Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent yet lack objective biomarkers. Whereas threat-related attentional biases are well documented, less is known about broader eye movement alterations that may characterise anxiety.

To characterise multi-paradigm eye movement profiles in anxiety disorders and evaluate their potential as behavioural markers for disorder differentiation.

Eye movements were recorded in 91 patients with anxiety disorders, 118 with depressive disorders and 98 healthy controls during free viewing of neutral-stimuli, smooth-pursuit and fixation-stability tasks. Principal component analysis was applied to derive latent eye movement dimensions, which were then tested for group differences, associations with symptom severity and classification performance.

Compared with both patients with depression and healthy controls, patients with anxiety disorders exhibited hyper-scanning during free viewing, characterised by increased saccade frequency and path length, and hyper-pursuit during smooth pursuit, reflected in increased velocity gain, fewer intrusive saccades and more catch-up saccades. Principal component analysis identified six latent components, among which active visual exploration, pupillary arousal and smooth-pursuit control demonstrated robust group differences. Machine learning models trained on 6 components yielded areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.82 for anxiety versus healthy controls, 0.83 for depression versus healthy controls and 0.61 for anxiety versus depression.

Hyper-scanning and hyper-pursuit emerge as defining eye movement signatures of anxiety, linking core mechanisms of vigilance and prediction with measurable behavioural markers. These insights position eye-tracking as a promising behavioural modality for mechanism-informed differentiation across affective disorders.

To examine the impact the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland on symptoms and functioning in individuals across a range of mental health disorders.

A systematic bibliographic search of case reports, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies was conducted between March 12th, 2020, and December 20th, 2024, among studies evaluating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on symptoms and functioning for individuals with pre-existing mental health disorders and for those who presented with self-harm or died by probable suicide in the Republic of Ireland. Studies were independently screened by two reviewers according to inclusion and exclusion criteria, with selected variables extracted and summarised. Risk of bias assessments and narrative synthesis of included studies were conducted.

Twenty-eight studies met inclusion criteria. Findings were heterogeneous and disorder specific. An increase in presentations of self-harm, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders to child and adolescent mental health services and emergency departments was noted, with relative stability of symptoms in other cohorts including bipolar disorder and treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Significant symptom deterioration, with poor quality of life and functioning was demonstrated in individuals with emotionally unstable personality disorder both cross-sectionally and longitudinally.

Most people with pre-existing mental disorders did not experience significant exacerbation associated with the pandemic, with exception of those with eating disorders and EUPD.

Journalists covering war are exposed to grave risk which can cause mental health difficulties.

To determine the long-term psychiatric health of journalists who covered wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East between September 2001 (following 9/11) and 2013 (waning of the Arab Spring uprisings).

Observational, qualitative study involving journalists from CNN, The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Associated Press and National Public Radio. Data collected via study website and Zoom interviews. Of 324 journalists identified, 202 (62.3%) were traceable. Of these, 16 (4.9%) were deceased, 156/186 (83.9%) consented and 30/186 (16.1%) declined participation. Of 156 journalists who provided psychometric data, 99 (63.4%) agreed to interview. Duration of exposure to and severity of risk were recorded. Psychometric data included the General Anxiety Disorder seven-item scale, the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire, the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 and the Structured Clinical Interview Schedule for DSM-5 to elicit 12-month and lifetime prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses.

One hundred and twelve (71.8%) were male, mean age was 57.0 (s.d. = 9.75) years and 77/156 (49.4%) spent more than 3 years in war zones. Time in a war zone correlated with risk severity (r = 0.476, p < 0.001). Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 27%/6%; major depression 34%/8%; any anxiety disorder 28%/11%; alcohol use disorder 34%/4%; acute stress disorder 6%/0%; dissociative disorder 2%/0%. Severity of risk predicted lifetime PTSD only (odds ratio 2.55, 95% CI: 1.27–5.14, p = 0.009). Counselling was available to 63/156 (40.4%) journalists while covering conflict.

Journalists who covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere that began after 9/11 have a high lifetime prevalence of PTSD, major depression, any anxiety disorder and alcohol use disorder; 12-month prevalence for PTSD and any anxiety disorder remains elevated, albeit less so. War journalism is hazardous, and risk severity predicts PTSD, highlighting the importance of therapy availability.

