Speaker

Ronald M Rapee, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology and Director, Centre for Emotional Health, Macquarie University. (More Information)

Title

Current developments in the management of childhood anxiety.

Abstract

Treatment for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents has now enjoyed almost two decades of empirical evaluation. Interestingly the treatments we currently use are essentially the same as the program evaluated by Kendall 20 years ago. Recent meta-analytic review has also raised questions about whether these treatments are highly efficacious. In response to these concerns, the field is starting to move forward in a variety of directions. This talk will provide an overview of some of the recent and current work at the Centre for Emotional Health into the management of anxiety in childhood. The work can be summarised to fall into three broad directions: 1. Increasing the accessibility and cost-effectiveness of empirically supported treatments; 2. Searching for predictors of treatment response; 3) Developing specialised treatments for populations that respond more poorly to standard intervention.