Anxiety Research

Anxiety UK is committed to raising the awareness and understanding of anxiety disorders. Our aim is to help with research where possible and we receive many requests from students conducting research projects. Please note: we are unable to take responsibility for any treatment or experience that participants may undergo should they choose to take up the research listed on this page.

Anxiety UK’s policy is to assist research at post-graduate level where the work involved will raise the profile of anxiety disorders and increase understanding and treatment.

Unfortunately, we cannot help with undergraduate research projects.

If you are undertaking research in the field of anxiety disorders, would like to recruit participants for your study and have your research listed on this page, please submit details of your study via the research submission form.

Research into anxiety

 

Anxiety, worry, and cognitive control

The main purpose of the study is to establish the relationships between worry, anxiety and cognitive control. The study takes about 15 minutes, and simply requires you to answer some questions about your feelings and habits. We are not testing a treatment at this point. We are just trying to understand the less obvious psychological effects of anxiety. This study is being conducted by Dr Rob Booth at the Department of Psychology, Isik University, Istanbul.

The study is based on voluntary participation, and no personal information will be collected. Questionnaires will be kept anonymous and evaluated only by the researchers. The data will not be analysed at the personal level. If you do not wish to answer any particular question, you may just leave it blank. The Psychology Ethics Committee at Isik University has approved this research project.

To participate, please click this link: http://www.surveey.com/SurveyStart.aspx?lang=2&surv=bf3621c581f54c29aa720603814e4644

Expiry: September 2013
Contact Person: Dr Rob Booth
Email: rob.booth@isikun.edu.tr

Anxiety Symptoms Prevention Investigation (ASPI)

Do you live near to Brighton and Hove?
Do you have problems with anxiety?
Do you have a child aged 5-9 years?

Research shows that sometimes if parents are anxious, children can worry too.  We want to understand more about this, so that we can give more help to anxious parents.

We are carrying out research into child anxiety, and we are looking for parents who have anxiety problems to come and help us out.

If you take part, you and your child would be invited along to our lab to take part in some psychology experiments and tell us about your anxiety.  This takes about two hours.

We would then invite you along to a workshop for one day with a group of other parents who have trouble with anxiety.  The workshop is relaxed and good fun, and would hopefully give you some tips to help protect your kids from anxiety.

Everything that you tell us will be treated in confidence.

Your expenses for taking part will be paid.

You will also be invited to participate in an additional study on genetics that contribute to child anxiety and confidence. The genetics study is a separate study. You can take part in this study without taking part in the genetics bit.

Interested?
If so, please contact Suzanne Dash (Tel: 01273 876650; Email: s.dash@sussex.ac.uk), or Donna Ewing (Tel. 01273 877492; Email: d.l.ewing@sussex.ac.uk) or visit our website www.aspitrial.org

Expiry Date: 30/11/2013

The ASPECTS study – CBT for children & adolescents with PTSD after a recent trauma

Do you know a young person who has been involved in a terrifying event, like a car accident, an assault, or something potentially life threatening?

  • Did the event occur within the past 5 months?
  • Is that young person aged 8‐17?
  • Are you worried about how that young person is doing?

If you do, please consider our study, ASPECTS: Acute Stress Programme for Children & Teenagers.

ASPECTS is a clinical trial funded by the Medical Research Council. This study is looking at whether we can help young people who have recently been in a traumatic event (e.g. an accident, violence, a sudden injury or illness, witnessing something terrible) and have developed post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The trial will be open to referrals up until 31st August 2013.

WHAT IS PTSD?
PTSD is an anxiety disorder. It can be chronic and disabling in young people, and can affect academic performance, social functioning, and general mental health. Its symptoms include:

  • Memories of the event popping into mind
  • Nightmares
  • Trouble concentrating
  • Feeling irritable
  • Problems sleeping
  • Not enjoying things
  • Avoiding certain places or situations

WHAT TREATMENT ARE YOU TESTING IN THIS TRIAL? WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?
We are looking at whether a psychological treatment called cognitive behavioural therapy
(CBT) is effective for young people with PTSD.

This treatment will be delivered by clinical psychologists. CBT has been shown to be effective in adults. It does NOT involve medication.

Trial participants will receive a course of CBT straight away or after a 10‐week wait (if they still need it). The treatment will involve meeting one of our psychologists for 5‐10 weekly sessions. This treatment is free.

Sessions can take place at our clinic in Cambridge, or at your local GP surgery. We can cover Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex.

If you at all interested in learning more about this study, please get in touch, we would be delighted to speak to you.

Expiry Date: 30th October 2013
Contact Person: Dr Richard Meiser-Stedman
Phone: 01223 273624
Email: richard.meiser-stedman@mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
Website: www.aspects-study.org

 


Brain wave activity in OCD

The Open University is currently investigating brain activity in people with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Could differences in the ‘brain waves’ explain why some sufferers respond well to medication and/or psychotherapy whilst others may not? The more we know about potential neurophysiological (i.e. brain) differences between sufferers, the more we may be able to progress towards personalized forms of treatment.

