Increasing The Efficacy Of Treatment For Socially Anxious Youth Through Theoretically Derived Improvements
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$971,747.00
Summary
Social anxiety has a severe impact on young people. Although we have good treatments for most anxious youth, those with social anxiety show the least change. The proposed project will evaluate the benefits of a new treatment for socially anxious young people based on current understanding of the causes of this disorder. The new treatment will have better effects than traditional therapy and will lead to increased knowledge of the causes of this disorder.
The Effects Of Treating Comorbid Social Phobia In Adults Who Stutter
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$196,245.00
Summary
Stuttering is a distressing and common speech disorder that prevents normal communication, hinders attainment of occupational potential, and can cause a lifetime of embarrassment and anxiety in everyday speaking situations. Around half of all adults who stutter have a condition called social phobia, which involves excessive anxiety in social situations. This is an important observation, because it is well known that treatments for adults who stutter are not particularly effective for some patien ....Stuttering is a distressing and common speech disorder that prevents normal communication, hinders attainment of occupational potential, and can cause a lifetime of embarrassment and anxiety in everyday speaking situations. Around half of all adults who stutter have a condition called social phobia, which involves excessive anxiety in social situations. This is an important observation, because it is well known that treatments for adults who stutter are not particularly effective for some patients. In this research project, we investigate the possibility that this is because existing treatments have not addressed the fact that many adults who stutter have levels of social anxiety in everyday speaking situations. In this experiment, half the subjects receive a standard treatment and the other half receive a standard treatment plus cognitive behaviour therapy designed to alleviate their social anxiety.Read moreRead less
Randomised Trial Of An Innovative Treatment For Early Stuttering.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$482,568.00
Summary
Stuttering begins early in life and has destructive effects on human development. These include failure to attain occupational potential and psychiatric illness. This project is a clinical trial to compare a new treatment with best practice. The new treatment has many potential benefits. It is simpler and may take less time, and can be used more easily by clinicians.
Internet-Based Treatment For Social Anxiety In Stuttering.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$721,808.00
Summary
Debilitating social anxiety is common in stutering. Cognitive behaviour therapy can successfully treat the social anxiety of those who stutter. However, at present the clinical translation of that advance is not possible. The team has developed a solution to this problem with computerised, internet-based cognitive behaviour therapy. The clinical trial in this research has potential to translate the clinical advance to millions of people who stutter worldwide..
D-Cycloserine And Conditioning: Increasing The Effectiveness Of Exposure Therapy For Fear And Anxiety
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$400,750.00
Summary
The psychological, social, and financial costs of anxiety problems are among the highest burden-of-disease costs to the community. The most effective long-term psychological treatment for anxiety disorders is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), in particular exposure therapy. However only a small minority of individuals receive comprehensive treatment, and a portion of these individuals re-experience symptoms in the long-term. These difficulties are partially due to the cost of treatment and diff ....The psychological, social, and financial costs of anxiety problems are among the highest burden-of-disease costs to the community. The most effective long-term psychological treatment for anxiety disorders is cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), in particular exposure therapy. However only a small minority of individuals receive comprehensive treatment, and a portion of these individuals re-experience symptoms in the long-term. These difficulties are partially due to the cost of treatment and difficulties with relapse. Recent research has shown that D-Cycloserine (DCS) facilitates extinction in animals and possibly in humans. DCS has the potential to offer a simple, brief, and cost-effective intervention that enhances treatment effects. In the United States the new NIMH director has set research into DCS and exposure to fear as a high priority that is likely to have a significant public health impact. This proposal provides an opportunity for Australian researchers to become involved in a rapidly expanding research field. The research team at UNSW have already established an international reputation in DCS applications, fear conditioning in humans, and clinical trials in humans. They are in a unique position internationally to investigate the means by which DCS exerts its effects and to conduct randomised clinical trials of DCS in recovery from fear in humans.The goal is to test DCS in facilitating exposure and extinction of fear. The research will directly lead to recommendations for clinical application and demonstrate whether the drug has the capability of significantly increasing the success of exposure therapy by reducing the time required for treatment, the rate of relapse, the financial cost of treatment, and the overall burden of anxiety to the community. The fear-conditioning studies will also inform our theoretical understanding of emotion processing and fear conditioning in humans, which in turn will allow clinical applications to be optimised.Read moreRead less
Enhanced Treatment For Social Phobia Through The Incorporation Of Attentional Re-training.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$465,162.00
Summary
Social phobia is a serious difficulty that can cause tremendous interference in an individual's life. Social phobia can interfere with an individual's social and romantic life, work and study aspirations, and even increase medical and other psychological problems. Psychological programs to help individuals manage their anxiety have been developed and shown to lead to relatively strong positive outcomes. Recent theoretical understanding has suggested that one maintaining factor in social phobia m ....Social phobia is a serious difficulty that can cause tremendous interference in an individual's life. Social phobia can interfere with an individual's social and romantic life, work and study aspirations, and even increase medical and other psychological problems. Psychological programs to help individuals manage their anxiety have been developed and shown to lead to relatively strong positive outcomes. Recent theoretical understanding has suggested that one maintaining factor in social phobia may be these people's tendency to focus onto negative information. In some exciting developments, several researchers have shown that simply training people with social phobia to focus their attention away from negative information, with no other treatment components, can produce a marked change in their fears. Therefore it makes sense that incorporating these methods into current standard treatment packages, may increase their effectiveness. The current study aims to compare the current best practice treatment package for social phobia with a combination of this package plus the recent attention re-training methods. It is expected that incorporating attention re-training into standard treatment with significantly improve its effects.Read moreRead less
Enhancing Cognitive Behavioural Treatment Outcomes For Social Phobia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$344,129.00
Summary
Social phobia is a serious difficulty that has a tremendous impact in an individual's life. Psychological programs for social phobia have yielded relatively strong positive outcomes, however some individuals do not gain the optimum benefit from these programs. This study aims to test the effectiveness of an added component in the treatment for social phobia which focuses on increasing engagement with treatment in order to optimise outcomes.
A Randomised Trial Of The Augmentation Of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy With Fluoxetine For Anxious School Refusing Youth
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$539,191.00
Summary
School refusing youth consistently suffer from anxiety and sometimes depression. They become severely emotionally distressed when taken to school and experience social and academic difficulties in the short and long term as well as psychiatric illness in adulthood. Our program investigates whether treatment can be improved by enhancing psychotherapy (cognitive behaviour therapy) which helps over half of anxious school refusing children, with antidepressant-anxiety medication compared to placebo.
The Mental Health Of School-Age Children Who Stutter
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$154,781.00
Summary
Children who stutter face considerable social disadvantages and negative consequences. Adults who stutter have been found to report a significant rate of mental health disorders, yet virtually nothing is known about the presence of such problems in children who stutter. This study will evaluate the prevalence and impact of mental disorders among school-age children who stutter. This research is essential for the provision of adequate speech and psychological treatments for children who stutter.