Anxiety Disorder Journal

A group of German investigators has published a randomized controlled trial on how to overcome constant worries in the current issue of Psyhotherapy and Psychosomatics.

Worry exposure (WE) is a core element of cognitive-behavioral treatment for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Its efficacy as a stand-alone treatment method (without further cognitive-behavioral therapy interventions) has never been tested. This study examined whether WE alone is as efficacious as the empirically supported stand-alone treatment for GAD, applied relaxation (AR). In a randomized controlled study, 73 outpatients meeting DSM-IV criteria for GAD as primary diagnosis were allocated to either WE or AR or a waiting list control group; in a 2nd randomization procedure the waiting list subjects were reallocated to WE or AR. The treatment was manualized (15 sessions with WE or AR), included 6-month and 1-year follow-ups, as well as last observation carried forward and completer analyses, and was controlled for allegiance effects.The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and the State-Trait Anxiety Scale were used as primary outcome measures. Self-report scales of anxiety, worrying and depression including negative metacognition about worrying and thought suppression served as secondary outcome measures.

The dropout rate was moderate. The pre-/posttreatment effects were high for the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (standardized mean difference >1) and for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (standardized mean difference >0.87). The proportion of patients reaching high end state functioning was 48% (WE) and 56% (AR). WE and AR did not differ with regard to dropout rate or treatment effects. The treatment effects were stable at 6 month and 1 year follow-up.

This is the first study to show that a stand-alone exposure in sensu technique – WE – is efficacious in the treatment of GAD. Both AR and WE seem to represent effective principles of change in GAD.

Symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among caregivers of deceased lung transplant patients are four-to-five times more prevalent than in the average population, according to researchers who analyzed the stress levels of caregivers, as well as their perceptions of the transplant recipients’ quality of dying and death. Their findings were presented at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Monday, May 19.

Caregivers of all lung transplant recipients at the University of Washington who had died within the last five years were assessed using three validated questionnaires that measured their burden of depression, their level of PTSD symptoms and the quality of their loved ones’ last days.

“We found that caregivers reported that their loved one’s symptoms were poorly controlled and that the quality of the dying and death process was worse than that of other populations. In addition, family members who perceived that their loved one had either a lower quality of dying and death or poorly controlled pain symptoms, were more likely to have symptoms consistent with PTSD,” said Cynthia Gries, M.D., M,Sc., of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

This is the first study to evaluate the caregivers’ experience with end-of-life care in lung transplant patients, and to evaluate the psychological effects it has on those family members who survive.

“Most people don’t realize that prior to wait-listing a patient as a lung transplant candidate, a caregiver plan must exist to support the patient through the entire process,” said Dr. Gries. That process can be lengthy and grueling for the caregiver as well as the patient, resulting in much higher rates of depression and PTSD symptoms.

“The caregivers we studied had rates of depressive symptoms of 21 percent and of PTSD symptoms of 32 percent, compared to the average in the general population of six to seven percent,” she continued. “This suggests that there is a significant burden of psychological symptoms in family members which has previously been unrecognized.”

The study demonstrates that there is an urgent need for significant improvement in areas such as symptom management. Dr. Gries believes that having trained counselors to help family members with emotional needs, as well as financial issues, could reduce the stress on caregivers. “We hope that our findings will increase awareness among clinicians that caregivers experience a significant burden of symptoms and may need additional support,” she concluded.

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Schering AG, Germany (FSE: SCH, NYSE: SHR) will collaborate with Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc., Philadelphia, PA., to develop novel diagnostic imaging agents for Alzheimer’s disease. The current lack of clinical methods for definitive diagnosis remains a significant impediment for the management of Alzheimer’s patients, as well as for the development of new therapies for this devastating condition.

The compounds made by Avid directly bind to the amyloid plaques in the brain thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease. They can be used with a variety of common, non-invasive imaging technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET) scanning. The potential of this compound class to accumulate preferentially in brain structures of Alzheimer’s patients with high amyloid beta load has already been demonstrated in pilot human studies.

Under the terms of the agreement, Schering will have the option to assume exclusive rights for the development and commercialization of such compounds for use with PET scanning technology.

“We are committed to driving progress in the growing field of molecular imaging,” said Dr. Hans Maier, Head of Global Business Unit Diagnostic Imaging at Schering. “With this novel approach we could be amongst the first to offer a method for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease using objective physical measures. We are looking forward to investigating the promise of such innovative agents.”

