Severe Anxiety in Older Adults and its Effects on Brain and Body Aging

Carmen Andreescu is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. This podcast focusses on severe worry and anxiety in aged persons. Not all worry in aged persons is pathological. Severe worry includes dramatic effects on patient’s psychology, brain, and aging. These are characterized here as well as appropriate intervention/treatment noted. The value of Transcranial Stimulation(TMS) is noted.

Released: February 14, 2024

References

• Andreescu C, Lenze E, Lavretsky H. Is Anxiety in Late Life an Uncharted Territory?—Questioning the USPSTF Draft Recommendation Statement for Anxiety Screening in Older Adults. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023;80(3):197–198. https://doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.4609
• Karim, H., Tudorascu, D., Butters, M. et al. In the grip of worry: cerebral blood flow changes during worry induction and reappraisal in late-life generalized anxiety disorder. Transl Psychiatry 7, e1204 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2017.180
• Helmet T. Karim, Maria Ly, Gary Yu, Robert Krafty, Dana L. Tudorascu, Howard J. Aizenstein, Carmen Andreescu, Aging faster: worry and rumination in late life are associated with greater brain age, Neurobiology of Aging, Volume 101, 2021, Pages 13-21, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.01.009.
• Carmen Andreescu, The Scientific Autobiography of a Traveler, The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Volume 29, Issue 4, 2021, Pages 405-408, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2021.01.008.