Anxiety Disorders

Question: I grew up with a mother who was profoundly manipulative, volatile, and mean-spirited. My siblings and I all have anxiety disorders for which we have sought counseling. I have distanced myself from my mother and have a happy life with my husband and 4-year-old daughter. I have begun allowing my mother limited contact with my daughter out of my mother's desire for a relationship with her. I am comfortable with where the boundaries are, but my mother is not. She continually pushes to have my daughter for weekend visits (she lives several hours away)

For most people, the looming threat of the year 2000 computer glitch has spelled hassle. Fixing it has meant irritation, delays and expense. But for some people who suffer from anxiety disorders, the Y2K computer bug has created such fear that they need medical help. "The cardinal symptom of people who are anxious or depressed is excessive worry," said David Barlow, director of the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University. "We all worry to some extent, but the difference is that they worry continually and can't stop it. They focus on whatever is the worry of the day. "Y2K becomes prime territory for them to vent their pathology," he said.

For Kathy Tench, a 64-year-old Philadelphia charter schoolteacher, anxiety is the voice that comes nattering in the middle of the night. It might start with a stray thought after waking up to use the bathroom - "Why was I left out of that e-mail loop at work?" - and ramp up to a spiral of worry: Maybe they don't value my input. Maybe I'll be pink-slipped in the next round of budget cuts. Then how will I pay the mortgage? What if I can't retire at 70, as I plan? She sometimes lies there, obsessing, until dawn.

Imagine being too afraid to open your front door and step outside. You choose, instead, to stay safely inside your own four walls for months, even years. This mental disorder, called agoraphobia, gets a credible portrayal amidst the Hollywood terror and gore of the current No. 3 box office draw, "Copycat. " Actress Sigourney Weaver plays criminal psychologist Helen Hudson, who has been too terrified to leave her apartment after being nearly slashed to death 13 months earlier by a serial killer.

In the 1960s, University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck began to develop the theories and practice of a new branch of psychoanalysis known as cognitive therapy. Beck's more than 40 years of pioneering work at Penn is being honored today with the prestigious Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. The Lasker awards are given annually for "stunning" achievements in basic and clinical research in medicine. The awards are often likened to Nobel Prizes and come with a $100,000 honorarium.

CANCER FEARS Whom and what can you trust? Sixty-two percent of 1,016 women surveyed nationally by Glamour magazine believe they'll someday learn that foods and drugs they're consuming today cause a disease such as cancer. Seventy percent think the government isn't doing enough to protect us. SPERMICIDE STUDY Women take note: The most widely used spermicide may not offer the best protection against sexually transmitted diseases. When it comes to protection against diseases such as herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea and AIDS, UCLA researchers concluded that octoxynol-9, the chemical used in Ortho-Gynol Contraceptive Jelly, and benzalkonium chloride, used only in Europe, are superior to nonoxynol-9, used in such products as Gynol II, Ortho-Creme and the Today contraceptive sponge.

Don't worry, be happy Whew, what a relief! Sure researchers won't change their minds? Oh goodness, this could be good news. Scientists from the National Institutes of Health have found a link between genetics and anxiety, according to a study published yesterday in the journal Science. It's the anxiety gene. Now we can better understand why some people seem so cool all the time, while others chew their nails raw over lost car keys or funny looks from strangers. Earlier studies had discerned that a short form of a gene called SLC6A4 is more prevalent in people who are dogged by anxiety.

ST. LOUIS - Caroll Marlow, 71, said she has been rescued from clinical depression by researchers at Washington University who want to help people older than 60. After more than 40 years of living with depression, she said, experiences and feelings that are routine for most other people are new for her. She goes to lunch to laugh with her sisters; she's closer to her children and friends. She dates her husband. And she found a job. "I love it; I work a swing shift and I just love it," she said.

Medical advances Blood test helps to detect cancer Some cancer tumors can grow for years without being detected. Now, there's a highly sensitive new blood test that could help doctors find tumors sooner and improve monitoring of treatment, researchers say. It uses magnets to concentrate the cancer cells from blood and lasers to observe them. It was written about in yesterday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. So far, the test has been used on patients with breast and prostate cancer.

Workshops titled "Homelessness" and "Women and Poverty" are among 40 such sessions planned during the first countywide women's conference on Oct. 14, from 8:30 a.m., to 4:30 p.m., at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell. Grey Panthers founder Maggie Kuhn will give the keynote address. The daylong conference will spotlight three women who are to receive the "Women of Vision Award," for their commitment toward improving the status of women. The cost of the conference is $15, and pre-registration is requested.

