Beyond Motherhood: A 27-year Follow-up Of The Mental Health Of Mid-age Women.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,755,651.00
Summary
There have been few studies of the causes and consequences of anxiety disorders yet they are disabiling, chronic and impair life prospects particularly for women. Environmental factors hold the greatest promise to understanding their natural history and for mitigating their effects. This proposal is for a 27 year follow up of women participating in the Mater University Study of Pregnancy to understand the development of anxiety disorders and comorbid depression and substance use.
Maternal Anxiety In Pregnancy And Infant Bio-behavioural Regulation: Testing The Fetal Programming Hypothesis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$577,896.00
Summary
Recent research shows that maternal anxiety in pregnancy is associated with emotional and behaviour problems in childhood. This project examines the impact of anxiety during pregnancy on infant capacity to regulate behaviour, sleep and physiological response to stress and also considers possible genetic contributions. Findings address the earliest origins of mood and behaviour disorders in children and will inform evidence-based interventions during the perinatal period.
Preconception Predictors Of Health, Behaviour And Emotional Adjustment At Seven Years
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,170,830.00
Summary
An understanding of the importance of a healthy start to life has underpinned major health policies including Australia’s National Agenda for Early Childhood. The capacity of parents to provide that healthy start has received little study. The present project investigates the extent to which parental lifestyle, social and emotional adjustment prior to conception predictor emotional problems, disruptive behaviour and health in their children at seven years.
Centre For Clinical Research Excellence In Anxiety And Neuroscience
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,007,200.00
Summary
This Centre will bring together Australia's leading anxiety and neuroscience researchers to develop, evaluate, and disseminate better treatments of anxiety. Epidemiological studies indicate that anxiety disorders are common, with lifetime prevalence estimated to be as high as 15% (1). These disorders share the features of excessive physiological arousal in response to feared stimuli, and this leads to pervasive avoidance that has a debilitating impact on people's lives. In addition, anxiety is o ....This Centre will bring together Australia's leading anxiety and neuroscience researchers to develop, evaluate, and disseminate better treatments of anxiety. Epidemiological studies indicate that anxiety disorders are common, with lifetime prevalence estimated to be as high as 15% (1). These disorders share the features of excessive physiological arousal in response to feared stimuli, and this leads to pervasive avoidance that has a debilitating impact on people's lives. In addition, anxiety is often present as a co-morbid feature of other major disorders, such as schizophrenia, substance use, and depression. Anxiety is one of the world's major health burdens; it costs $44 billion per year in the United States. Health agencies around the world are now putting unprecedented resources into understanding the neural bases of anxiety and its reduction. Building on recent advances in the neuroscience of anxiety, the Centre will expand the capacity for neurotransmitter modulation during therapy to reduce anxiety disorders. By extensive training programs with community clinicians, the Centre will conduct large-scale community trials to assess effectiveness of new approaches. The Centre will foster a new generation of neuroscience researchers and clinicians who are skilled in translating basic science findings into clinical practice.Read moreRead less
Enhanced Treatment For Social Phobia Through The Incorporation Of Attentional Re-training.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$465,162.00
Summary
Social phobia is a serious difficulty that can cause tremendous interference in an individual's life. Social phobia can interfere with an individual's social and romantic life, work and study aspirations, and even increase medical and other psychological problems. Psychological programs to help individuals manage their anxiety have been developed and shown to lead to relatively strong positive outcomes. Recent theoretical understanding has suggested that one maintaining factor in social phobia m ....Social phobia is a serious difficulty that can cause tremendous interference in an individual's life. Social phobia can interfere with an individual's social and romantic life, work and study aspirations, and even increase medical and other psychological problems. Psychological programs to help individuals manage their anxiety have been developed and shown to lead to relatively strong positive outcomes. Recent theoretical understanding has suggested that one maintaining factor in social phobia may be these people's tendency to focus onto negative information. In some exciting developments, several researchers have shown that simply training people with social phobia to focus their attention away from negative information, with no other treatment components, can produce a marked change in their fears. Therefore it makes sense that incorporating these methods into current standard treatment packages, may increase their effectiveness. The current study aims to compare the current best practice treatment package for social phobia with a combination of this package plus the recent attention re-training methods. It is expected that incorporating attention re-training into standard treatment with significantly improve its effects.Read moreRead less
A Brain-Based Measure Of Anxiety Sensitivity: Validation Of A Novel Intermediate Phenotype With Psychophysiologically-Informed Neuroimaging
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$271,930.00
Summary
Excessive anxiety is disabling, such that people who suffer from a clinical anxiety disorder are often crippled by overwhelming emotional and physical symptoms. We will use sophisticated brain imaging technology to understand how certain brain areas produce feelings of anxiety, including a common fear of arousal related bodily sensations. This work is expected to enhance our basic understanding of the brain basis of anxiety symptoms and may inform new treatment options with biological rationale.
This project maps and manipulates the brainstem mechanisms causing expression of fear. It does so using brain cell type and brain circuit specific mechanisms.
The Prevention Of Anxiety And Related Disorders: Long Term Follow-up Of Temperamentally At-risk Preschoolers.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$391,476.00
Summary
Anxiety and related disorders such as depression provide a tremendous cost to the individual sufferer and to Australian society. While previous research has focussed on treatment of these conditions, little work has addressed the possibility of preventing these disorders before they interfere with an individual's life. There is growing evidence that children who are shy, withdrawn and inhibited at a very young age are more likely than other children to develop anxiety disorders in later childhoo ....Anxiety and related disorders such as depression provide a tremendous cost to the individual sufferer and to Australian society. While previous research has focussed on treatment of these conditions, little work has addressed the possibility of preventing these disorders before they interfere with an individual's life. There is growing evidence that children who are shy, withdrawn and inhibited at a very young age are more likely than other children to develop anxiety disorders in later childhood and a variety of related disorders in adulthood. In a previous NHMRC-funded grant, we have developed a brief parent education program to modify this personality style in young children. Early results are very promising and it appears that we have been able to help these withdrawn children to become more outgoing. This next proposal aims to follow these children over the coming years to see whether they are also less likely to develop mental health problems than children whose parents have not received the educational program are. We will be observing the children in a laboratory setting and at school at three, yearly intervals. At each point, we will compare withdrawn children whose parents have gone through the education program with those who haven't.Read moreRead less