My goal in obtaining this Kirschstein-NRSA Individual Fellowship is to support my research in pathological worry interventions. More specifically, despite the ostensible prevalence of academic worry at the college and university level, there is a paucity of research in this area. In addition, there is an even greater dearth of research investigating treatments for excessive and uncontrollable academic worry. Further, the research on non-pharmacological treatment strategies for reducing pathological worry (as seen in its most severe form in generalized anxiety disorder GAD) is limited. My research goal is to investigate the potential benefits of several interventions in reducing academic worry and the distress associated with that worry. I propose to conduct a 4-arm randomized clinical trial investigating the relative efficacy of three self-administered interventions and a wait-list control condition for students experiencing pathological academic worry: a) worry exposure, b) expressive writing, c) pulsed audio-photic stimulation, and d) wait-list control. If any or all of the active interventions prove to be efficacious, future investigations regarding the efficacy of these interventions on more general worries in a clinical GAD population may be warranted.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31MH076706-02
Application #
7126517
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-BDCN-L (29))
Program Officer
Rubio, Mercedes
Project Start
2005-09-07
Project End
2008-09-06
Budget Start
2006-09-07
Budget End
2007-09-06
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2006
Total Cost
$33,862
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Austin
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
170230239
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78712
Wolitzky-Taylor, Kate B; Telch, Michael J (2010) Efficacy of self-administered treatments for pathological academic worry: A randomized controlled trial. Behav Res Ther 48:840-50