Question: I grew up with a mother who was profoundly manipulative, volatile, and mean-spirited. My siblings and I all have anxiety disorders for which we have sought counseling. I have distanced myself from my mother and have a happy life with my husband and 4-year-old daughter. I have begun allowing my mother limited contact with my daughter out of my mother's desire for a relationship with her. I am comfortable with where the boundaries are, but my mother is not. She continually pushes to have my daughter for weekend visits (she lives several hours away)

For Kathy Tench, a 64-year-old Philadelphia charter schoolteacher, anxiety is the voice that comes nattering in the middle of the night. It might start with a stray thought after waking up to use the bathroom - "Why was I left out of that e-mail loop at work?" - and ramp up to a spiral of worry: Maybe they don't value my input. Maybe I'll be pink-slipped in the next round of budget cuts. Then how will I pay the mortgage? What if I can't retire at 70, as I plan? She sometimes lies there, obsessing, until dawn.

ST. LOUIS - Caroll Marlow, 71, said she has been rescued from clinical depression by researchers at Washington University who want to help people older than 60. After more than 40 years of living with depression, she said, experiences and feelings that are routine for most other people are new for her. She goes to lunch to laugh with her sisters; she's closer to her children and friends. She dates her husband. And she found a job. "I love it; I work a swing shift and I just love it," she said.

CULVER CITY, Calif. - Life was easy for actor Oliver Hudson. He grew up in a showbiz family and didn't particularly want to be an actor. When he was 8 years old he and his pal John from across the street would conjure horror movies with buckets of fake blood, latex and firecrackers. But his sister was Kate Hudson, his mom was Goldie Hawn and his father figure was Kurt Russell. Hey, the DNA was there. "I went to college for a couple years and came home and saw that my sister was doing so well and figured, 'Well, let me give it a try.' And I got in acting class and started to really like it and went from there.

Stanley C. Bell, 78, of Narberth, inventor of the drug Ativan, died June 27 of cardiac arrest at a hospital in Gloucester, Mass., where he had gone to attend a friend's wedding. Born in Philadelphia, Dr. Bell grew up in the Wynnefield section and graduated from Overbrook High School in 1949. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1952 and a master's degree from Temple University in 1954. In 1954, he joined Merck, Sharp & Dohme in West Point, and was involved in the discovery of Diuril and Hydrodiuril, both diuretics.

Four grueling hours cramming for a calculus test left Ashley Tedesco on the verge of tears Tuesday night. The Central Bucks East senior, who was sick when her class took the exam, just wasn't getting it. The next day, her teacher placed the makeup test in front of Tedesco, then stepped from the room. The opportunity was obvious. "I wish I could send a text message to my friend at Penn and ask, 'How do I do this problem?' " Tedesco thought as she sat alone. "I wish I were a bad kid, and not a good student, so people wouldn't expect so much from me. " Tedesco didn't cheat.

In the 1960s, University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck began to develop the theories and practice of a new branch of psychoanalysis known as cognitive therapy. Beck's more than 40 years of pioneering work at Penn is being honored today with the prestigious Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research. The Lasker awards are given annually for "stunning" achievements in basic and clinical research in medicine. The awards are often likened to Nobel Prizes and come with a $100,000 honorarium.

The biggest challenge with mental illness may lie not with those who treat it, but with those who have it. To be sure, our view of the brain has changed, thanks to science. When the ancient Egyptians prepared a pharaoh for eternal life, they stocked the tomb with whatever they thought essential to living well. The body was dehydrated and meticulously wrapped for the spirit's use. The heart, considered the organ of intelligence, was reverently preserved in a gorgeous canopic jar. How about the brain?

Don't worry, be happy Whew, what a relief! Sure researchers won't change their minds? Oh goodness, this could be good news. Scientists from the National Institutes of Health have found a link between genetics and anxiety, according to a study published yesterday in the journal Science. It's the anxiety gene. Now we can better understand why some people seem so cool all the time, while others chew their nails raw over lost car keys or funny looks from strangers. Earlier studies had discerned that a short form of a gene called SLC6A4 is more prevalent in people who are dogged by anxiety.

New Orleans Saints running back Ricky Williams has social anxiety disorder. Williams said he met with a psychiatrist about two months ago, and the diagnosis was depression. He said he began taking medication about a week ago. "As we talked more, we got into the fact that I had a problem in social situations," Williams told the Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Wednesday night. "All it is, I'm extremely shy. I don't like to call it anything else. " Social anxiety disorders are highly treatable, and the medication should not affect Williams' football career, said Howard Osofsky, chairman of psychiatry at Louisiana State's Health Sciences Center.