Parental prenatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are linked to child neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), but evaluations of the magnitude and mechanisms of this association are limited. This study estimates the strength of the association and whether it is impacted by genetic and environmental factors.

A systematic search of PubMed, CENTRAL, PsycINFO, OVID, and Google Scholar was performed for articles published from January 1988 to September 2025. Of 2,420 articles screened, 74 met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analyses were conducted on 21 studies, and 53 were included in the narrative synthesis. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses, along with tests for heterogeneity (I2) and publication bias (Egger’s test). The review followed PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines.

Maternal PMADs were associated with a significantly increased risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; odds ratio [OR] 1.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.45–2.52) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD; OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.43–2.14) in children. Paternal PMADs were also associated with the risk of NDDs, with combined odds for ASD and ADHD (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.14–1.33). Several studies suggested that the link between parental PMADs and offspring NDDs might be impacted by both genetic and environmental factors, including the impact of ongoing parental depression on child behavior.

Parental PMADs are associated with increased risk of NDDs in children. These findings likely reflect a combination of inherited liability and environmental processes; clarifying mechanisms will require genetically informed designs. Regardless of mechanism, offering optional, family-centered developmental support may help promote child well-being in families where a parent is experiencing PMADs.

Children displaced by armed conflict are at high risk of experiencing psychological distress. The ongoing war in Gaza has resulted in widespread trauma among Palestinian youth, yet limited data exist on their mental health following displacement. This study assessed the prevalence and correlates of anxiety and depressive symptoms among war-displaced Palestinian refugee children and adolescents resettled in Qatar.

To estimate the prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms and to identify psychosocial and trauma-related factors associated with symptom severity in this population.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 350 Palestinian children (aged 8–17 years) residing in a residential compound in Qatar. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were measured using the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders-Child Version and the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire-Child Version, respectively. A Resilience and Demographic Questionnaire was devised to assess trauma exposure and psychosocial variables. Multiple linear regression identified factors associated with symptom severity.

Clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms were found in 70.9 and 46.0% of participants, respectively. Separation anxiety was the most common subtype. Female gender, witnessing death, physical injury and disrupted caregiving were significantly associated with worse outcomes.

This study highlights the urgent need for trauma-informed, culturally sensitive mental health services for displaced Palestinian children and young people. While clinical interventions are vital, a sustainable resolution to the conflict is essential to mitigate further psychological harm.

An increase in mental disorders has been suggested, but the interpretation of such trends remains unclear. This study examines changes in the 12-month prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders over 12 years and evaluates whether clinical characteristics or sociodemographic, vulnerability and health-lifestyle risk factors contributed to these trends.

To assess trends in the 12-month prevalence of anxiety disorders (i.e. panic disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder or generalised anxiety disorder) and mood disorders (major depressive disorder, dysthymia or bipolar disorder) and explore whether changes in clinical profiles or risk factors influenced these trends.

Data from 11 615 respondents (mean age 43.5 years, 53.5% female) in the Netherlands Mental Health Survey and Incidence Studies (NEMESIS) were analysed, covering 2007–2009 (NEMESIS-2, n = 6646) and 2019–2022 (NEMESIS-3, n = 4969). Diagnoses were determined using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0.

The 12-month prevalence of all anxiety and mood disorders was significantly higher in 2019–2022 compared to 2007–2009, with relative increases across disorders ranging from approximately a half to more than double their previous rates. Any anxiety or mood disorder increased from 10.2 to 16.7%. Clinical profiles were equally severe in 2019–2022; rather, there was increased mental health care use, a higher number of comorbid disorders and earlier onset. Examination of 14 risk factors showed no consistent evidence of greater prevalence or increased relative impact over time.

There was a consistent rise in the 12-month prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders over 12 years. This increase was not explained by changes in risk factors or less severe disorder reporting. Instead, these findings suggest a concerning decline in public mental health, highlighting the need for effective prevention strategies, timely interventions and better mental health resource allocation to address growing clinical demands.

