Anxiety

Less frequent, in our slightly more-enlightened decade, are such headlines as the famous mid-'80s gem reminding women they were more likely to die in a terrorist attack than get married after 40. Statistically speaking, we're marrying later: The...

For brief moments, Cassie Stanley can forget her precarious relationship with death. She forgot on Christmas morning when her family opened presents. At other times, she forgets by immersing herself in watching the Bulls or Cubs on TV in her family's...

Antidepressants, now the third-most commonly prescribed class of drugs in the United States, are routinely offered to patients with vague complaints of fatigue, pain and malaise but who are not classified as suffering from a mental disorder by the...

Psychotherapist Mark Pfeffer's 30-something clients share a common source for much of their anxiety: marriage. They fret about finding the perfect person, losing their independence, being the last of their friends to be paired off. They want kids, yet...

People cheat. They juggle multiple lovers. They have serial relationships. They watch porn. You could chalk it up to the spectrum of sexual appetites, destructive as some may be. Or you could check yourself into rehab for sexual addiction. That's how it...

When psychiatrists diagnose mental illness, they turn to an unwieldy book called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM for short. First published in 1952, the tome also is used as a standard by researchers, the health...

Upon learning they are pregnant, most women dutifully nix the alcohol, sushi and caffeine. But what about antidepressants? Headlines about the potential risks of antidepressants on a developing fetus, including miscarriage, premature birth and newborn...

As a family practitioner in Naperville, Dr. Sheron Brown is used to referring her patients to specialists. She's less accustomed to patients informing her that they need a referral. But such was the case with a woman who called Brown to say she had...

My heart goes out to the family of Jenny Olenick, who by all accounts was a talented and wonderful teen. The May 5 article detailing events surrounding the filing of a malpractice suit, "Lawyers question teen's health before death," got my attention for...

Virtual Nerd 5 tips for midterms: Be Efficient When studying for midterms, the key is to use homework and study time as efficiently as possible. The more focused you can be the less likely you are to become overwhelmed by everything that you need to...

Talking about anxiety may not be sexy or trendy.  But social anxiety is something that many Chicagoans deal with everyday.  And many feel they have nowhere to go for help. A local therapist is finding the humor in social anxiety-that is-using humor to...

Propelled by an increase in prescription narcotic overdoses, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, a Times analysis of government data has found. Drugs exceeded motor vehicle accidents as a cause of death in 2009, killing...