Word: panic
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WHAT IT IS: Recurrent, unexpected attacks of acute anxiety, peaking within 10 minutes. Such panic may occur in a familiar situation, such as a crowded elevator...
...alarms ringing, our first inclination is to find the off switch. Behavioral scientists take the opposite approach. They want you to get so accustomed to the noise that you don't hear it anymore. The standard behavioral treatment for such anxiety conditions as phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and panic disorder is to expose patients to a tiny bit of the very thing that causes them anxiety, ratcheting up the exposure over a number of sessions until the brain habituates to the fear. A patient suffering from a blood phobia, for example, might first be shown a picture...
...serotonin, leaving more in nerve synapses and thus helping to improve mood. Another SSRI, Paxil, was recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration specifically for the treatment of social-anxiety disorder, though the others seem to work as well. A third, Zoloft, has been approved for OCD and panic disorder. Each formulation of SSRI is subtly different--targeting specific subclasses of serotonin. And side effects--which can include dry mouth, fatigue and sexual dysfunction--will vary from person to person. A new group of antidepressants, known as serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, may be even more effective in treating anxiety...
...treatments is yoga, which is both a form of exercise and a way to quiet the mind by focusing attention on breathing. Indeed, even without yoga, breathing exercises can help quell an anxiety episode, if only by slowing a racing heart and lengthening the short, shallow breaths of a panic attack. Many anxiety sufferers have found relief through meditation or massage--even just a 10-min. foot treatment. For those willing to travel a little farther from the mainstream, there's aromatherapy (enthusiasts recommend rose and lavender scents), guided imagery (a form of directed meditation used with some success...
...America's own civilian transport system, their successors may seek to do the same with the U.S. civilian energy infrastructure. The International Atomic Energy Agency warned last fall that "we have been alerted to the potential of terrorists targeting nuclear facilities or using radioactive sources to incite panic, contaminate property, and even cause injury or death among civilian populations," and called for massive new investment in the security of the world's nuclear energy facilities. Indeed, the first order of business in defending against an Al Qaeda nuclear threat may simply involve rendering America's atomic energy plants safe from...