My Age of Anxiety from the Foundation’s Perspective

Recently one of our founders, Patty Kukes, had the opportunity to hear Scott Stossel speak. Scott is the editor of The Atlantic magazine, and is also the author of the book My Age of Anxiety. For those of you who have not read the book, here is a description from Random House: Drawing on his READ MORE »

Robin Williams from the Foundation’s Perspective

Over the last week, we’ve all watched news stories and seen tributes honoring the memory of Robin Williams. Both his boundless talents as an actor and his abysmal struggles with substance abuse and depression have been on our minds. It is deeply saddening to see someone with such great gifts feel such despair that only READ MORE »

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Social Anxiety among Ethnic Minority Patients, Part 2: Bridging the Gap in Treatment

L. Kevin Chapman, PhD; Ryan CT DeLapp; and Monnica T. Williams, PhD The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. ABSTRACT: SAD is one of the most common anxiety disorders and extant literature has demonstrated that differences in cultural background can moderate the expression of its symptomology. Inasmuch, it is important for mental health READ MORE »

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Social Anxiety among Ethnic Minority Patients, Part 1: Understanding Differences

L. Kevin Chapman, PhD; Ryan CT DeLapp; and Monnica T. Williams, PhD The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. ABSTRACT: SAD is one of the most common anxiety disorders, and extant literature has demonstrated that differences in cultural background can moderate the expression of its symptomology. Inasmuch, it is important for mental health READ MORE »

A Review of “Social skills and social phobia: An investigation of DSM-IV subtypes”

Article summary provided by Hillary Greene RESEARCHER HIGHLIGHT: This review highlights work led by key anxiety researcher Dr. Deborah Beidel, director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and psychology professor at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Beidel has extensive professional experience pertaining to the development and treatment of anxiety disorders and has been recognized for excellence READ MORE »

Struggling at work due to social anxiety

A review of “Severity of anxiety and work-related outcomes of patients with anxiety disorders.” VIDEO SUMMARY: THE MAIN POINT: Many individuals with anxiety describe struggling at work. Erickson et al. (2009) examined the relationship between anxiety and several different work outcomes, such as work productivity, self-reported impairment, interpersonal problems, and time missed at work, in READ MORE »

A new computerized intervention for Social Anxiety Disorder – A randomized controlled trial.

THE MAIN POINT: In a recent study, Amir and Taylor (2012)  investigated a new, computerized intervention for individuals with generalized social anxiety disorder. This intervention aimed to modify individuals’ interpretations of ambiguous social and non-social situations in order to reduce their symptoms of social anxiety. Results indicated that the intervention was successful in modifying individuals’ READ MORE »

Peer Relationships among Children with Social and Generalized Anxiety Disorders

THE MAIN POINT: Children with anxiety disorders often are believed to experience a similar degree of difficulty with social functioning regardless of the type of anxiety suffered as compared to non-anxious children. However, some research suggests that there might be important differences in social functioning based on the type of anxiety experienced but little research READ MORE »

Teachers needed for selective mutism study

AKFSA is always interested in promoting research that will enhance our understanding of Social Anxiety. Selective Mutism is much more prevalent that many realize and studies such as this one will help to improve treatment. Brittany Mash, M.A., a Graduate Student at Michigan State University, is leading the study under the direction of John Carlson READ MORE »

A review of “Why panic attacks are nearly always pathological.”

Article summary provided by Hillary Greene THE MAIN POINT: This article, written by Dr. Ronald Pies, provides insight regarding how to consider context when determining the normality or abnormality of behavior, in particular, with panic attacks. Dr. Pies offers theoretical reasoning and support for his position that panic attacks are ubiquitously pathological regardless of an READ MORE »