“This collaboration validates our novel approach for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and provides us with additional resources to develop our broad pipeline of molecular imaging pharmaceuticals,” said Daniel Skovronsky, M.D., Ph.D., President and C.E.O. of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals. “We are particularly pleased to establish our first product collaboration with Schering AG given their strong commercial presence and track record as a global pioneer in the development of diagnostic imaging agents.”

Alzheimer’s disease affects an estimated 4.5 million people in the United States alone. That number has doubled since 1980 and is expected to exceed 12 million people by 2050 as the U.S. population ages. Worldwide representative epidemiological surveys estimate that 24.3 million people suffer from dementia today with about 4.6 million new cases every year. The number of people affected will double every 20 years to an estimated 81.1 million by 2040. Of these cases 50% to 75 % are associated with Alzheimer disease.

About Schering AG

Schering AG is a research-based pharmaceutical company. Its activities are focused on four business areas: Gynecology & Andrology, Oncology, Diagnostic Imaging as well as Specialized Therapeutics for disabling diseases. As a global player with innovative products, Schering AG aims for leading positions in specialized markets worldwide. With in-house R&D and supported by an excellent global network of external partners, Schering AG is securing a promising product pipeline. Using new ideas, Schering AG aims to make a recognized contribution to medical progress and strives to improve the quality of life: making medicine work

About Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc.

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Avid RP) is a product-focused molecular imaging company developing novel diagnostic agents to enable early diagnosis, treatment selection and therapeutic monitoring of serious diseases. The company is a pioneer in the development of agents for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Its lead product candidates are being developed to identify amyloid plaques, which are thought to accumulate in the brain for years before the onset of disease. Avid RP’s compounds may enable diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and also allow researchers to better evaluate therapeutic drug candidates for the prevention or reversal of amyloid plaque build-up in the brain. Avid’s technology can be used with a variety of imaging technologies such as positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon computed tomography (SPECT) and is being tested in pilot human studies. For more information, visit http://www.avidrp.com.

This press release has been published by Corporate Communication of Schering AG, Berlin, Germany.

Find additional information at: http://www.schering.de/eng Certain statements in this press release that are neither reported financial results nor other historical information are forward-looking statements, including but not limited to, statements that are predictions of or indicate future events, trends, plans or objectives. Undue reliance should not be placed on such statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and can be affected by other factors that could cause actual results and Schering AG’s plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Certain factors that may cause such differences are discussed in our Form 20-F and Form 6-K reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Schering AG undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any of these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information or future events or circumstances or otherwise.

Schering AG
http://www.schering.com/

Psychiatric nurses have a one in ten chance of being physically injured by an aggressive patient over the course of a year and many more suffer emotional distress because of the verbal abuse they receive while working in these difficult and challenging environments.

But the fear experienced by staff may be greater than the actual risk and frequently results in aggressive patients being put in seclusion or restrained, especially when the victim is a staff member, according to research in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Researchers from The City University, London, recorded 254 aggressive incidents on five acute inpatient psychiatric wards over a ten-month period.

They discovered that although the most common approach used by staff after an incident was to talk to the patient – this happened in 44 per cent of cases – they were much more likely to put a patient into seclusion or restrain them if the attack was against a staff member rather than another patient.

57 per cent of the aggressive incidents that took place at the inner city hospital were aimed at staff, 19 per cent involved other patients and 12 per cent resulted in self harm.

Seclusion was used to resolve more than a quarter of all incidents, with a further 23 per cent resulting in the patient being held by force.

“Our data suggest that the majority of aggressive incidents on the ward were directed at staff members, but that the smaller number of incidents against other patients resulted in greater physical harm” says lead researcher Chloe Foster, who is now based at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.

“Staff were much more likely to talk to the perpetrator when the victim was another patient and seclusion was used in 25 per cent of cases.

“However, when the victim of the aggression was a member of staff, the seclusion rate increased to 36 per cent.”

Physical abuse accounted for a sixth of the 145 incidents involving staff, with verbal abuse accounting for the remainder. Staff were commonly hit or pushed by the patient’s hand, with one being attacked with hot water. In eight per cent of incidents staff were hurt or required treatment.

78 per cent of the nursing staff who took part in the study said they felt threatened by the abuse they received and they recorded an average severity score of just over 12 on a scale of zero to 22.

The team also recorded 48 aggressive incidents against other patients, with physical aggression being used in just under half of cases (46 per cent). A quarter of the incidents resulted in other patients being injured or needing treatment, with three attacks featuring a knife, hot tea or a teapot.

