Excessive anxiety represents one of the most common mental health concerns for the Australian community. Anxiety disorders include such things as specific phobias (i.e., fear of spiders, heights etc), social phobia (i.e., fear of being negatively evaluated by others), and panic disorder (fear of having future panic attacks), to name a few. Treatment consists of gradually learning that what you fear may actually be safe, or not as dangerous as imagined. While we currently have very good treatments for anxiety problems, such as Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, research shows that a significant portion of individuals continue to suffer symptoms after treatment or will relapse back into their disorder after treatment.

Our research tests revolutionary new methods to enhance the treatment of anxiety by studying brain behaviour during therapy. Research shows that certain neurotransmitters located in the Amygdala become highly active during the critical moments of learning how to overcome fear. That is, certain chemicals in the brain seem to be released to help us to learn that the things we fear are actually safe. These chemicals have been loosely referred to as ‘cognitive enhancers’. Early research seems to suggest that if cognitive enhancers are administered to people immediately before therapy, the enhancers may make therapy more effective. The idea is that these enhancers assist in the learning of therapy. The critical ingredient in these trials is still the therapy- without therapy these enhancers have no effect.

We are currently running free treatment trials for Social Phobia and Panic Disorders. If our research is successful, it will lead to a radical new and more effective treatment approach for anxiety disorders. It could potentially be used by mental health professionals in the community and directly lead to a reduction in the number of people currently suffering anxiety problems.

Research Contact

Dr Adam Guastella (a.guastella@unsw.edu.au)

Clinical Treatment Trial Contact

Psychology Clinic (Ph: 02 9385 3042)

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