Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders among children and adolescents. The management of these high impact disorders has evolved rapidly over the past decades. Both cognitive behavioural and pharmacological treatments can now achieve around 50-60% remission within around 12 weeks. Naturally, this leaves over 40% of children and adolescents with remaining disorder and an even greater number are unable to access appropriate intervention. Current directions are now focussed largely on a) improving the efficacy of existing treatments and b) increasing efficiency and accessibility of empirically validated treatments. This talk will provide an overview of these current directions, focusing primarily on work from our own Centre using the Cool Kids program.
About Ron Rapee
Ron Rapee is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Macquarie University where his research specializes in anxiety and related disorders across the lifespan. He has developed empirically supported treatment programs that are used across the world and was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 2012 for his contributions to clinical psychology.