70 per cent of the patients who were subjected to aggressive behaviour said they felt threatened by the incident.

The researchers point out that the number of incidents that took place during the study period was probably higher than recorded for several reasons.

“Only severe verbal aggression was recorded and staff may not have had enough time to record incidents that happened during shift changes or when they were about to go off duty” explains Foster. “It is also possible that a number of incidents between patients weren’t noticed by staff. So these incidents should be seen as minimum figures.”

The research team also looked at what triggered the aggressive outbursts. They found that the most common cause was a patient being denied something – for example being refused permission to leave the ward accounted for just under a third of incidents.

“Violence prevention training courses in the UK are aimed at avoiding eruptions of patient aggression, minimising the risk of injury, reducing the need for harsh coercive measures and helping patients control their behaviour” concludes Foster.

“Our findings suggest that training also needs to focus on improving methods of communication between staff and patients. This would enable staff to identify the factors that provoke patient aggression, recognise the importance of interpersonal factors in provoking such incidents and reduce aggression on psychiatric wards.”

The researchers are keen to point out that, although their research suggests that nurses may have taken firmer action than needed on a number of occasions, the fear experienced by staff working in mental health areas is very real and highly understandable.

“Numerous surveys in the UK have shown how vulnerable healthcare staff are, that nurses experience the highest number of aggressive incidents and that incidents are two and a half times more likely in mental health and learning disability services” stresses Foster.

“We hope that our research will help to create a better understanding of why aggressive incidents occur and enable health service providers to give their staff the extra training and support they need to work in these challenging environments.”

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A recent study, published in the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research (JVSR — http://www.jvsr.com), describes a 19-year old female diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) who suffered from somatic and psychiatric symptoms for two years. After a four-month course of chiropractic care, the young woman reported an 80% reduction in her anxiety symptoms, including a 90% decrease in her headaches. The patient was able to resume a normal lifestyle without resorting to prescription or over-the-counter drugs.

The patient’s previous medical treatment had included multiple emergency room visits; private specialists; and a rotation of drug therapies including Paxil, Xanax, and Celexa — which all failed to manage her symptoms.

The research was co-authored by Dr. Madeline Behrendt, Associate Editor of JVSR, and Dr. Nathan Olsen, a chiropractor in private practice in Boise, Idaho. The patient’s history included at least three motor vehicle accidents between 1995 and 1997; in one, her head shattered the windshield. The initial chiropractic evaluation detected the presence of spinal distortions, referred to as vertebral subluxations, which can result from trauma. Subluxations may interfere with the integrity of the nervous system and affect mental health.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety is the most common mental health illness, affecting more than 19 million Americans ages 18-54. These patients make three to five times more visits to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms and the Anxiety Disorders Association of America reports that direct healthcare costs and lost productivity of these conditions cost more than $42 billion per year.

The drug therapies commonly used in treatment for mental health disorders have recently come under closer scrutiny because of their poor rate of effectiveness and potentially deadly side effects, including increased suicidal tendencies in young people.

Despite this, most consumers are not given information on non-drug options and remain unaware of the benefits and cost savings that complementary and alternative care may offer.

WHAT: Recently convened symposium to examine how the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan affect women who are serving and have served in the military

WHO: Nathan D. Ainspan, PhD, Department of Veterans Affairs
Walter Penk, PhD, Texas A&M College of Medicine
Jenna Ermold, PhD, Andrews AFB
Maj. Lisa Teegarden, Psyd, Walter Reed Army Medical Center
Ronald Drach, U.S. Department of Labor
Sharon Wills, PhD, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Austin, TX

WHERE: American Psychological Association’s 115th Annual Convention
Moscone Center
San Francisco

BACKGROUND: Do women experience war differently than men and do they handle injuries differently? These questions were addressed by psychologists who have been on the front lines of the war along with those who specialize in employing veterans and helping them recover from combat-related stress.

The panel explored the following issues:

* how women return to their roles of parent and spouse after experiencing war

* what are the employment opportunities for female veterans and will their combat experience be seen as a disadvantage

* how are female veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treated when most of the research on PTSD has been conducted on and for male veterans

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A simple workplace intervention can reduce the impact of stress on the heart, researchers reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Office workers who faced layoffs — a significant stress-inducer — were able to achieve small, but significant changes in heart rate variability and a small decrease in arterial blood pressure by participating in a stress management program at work.

