The research focused on people diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. For this a large cohort was used, consisting of 2,000 people. Anxiety is widespread in most industrialized societies and there are multiple causes for the condition (including neurochemicals such as serotonin and dopamine, which play crucial roles in cognitive and emotional functions of our brain).
University of Toronto scientists found that a key driver for recovery was emotional support. The data analysis revealed that anxiety sufferers who had at least one person in their lives who could provide a sense of emotional security and wellbeing to the affected person were three times more likely to be in excellent mental health compared with those who lacked access to such a confidant.
A second factor was found to be people who had strong religious or spiritual beliefs, in terms of being able to better cope with everyday difficulties. People who were more in-tune with such beliefs had 36 percent higher odds of good mental health compared with those who did not use spiritual coping mechanisms.
The third factor was being in good physical health, not having any mobility limitations, sleeping well and with not having a history of depression.
The study has been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, where the research paper is titled “Efficacy of vortioxetine in patients with major depressive disorder reporting childhood or recent trauma.”
In related news, a large genomewide analysis of approximately 200,000 military veterans has identified six genetic variants linked to anxiety, researchers from Yale University have reported. Some of the genetic variants were found to be linked to genes that help govern gene activity or to a gene linked to the functioning of receptors for the sex hormone estrogen. The latter point may explain why women are more than twice as likely as men to suffer from anxiety disorders.
This research has been reported to the American Journal of Psychiatry (“Reproducible Genetic Risk Loci for Anxiety: Results From ∼200,000 Participants in the Million Veteran Program”).