We are recruiting people with OCD between 18 and 70 years of age without learning disabilities to participate in the study. If you decide to participate, we will need four hours of your time (either morning or afternoon) or two sessions of about two hours each that can be scheduled according to your convenience. During this time, your brain activity will be recorded using a non invasive technique known as Quantitative Electroencephalography. You will also be interviewed and asked to fill two questionnaires.

The study has been approved by the Open University’s Human Ethics Committee.

By participating in this study, you will be contributing to scientific advancements in OCD research. The study does not involve any therapy but you may gain interesting insights about OCD and the brain.

Contact Person: Loes Koorenhof
Phone: 01908659472
Email: l.j.koorenhof@open.ac.uk

Have you experienced a talking treatment that has made you feel worse or “gone wrong” in some way?

Researchers from the University of Sheffield are carrying out a study to find out what happens when therapy or counselling (any type of talking treatment or psychological therapy) makes someone feel worse or “goes wrong” in some way. This will help us to develop some practical ways to identify and prevent therapies from failing.

If you have experienced therapy as a client or therapist, that you feel has gone wrong we are keen to hear from you. It doesn’t matter whether the therapy took place in the NHS or not, but it must have taken place in England and you must have been 18 years or over at the time.

To take part in the study, you will need to complete a questionnaire. After this, you may be asked to take part in an interview or focus group (although there is no obligation to do so).

For further information or to complete a questionnaire, please visit the study website:

www.shef.ac.uk/scharr/sections/hsr/mh/mhresearch/adept


Aspects of parenting and anxiety

There is now a lot of evidence that people who suffer from an anxiety disorder are more likely than average to have a relative who suffers from a similar problem. Whilst this may be partly due to shared genes, it is also likely that experiences and attitudes gained when growing up also play a role. However, little is known about how or which experiences might be related to anxiety, and importantly what experiences may protect against developing anxiety in later life.

If we understood more about these processes, it may help us prevent the development of anxiety in future generations. We are looking to recruit fathers with anxiety disorders with children aged 7-12 who live with their children. Participation will involve an interview conducted over the phone and questionnaires for fathers, their children and their partner.

Time and travel expenses will be reimbursed. This research is being done at the Institute of Psychiatry, London by Rebecca Chilvers, Fiona Challacombe and Paul Salkovskis.

Contact Person: Dr Rebecca Chilvers
Phone:07842 047339
Email: Rebecca.chilvers@kcl.ac.uk


Studying the biological basis of emotions in adolescents

Can we understand why some young people suffer from problems such as anxiety? Researchers at Oxford University are trying to find out

We are studying how the brain changes in response to emotional events. We are looking for young people (aged between 12 and 17) who have difficulties with anxiety. Please visit http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mert1768/ for more information and our contact details

Contact: Anneke Haddad
Telephone: 01865 271381
Email: anneke.haddad@psy.ox.ac.uk
Website: http://users.ox.ac.uk/~mert1768/


Survey of people with OCD and BDD struggling with referrals into specialist treatment centres

We are conducting a study looking at the difficulties people with OCD or BDD have experienced in accessing specialist help for their problems. If you have experienced difficulty obtaining referral to a national or regional specialist service when cognitive behaviour therapy or medication hasn’t worked locally we would like to ask you to complete either an online survey or a questionnaire through the post about the difficulties you have had, or are having. We are interested in hearing from people with OCD or BDD of all age ranges, including children and young people. If you have not had any difficulties accessing treatment or are happy with the treatment you are receiving and feel it is working for you, this study is not for you. Also, please only complete the survey if you live in the UK and are eligible for NHS treatment.

You are under no obligation to take part in the study and if you decide not to, it will not influence any treatment you are receiving presently or in the future. It is important to be aware that taking part in the study will not guarantee you receive treatment at a specialist centre. In order to be able to follow up on the difficulties people have accessing specialist treatment, we will need your name and contact details. This personal information will be safely stored and will not be accessed by anyone other than the researchers.

If you wish to take part, please go to the link below, which will lead you to a questionnaire concerning your OCD or BDD and the problems you have experienced. If you do not have internet access and would like to take part, please contact us (see below) and we can send or email you a paper copy of the questionnaire.

If you have any questions about the study, or would like to complete a paper copy of the questionnaire by post or email, please contact Dr Anna Stout on 0203 228 2101, or at Anna.Stout@iop.kcl.ac.uk

Contact: Dr Anna Stout
Telephone: 0203 228 2101
Email: Anna.Stout@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Website: http://survey.iop.kcl.ac.uk/TakeSurvey.aspx?SurveyID=14LH762