The Family Institute At Northwestern University Presents Its Generalized Anxiety Disorder Research Project

Main Category: Anxiety / Stress
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 04 Dec 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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The Anxiety and Panic Treatment Program of The Family Institute at Northwestern University, a premier center for couple and family therapy, community outreach, education and research, announces its generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) research project.

The primary focus of the GAD research project is on improving the effectiveness of treatment for GAD. This research is especially timely given the current economic turmoil as many people with GAD worry about finances even when the economy is strong and financial worries are likely to be higher than usual right now.

The central feature of GAD is excessive worry about a number of different areas or activities that an individual finds difficult to control. This worry is also accompanied by manifestations of anxiety such as restlessness, irritability, difficulty sleeping, and/or concentration difficulties. People with GAD often find that their pervasive anxiety and worry are associated with substantial distress, impair their ability to enjoy themselves in many situations and can strain their relationships.

Led by Director Richard E. Zinbarg, Ph.D., Patricia M. Nielsen Research Chair, the GAD Research Project has two primary aims: 1) to develop more effective individual therapy techniques for GAD and 2) to explore the potential benefit of developing family therapy techniques for GAD.

As a first step toward accomplishing the later aim, the research team is currently focused on better understanding how the patient's relationships with significant others might facilitate or hinder the patient's individual therapy. Once these relationship patterns are understood, the research team can then begin to develop family interventions to reduce the potentially deleterious patterns and foster the potentially helpful ones.

"The type of individual therapy that we do in our program - cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) - is the form of psychotherapy for GAD that has the most research evidence showing that it is effective," explains Dr. Zinbarg. "However, the same scientific evidence that shows that individual CBT works also shows it doesn't work well enough. The evidence tells us that, at best, 50% of the patients with GAD we treat with individual CBT might be considered to be cured. Though we may never reach a 100% cure rate, our research is aimed at trying to cure a higher percentage of patients with GAD than is currently the case."

About The Family Institute At Northwestern University

The Family Institute at Northwestern University is a premier center for couple and family therapy, community outreach, education and research, giving clients access to some of the most experienced psychotherapists and experts in the field. Headquartered in Evanston, The Family Institute offers over 50,000 therapy sessions a year. The sliding-fee scale through the Bette D Harris Clinic ensures that no one is turned away regardless of ability to pay. The Family Institute also operates two nationally-renowned graduate programs in Marital and Family Therapy and in Counseling Psychology at Northwestern University. In addition, The Family Institute conducts important research that leads to a better understanding and improved treatment of mental health issues. The Family Institute is an independent not-for-profit organization affiliated with Northwestern University.

The Family Institute At Northwestern University