The UCF Anxiety Disorders Clinic is a clinical research center dedicated to the study and treatment of anxiety disorders in children, adolescents, and adults. Its research activities are diverse; including studies designed to elucidate the phenomenology of anxiety, developmental course, etiology, treatment development and evaluation, methodology development and evaluation, and the systematic examination of theories of maladaptive anxiety. The Anxiety Disorders Clinic serves as an educational and consultative resource for anxiety disorders in the Central Florida area, and maintains liaison with other major anxiety disorders centers nationally and internationally. Currently, there are collaborative efforts with researchers in Brazil, Norway and Spain.

The Anxiety Disorders Clinic combines research and clinical activities, using a scientist-practitioner model. Thus, many of the studies involve patients who are being treated for an anxiety disorder. Although involved in the study of biological factors in anxiety and pharmacological treatments, the Anxiety Disorders Clinic specializes in the behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders including social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, specific phobia, separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Its philosophical orientation rests on the assumption that a thorough understanding of the clinical syndrome is necessary in order for efficacious treatments to be developed. Furthermore, because developmental factors may impact the presentation of a disorder in children versus adults, for example, research is aimed at developing interventions that are not only efficacious but also developmentally appropriate. Furthermore, assessment should be comprehensive and include not only self-report measures, but clinician evaluation, behavioral assessment and in some instances, psychophysiological assessment.

This approach has been applied to study several different anxiety disorders but our research in the area of childhood social phobia is perhaps most illustrative. It began with self-reports of adults with social phobia who reported that they had suffered from the disorder "all their life". At that time, currently used diagnostic practices did not acknowledge the existence of social phobia in children. Our initial efforts were aimed at determining whether the disorder existed in young children and how the disorder was manifested. We determined that the disorder did exist and that in addition to social fear and avoidance, children with social phobia lacked social skills necessary for social interaction. At the time that we were determining the psychopathology of this disorder, it was also clear that there was no self-report instrument keyed to the disorder’s diagnostic criteria. Thus, we developed the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory for Children, which has been translated into at least 10 different languages. Similarly, our understanding of the clinical syndrome led to the development of an intervention, Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children, which has now been demonstrated to be efficacious in comparison to a psychological placebo as well as pill placebo and fluoxetine.

Currently, graduate students are involved in efforts to translate SET-C for use in general clinic settings, as well as studies directed at more carefully describing the clinical syndrome of several other anxiety disorders and related conditions.

For Students

Graduate students in the Anxiety Disorders Clinic may work in areas of psychopathology, assessment, treatment development or treatment outcome for anxiety disorders in adults, adolescents or children. The lab is equipped with state of the art equipment for behavioral observation, psychophysiological assessment, and software for data collection and analysis. Undergraduate students participate in most aspects of the clinic including various aspects of psychological assessment and treatment.

Please email AnxietyDisordersClinic@gmail.com for an application.

Clinic Director
Deborah C. Beidel, Ph.D., ABPP
Office: (Orlando) Psychology Building - Room 357
Phone: 407-823-3908
Email: dbeidel@mail.ucf.edu
Clinic Location: Psychology Building - Room 139
Clinic Phone: (407)-823-3910

Graduate Students Teri Marino Lindsay Scharfstein Nina Wong

Undergraduate Students Vashti Rullan Amelia Edmond

Recent Conference Presentations

Stipelman, B., Turner, S.M., & Beidel, D.C. (2005). Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children: Treatment outcome for African American and Caucasian Children. Anxiety Disorders Association of American Annual Convention, Seattle, WA, March.

Young, B.J., Beidel, D.C., Turner, S.M., McGraw, K., Ammerman, R.T., & Coaston, S.C. (2005). Study refusal due to medication in a randomized clinical trial for child and adolescent social phobia. Anxiety Disorders Association of American Annual Convention, Seattle, WA, March.

Hall Brown, T.S., Turner, S.M., & Beidel, D.C. (2005). Is test anxiety a form of specific social phobia? Anxiety Disorders Association of American Annual Convention, Seattle, WA, March.

Young, B.J., Beidel, D.C., Turner, S.M., McGraw, K., Ammerman, R.T., & Coaston, S.C. (2005). Pretreatment attrition in a randomized clinical trial: The role of parental fears and attitudes toward medication. 45th Annual NCDEU Meeting, Boca Raton, FL, June

Young, B.J., Beidel, D.C., & Turner, S.M. (2005). Psychopathology of adolescent social phobia. Biannual meeting of the International Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. New York: June

Rao, P., Beidel, D.C., & Turner, S.M. (2006). Developmental differences in the psychopathology of social anxiety disorder. Anxiety Disorders Association of America Annual Meeting, Miami, Florida, March.

Beidel, D.C., Ammerman, R.T., Sallee, F.R., & Turner, S.M. (2006). (Symposium Participant). Physical symptoms in children with social phobia. Anxiety Disorders Association of America Annual Meeting, Miami, Florida, March.

Beidel, D.C., Turner, S.M., & Alfano, C.A. (2006). (Symposium Participant). Sleep problems in youth with social anxiety disorder: Before and after treatment. Anxiety Disorders Association of America Annual Meeting, Miami, Florida, March.

Beidel, D.C., Turner, S.M., Sallee, F.R., Ammerman, R.T., & Crosby, L. A. (2006). Fluoxetine and behavior therapy for the treatment of social phobia. American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, October.