After participating in the year-long stress management program, workers’ scores on a test that measures perceived stress were significantly lower than baseline scores. Moreover, workers said they felt less tired than they did before the stress management training.

“And we were able to achieve these results in a working environment, without impinging on productivity, and with zero cost to the company,” said Massimo Pagani, M.D., senior author of the study and professor of medicine at the University of Milan in Italy.

Job-related stress is one of several factors that may increase the risk of heart attack. So by addressing stress “at work, where stress occurs, rather than in a clinic, we may be able to prevent these workers from becoming patients,” Pagani said.

Researchers recruited 91 office workers at a DuPont subsidiary in Italy which was downsizing its workforce by 10 percent. The average age of the volunteers was 40 years of age, 59 were men, who were, on average, normal weight with a body mass index (BMI) of 24 kg/m2. All of the volunteers said they were experiencing work-related stress.

The stressed workers were compared to a control group of 79 healthy volunteers, who worked outside of the company and reported no work-related stress. The average age of controls was 38, 52 were men, and the average BMI was 23 kg/m2.

Workers and controls underwent baseline assessment by a clinical psychologist and completed self-administered questionnaires which assessed overall stress, tiredness perception and bodily stress-related symptoms.

Researchers also tested the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is a regulatory component of the nervous system which controls our internal organs, including heart rate and blood vessels to help us adapt to changes in the environment. Importantly, the ANS adjusts and modifies the internal bodily functions in response to stress.

Researchers evaluated the ANS by using a single lead electrocardiogram (ECG). This is a scaled down version of the usual multiple lead ECG, which is a common clinical test used to determine if the heart rate and rhythm are normal or if heart damage has occurred. Subjects were first monitored while lying down and then again while standing. Researchers recorded blood pressure while the subjects were in both positions.

At baseline, the workers had significantly higher stress and tiredness scores than controls, averaging 5.20 versus 2.94 for stress and 5.28 versus 3.27 for tiredness. Workers also reported more stress-related symptoms such as difficult sleep, pounding of the heart or gastrointestinal problems.

Compared with controls, the stressed workers had altered values in an ECG measurement which assessed the low frequency component of the “RR interval variability,” which assesses nervous system regulation of heart rate. So, as expected, workers facing layoffs were feeling more stress and their heart rhythm was showing signs of that stress.

“This is typical of the stressed individual — they are facing psychological pressure, but they don’t want to hear about psychologists because they are feeling real, clinical symptoms,” Pagani said.

After baseline assessment, the workers were offered the opportunity to participate in weekly, one-hour stress management sessions during lunch breaks or in a passive program that offered articles and monthly e-mails on stress reduction techniques.

Participants in the passive program also had access to services offered by the company’s medical department. The weekly stress management sessions focused on mental relaxation techniques, as well as cognitive restructuring exercises and coping skills to face life stressors — including work-related stress.

Twenty-six of the 91 stressed employees signed up for the stress management sessions and 25 signed up for the passive stress management program.

At baseline, the autonomic measures (ECG and arterial pressure) were similar in both intervention groups, but after a year “the stress management program induced a significant, small reduction in arterial pressure, and clear changes in ECG derived stress indices.

“Our study provides a potential model for the assessment of work-related stress at an individual level and suggests that stress management programs can be implemented at the worksite,” Pagani said. “These programs can reduce stress symptom levels, revert stress-related ANS dysregulation, and lower resting arterial pressure.

“The practical long-term impact of this approach on symptoms, well-being and health of interested workers requires further specific longitudinal studies on large populations.”

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A nursing student assigned to check a heart patient’s vital statistics enters the patient’s room. Suddenly, the patient stops breathing and exhibits an erratic heartbeat. What steps must the nursing student take to ensure that the patient doesn’t die before a better-trained medical professional can arrive?

Fortunately, in this instance the emergency was merely a simulation. The “patient” — a blinking, breathing and fairly lifelike mannequin named “Bob” — spends his days (and nights) in a hospital bed located in the Human Performance Laboratory at Florida State University’s Learning Systems Institute. Bob’s job — and that of researchers who comprise the lab’s Expert Performance Research Team — is to determine how stress affects the decision-making ability of people who work in professions in which a split-second judgment can spell the difference between life and death for themselves or others.

