stress response by examining its association with physiological and psychological processes during and following the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST).

Methodological implications of sample size and extinction gradient on the robustness of fear conditioning across different analytic strategies.

Fear conditioning paradigms are critical to understanding anxiety-related disorders, but studies use an inconsistent array of methods to quantify the same underlying learning process. We previously demonstrated that selection of trials from different stages of experimental phases and inconsistent use of average compared to trial-by-trial analysis can deliver significantly divergent outcomes, regardless of whether the data is analysed with extinction as a single effect, as a learning process over the course of the experiment, or in relation to acquisition learning. Since small sample sizes are attributed as sources of poor replicability in psychological science, in this study we aimed to investigate if changes in sample size influences the divergences that occur when different kinds of fear conditioning analyses are used.

The relationship between repetitive negative thinking, sleep disturbance, and subjective fatigue in women with Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Objectives: Fatigue is a prominent symptom of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). However, the pathways contributing to elevated fatigue in GAD are poorly understood. Sleep disturbance, also prominent in GAD, only partially explains elevated fatigue in GAD.

Maternal Experience Does Not Predict Fear Extinction and Anxiety-Like Behaviour in Primiparous Rats Post-weaning.

Reproductive experience leads to long-lasting changes in anxiety-like behaviour and fear extinction, the laboratory model of exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. For example, fear extinction is influenced by estrous cycle in nulliparous (no reproductive experience) female rats, but this effect is abolished in primiparous (one reproductive experience) females. It is unclear whether such changes are driven by pregnancy, maternal experience of caring for offspring during the postpartum period, or a combination of both experiences.

Symptom fluctuation over the menstrual cycle in anxiety disorders, PTSD, and OCD: a systematic review.

Anxiety disorders are more prevalent and severe in women than men. Extant research suggests that the menstrual cycle modulates the severity and expression of anxiety symptoms across a range of disorders. The aims of this systematic review were to synthesise the existing literature investigating menstrual phase-related fluctuations in symptoms of anxiety disorders, and related conditions PTSD and OCD, in menstruating women, and to evaluate the methodologies used.

BDNF genotype Val66Met interacts with acute plasma BDNF levels to predict fear extinction and recall.

Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) is a potent regulator of memory processes and is believed to influence the consolidation of fear extinction memories. No previous human study has tested the effect of unstimulated BDNF on fear extinction recall, and no study has tested the association between plasma BDNF levels and psychophysiological responding during an extinction paradigm. We tested the association between fear responses during a 2-day differential conditioning, extinction and extinction recall paradigm and Val66Met genotype in a group of healthy participants (N = 191).