Anxiety Disorders

Cross Frequency Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (CF-tACS) with mobile EEG for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial 2025 Award: $199,624 While medications and psychotherapy can be very effective for anxiety, many people with anxiety have side effects with medications, don’t have access to therapy, or don’t get full relief from symptoms even with treatment. In this study, we are testing an exciting new technology that utilizes low-level electric currents to gently modify brain activity to treat anxiety. We will investigate the effectiveness of this new treatment in treating anxiety, and we will record daily EEG measurements to see which changes in brain activity lead to the most improvement. Need/Problem: Anxiety disorders are quite common, and many people with anxiety disorders do not get to a point of remission from symptoms and/or have side effects [...]

Anxiety and emotion in parent-child dyads: A multimodal study 2022 Award: $92,932 Anxiety is on the rise, is associated with altered emotional processing, and can emerge in preschool, a time when children rely on parents or caregivers to process emotional and handle worry. Developing successful treatments for childhood anxiety will depend on understanding the mechanisms that underlie it and parent-child dyads. This project is an important first step to better understand and treat anxiety disorders, by measuring brain and behavioral aspects of anxiety and emotion in both parents and children. Need/Problem: Anxiety disorders (AD) can emerge in early childhood and predict later symptoms and psychopathology. Emotional processing is an important core aspect of ADs – an underlying fear, worry, or distress. In preschool children, some worry is typical as they develop brain networks to process emotional information. This development [...]

A Translational Approach to Identify Biomarkers of COVID-19-related Social Stress in Healthcare Workers 2020 Award: $85,000 Psychosocial stress is ubiquitous in modern societies and - especially when excessive or persistent - can lead to several psychiatric disorders, including major depressive, post-traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders. As we have all observed in the news recently, one of the most vulnerable populations in the COVID-19 pandemic is our healthcare providers. Our research will integrate human studies and preclinical mouse models of social stress to understand how persistent social stress affects this population. Need/Problem: Stress-related psychiatric disorders, including major depressive, post-traumatic stress, and anxiety disorders, are the most common mental illnesses in the United States. With the recent COVID-19 pandemic, both the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) predict that the number of people suffering from [...]