People with severe COVID anxiety have significant fears of contagion, physiological symptoms of anxiety in response to a COVID stimulus and employ often disproportionate safety behaviours at the expense of other life priorities.

To characterise the long-term trajectory of severe COVID anxiety, and the factors that influence recovery.

This prospective cohort study followed 285 people with severe COVID anxiety in the UK over 18 months. A nested randomised feasibility trial tested an online cognitive–behavioural therapy (CBT)-based intervention (no. ISRCTN14973494). Descriptive statistics and linear regression models identified factors associated with change in COVID anxiety over 18 months.

Most participants experienced major reductions in COVID anxiety over time (69.8% relative cohort mean decrease, P < 0.001), but a quarter of people (23.7%, 95% CI: 17.8–30.1) continued to worry about COVID every day, and for 13% symptoms remained severe even after the ending of all public health restrictions. Increasing age, being from a minority ethnic background that confers greater risk from COVID-19, and the persistence of high levels of health anxiety and depressive symptoms, predicted slower improvements in severe COVID anxiety after adjusting for other clinical and demographic factors. Neither a trial CBT-based intervention, nor contextual factors including daily case rates, vaccination status or having contracted COVID-19, appeared to affect the trajectory of severe COVID anxiety.

For most people severe COVID anxiety improves significantly with time. However, interventions treating depression and health anxiety, and targeting older people and those from greater-risk minority backgrounds, warrant further investigation in future pandemics.

We investigate whether, in Swedish national registers, social and psychiatric outcomes for six major psychiatric and substance disorders – drug use disorder (DUD), alcohol use disorder (AUD), major depression (MD), bipolar disorder (BD), anxiety disorder (AD), and schizophrenia (SZ) – reflect the primary genetic risk for each disorder and the level of genetic heterogeneity.

We utilize Genetic Risk Ratios – defined as the ratio of the genetic risk for secondary disorders to the genetic risk for the primary disorder – derived from Family Genetic Risk Scores. Poor social outcome was defined by a common factor of four variables: receipt of social welfare, sick leave, early retirement pension, and residence in a socially deprived area. Psychiatric outcome was defined as days of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization.

With poorer social outcomes, the primary genetic risks rose robustly for all disorders except SZ, as did the secondary genetic risks for DUD, AUD, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. With poorer psychiatric outcomes, available only for BD and SZ, the primary genetic risks increased sharply. Overall, MD, AD, and BD became substantially more genetically heterogenous as their social outcomes became poorer, while for AUD, DUD, and SZ, the increase in heterogeneity was more modest. By contrast, with poorer psychiatric outcome, genetic risks for SZ became substantially more genetically homogeneous, with a similar but less robust trend seen for BD.

Despite important differences between our primary disorders, social and psychiatric outcomes are often robust indices of genetic risk and can reflect the levels of genetic heterogeneity.

This study presents the most recent data on the incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) due to anxiety disorders across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region from 1990–2021, analysed by sex, age, and sociodemographic index (SDI).

We reported the burden of anxiety disorders using data sourced from the Global Burden of Disease 2021 study. The estimates of prevalence, DALYs, and YLDs are provided as numbers and age-standardised rates, accompanied by their 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs).

In 2021, the age-standardised point prevalence of anxiety disorders in the region was 5.95 thousand, with an incidence rate of 883.4 per 100,000. The number of YLDs in 2021 reached 4.5 million. From 1990 to 2021, the burden of anxiety disorders increased significantly. Lebanon had the highest burden in 2021. Among both sexes, the 10–14 age group had the highest incidence rate, while the 15–19 age group had the highest prevalence and YLD rates. In 2021, most age groups in the MENA region had YLD rates that were higher than the global average.

This study highlights the urgent need for a multidisciplinary approach to prevent and manage anxiety disorders. Ensuring accessible and affordable treatment options for all affected individuals is crucial. Governments should prioritise supporting programmes to effectively address mental health issues, given the unique socioeconomic and geopolitical challenges in the MENA region. By including effective preventive methods alongside treatment in healthcare strategies, the burden of anxiety disorders can be significantly reduced.