“By measuring the performance of people with varying levels of expertise, we are able to develop a better sense of how a person with a high level of expertise is able to excel under stressful conditions that might paralyze a novice,” said David W. Eccles, an FSU assistant professor and research-team member who serves on the faculty of both the Learning Systems Institute and the College of Education. “Over time, this will help us to develop new training protocols that bThe medical simulation room is just one of several state-of-the-art apparatuses used to gauge performance levels in various professions at the Human Performance Lab. In an adjacent room, a theater-size movie screen is used to assess the reactions of law-enforcement professionals as they are exposed to scenarios that may or may not require them to draw and fire their (simulated) weapons. Other research involves testing the reactions of athletes as they react to situations that they are likely to encounter in game situations.

Putting both experts and novices through critical scenarios such as these, laboratory researchers don’t just observe the differences in subjects’ performance. They also take measurements from participants that include reaction time, eye and body movements, and heart rate, perspiration and blood-pressure changes. In addition, researchers use interviewing techniques they have developed to understand the differences in subjects’ minds.

“We’re looking at how people think and how that thinking affects how they perform,” said Paul Ward, an FSU assistant professor and research-team member who serves on the faculty of both the Learning Systems Institute and the FSU department of psychology.

The Human Performance Laboratory (http://www.lsi.fsu.edu/cepr/index.html) was established at FSU in 2004 through congressional funds administered by the Office of Naval Research. That Navy’s interest in human-performance research lay in its potential to identify those cognitive mechanisms that influence skilled performance among Navy personnel, especially in combat situations.etter prepare people to make critical decisions while under duress.”

“The innovative studies currently under way in the Human Performance Laboratory and the study of situation awareness during periods of stress are excellent examples of the benefits associated with multidisciplinary research efforts for which the Learning Systems Institute is known worldwide,” said institute Director Laura Hassler Lang. “In addition to Dr. Eccles and Dr. Ward, K. Anders Ericsson, FSU’s Conradi Eminent Scholar and a professor in the department of psychology, played a key role in developing the lab’s research agenda, and others, including Jim Whyte of the College of Nursing, collaborated to extend the lab’s capabilities.

“We are very excited about the potential applications of this work to other research areas,” Lang said, “and have submitted proposals to extend our work to the study of other domains, including education and personal finance.”

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Researchers in Norway found symptoms of depression and anxiety to be significantly higher among people with MS compared with those without MS. This study provides important data on the occurrence of emotional changes in people with MS, and the necessity to increase treatment of these symptoms. Antonie G. Beiske, MD (University Hospital, Akershus, NO) and colleagues report their findings in the European Journal of Neurology (2008 Mar;15(3):239-45). This work was funded by the Norwegian MS Society, the Hølands legacy, the Per B. Larsens legacy, the Kjell Alames Legacy and the Bergen MS Society.

Emotional changes are very common in MS, both as a reaction to the stress of living with a chronic, unpredictable illness and because of neurologic changes caused by the disease. Severe depression, mood swings, irritability, and episodes of uncontrollable laughing and crying pose significant challenges for people with MS and their family members.

Dr. Beiske’s team studied depression and anxiety in people with MS in four municipalities in Eastern Norway. They were able to collect and analyze data on 140 patients who underwent clinical and neuropsychiatric examinations. Patients were excluded if they had severe cognitive or psychiatric impairment or a serious medical condition other than MS that would preclude participation. The data were compared with the results of a 2001 study of general and mental health in Norway. Clinical measures used included the HSCL-25, a short, simple checklist of symptoms of anxiety and depression. In the group with MS, fatigue was assessed as well. Participants with MS were asked if they had obtained treatment from a psychiatrist or psychologist, or if they felt an unmet need for treatment of anxiety or depression.

A total of 31.4% of people with MS reported symptoms of depression, significantly higher than the 16.1% reported in the general population; 19.3% of people with MS had anxiety, significantly higher than the 10.9% among controls.

In the group with MS, fatigue and younger age at onset were significantly associated with symptoms of depression. Symptoms of anxiety were associated with fatigue and pain, less disease activity and younger age at onset. Compared to those without fatigue, those with fatigue were almost four times as likely to have depressive symptoms and more than five times as likely to have symptoms of anxiety. In addition, individuals with pain were more than four times as likely to have symptoms of anxiety. Only 15.9% reported having undergone treatment for depression and 11.1% for anxiety. Of untreated people who reported having these symptoms, 18.2% expressed the need for treatment.