Low-income, publicly insured youth face numerous barriers to adequate mental health care, which may be compounded for those with multiple marginalized identities. However, no research has examined how identity and diagnosis may interact to shape the treatment experiences of under-resourced youth with psychiatric conditions. Applying an intersectional lens to treatment disparities is essential for developing targeted interventions to promote equitable care.

Analyses included youth ages 7–18 with eating disorders (EDs; n = 3,311), mood/anxiety disorders (n = 3,219), or psychotic disorders (n = 3,035) enrolled in California Medicaid. Using state billing records, we examined sex- and race and ethnicity-based disparities in receipt of core services – outpatient therapy, outpatient medical care, and inpatient treatment – in the first year after diagnosis and potential differences across diagnostic groups.

Many youth (50.7% across diagnoses) received no outpatient therapy, and youth with EDs were least likely to receive these services. Youth of color received fewer days of outpatient therapy than White youth, and Latinx youth received fewer therapy and medical services across outpatient and inpatient contexts. Sex- and race and ethnicity-based disparities were especially pronounced for youth with EDs, with particularly low levels of service receipt among boys and Latinx youth with EDs.

Results raise concerns for unmet treatment needs among publicly insured youth, which are exacerbated for youth with multiple marginalized identities and those who do not conform to historical stereotypes of affected individuals (e.g., low-income boys of color with EDs). Targeted efforts are needed to ensure equitable care.

Functional Somatic Disorders (FSD) and Internalizing Psychiatric Disorders (IPD) are frequently comorbid and likely share familial/genetic risk factors.

We performed a Common Factor Multivariate Analysis of 2 FSDs, Fibromyalgia (FM) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and two IPDs, Major Depression (MD) and Anxiety Disorders (AD), in five kinds of Swedish female–female relative pairs: monozygotic (n = 8,052) dizygotic (n = 7216), full siblings (n = 712,762), half-siblings reared together (n = 23,623), and half-siblings reared apart (n = 53,873). Model fitting was by full information maximum likelihood using OpenMx.

The best-fit model included genetic, shared environmental, and unique environmental factors. The common factor, ~50% heritable with a small shared environmental effect, loaded more strongly on the two IPDs (~0.80) than the 2 FSDs (0.40). Disorder-specific genetic effects were larger for the 2 FSDs (~0.30) than the 2 IPDs (~0.03). Estimated genetic correlations were high for MD and AD (+0.91), moderate between IBS and IPDs (+0.62), and intermediate between FM and MD (+0.54), FM and AD (+0.28), and FM and IBS (+0.38). Shared environmental influences on all disorders were present but small.

In women, FSDs and IPDs shared a moderate proportion of their genetic risk factors, greater for IBS than for FM. However, the genetic sharing between IBS and FM was less than between MD and AD, suggesting that FSDs do not form a highly genetically coherent group of disorders. The shared environment made a modest contribution to the familial aggregation of FSDs and IPDs.

Myocardial bridge contributes to chest pain, often accompanied by non-specific complaints.

Our study aims to determine somatic symptom disorder (SSD) prevalence in patients with myocardial bridge, investigating associated clinical and psychological features.

In this prospective cross-sectional study, we enrolled 1357 participants (337 with and 1020 without myocardial bridge) from Shanghai Renji Hospital. The Somatic Symptom Scale-China questionnaire was used to assess SSD. Depressive and anxiety disorders were assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7).

The prevalence of SSD in the myocardial bridge group was 63.2%, higher than the group without myocardial bridge (53.8%). Patients with myocardial bridge were at an increased risk of SSD (odds ratio 1.362, 95% CI 1.026–1.809; P = 0.033). There were no differences in the mean PHQ-9 scores (3.2 ± 3.4 v. 3.2 ± 4.1; P = 0.751) or GAD-7 scores (2.5 ± 3.0 v. 2.3 ± 3.7; P = 0.143) between the two groups. Among patients with myocardial bridge, gender was the only independent risk factor for SSD. Women were 3.119 times more likely to experience SSD compared with men (95% CI 1.537–6.329; P = 0.002).

Our findings emphasise the high prevalence and severity of SSD among patients with myocardial bridge. The screening for SSD should be of particular concern, especially among female patients.