“Symptoms of depression and anxiety both independently and in interaction with other MS symptoms affect patients’ functioning,” write the authors. “Thus, depressive and anxiety symptoms have to be identified and treated, and not interpreted as a natural and inevitable consequence of the disease course.”

Learn more about emotional changes that affect people with MS, and about the treatments that are available to relieve these symptoms.

National MS Society

Spreading rumors and gossiping may not cause bruises or black eyes, but the psychological consequences of this social type of bullying could linger into early adulthood, a new University of Florida study shows.

In a study of 210 college students, UF researchers discovered a link between what psychologists call relational victimization in adolescence and depression and anxiety in early adulthood, according to findings published online this month in the journal Psychology in the Schools. Rather than threatening a child with physical violence, these bullies target a child’s social status and relationships by shunning them, excluding them from social activities or spreading rumors, said Allison Dempsey, a doctoral student in the UF College of Education and the study’s lead author.

“Even though people are outside of high school, the memories of these experiences continue to be associated with depression and social anxiety,” said Dempsey, who graduated from Columbine High School in Colorado one year before the 1999 school shooting there and now studies school prevention programs. “It was interesting to see these relationships still continue to exist even though they are in early adulthood now and in a completely different setting.

“I’m hoping this study will help shed light on the fact that this is a real problem and continues to be a real problem after students leave school.”

To uncover the relationships between social bullying and loneliness, depression and anxiety, researchers surveyed college undergraduates between the ages of 18 and 25 and asked them to recall their experiences from high school. They were also looking to see if having friends mitigated some of the effects of bullying and if there was any relationship between gender and the severity of psychological symptoms, said Eric Storch, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry in the UF College of Medicine and a co-author of the study.

“About 20 years ago people thought of bullying as very physical,” Storch said. “As a result people thought guys did the bullying, and that it wasn’t really a big experience for girls. The problem is that isn’t actually true. There are different types of aggression.

“Boys do tend to be more physical, but both sexes engage in relational victimization. We wanted to see if gender affected strength of the relationship between depressive symptoms and victimization.”

But researchers found no gender difference in the link between this type of bullying and depression. They also discovered that having friends or other positive social relationships didn’t lessen rates of depression and anxiety in adulthood, a finding that surprised them, Dempsey said.

For some children, having friends and positive support can help make them more resilient to the slings and arrows from bullies, Storch said. But other children take the words and abuse more to heart and begin to believe what’s being said about them.

“Those types of negative thoughts are actually believed to be at the core of things like depression and anxiety,” Storch said. “Behaviorally what starts happening is you avoid interactions and situations that could be quite positive for you.”

Currently, there are few prevention or intervention programs that focus specifically on relational victimization, in part because it’s tougher to pinpoint and stop, Dempsey said.

“If a child tries to punch someone or kick someone, there’s evidence of that happening,” Dempsey said. “There’s a definite aggressor and a definite victim. When it comes to spreading rumors and gossiping, that’s a lot more difficult to prove who’s doing it. And it’s harder to provide consequences.”

Dempsey said she hopes this study and others will help other researchers and psychologists design programs that can help stop this form of bullying in schools.

“I think many people have the belief that victimization is a normal rite of passage in childhood,” Storch said. “While it certainly does happen to most kids, it’s not acceptable. And while I think it would be difficult to completely curtail it, by reducing it you’re going to help someone a tremendous amount to not have to go to school and be plagued by this environment of being tortured day in and day out.

“This isn’t a normative experience and we need to do something about it and recognize that not doing something could affect children who are really rising stars.”

Wendy Troop-Gordon, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at North Dakota State University, said understanding how past relational bullying affects people in adulthood is an important step forward for research in this field.

“Turning 18 is not a magical age when you leave all of these experiences behind,” said Troop-Gordon, who is not affiliated with the study. “People do seem to carry these experiences with them.”

The University of Florida Health Science Center - the most comprehensive academic health center in the Southeast – is dedicated to high-quality programs of education, research, patient care and public service. The Health Science Center encompasses the colleges of Dentistry, Public Health and Health Professions, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine, as well as the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital and an academic campus in Jacksonville offering graduate education programs in dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy. Patient care activities, under the banner UF&Shands, are provided through teaching hospitals and a network of clinics in Gainesville and Jacksonville. The Health Science Center also has a statewide presence through satellite medical, dental and nursing clinics staffed by UF health professionals; and affiliations with community-based health-care facilities stretching from Hialeah and Miami to the Florida Panhandle.

University of Florida Health Science Center