Research

The Anxiety Disorder Clinic is continuously conducting research to better understand Anxiety Disorder and its treatment. Ultimately, our research will help improve the assessment, treatment, and prevention of Anxiety Disorder. Ultimately we hope to understand why some people develop Anxiety Disorders, and which treatments are most effective for different people.

We will never conduct research on you without your consent. All research is reviewed and approved by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at the University of Houston.

Current Research Projects

Anxiety Disorder Treatment Outcome Evaluation

Peter Norton, Principal Investigator

This research study is designed to evaluate the efficacy of group therapy for Anxiety Disorder, and investigate factors that might lead to better or worse outcome. We are currently recruiting clients at the Anxiety Disorder Clinic to complete questionnaires and other assessments before and after treatment.

Social-Communicative Role of Fear

Esther Price, Principal Investigator

This dissertation study will examine the extent to which fear has a social-communicative component (e.g., warning others, eliciting assistance, etc.) in addition to the often cited cognitive, affective, behavioral, and physiological components.

Symptom Interpretation in Differentiating Panic and Hypochondriasis

Katharine Sears, Principal Investigator

This thesis study will explore the role of arousal reactive vs. arousal non-reactive symptoms, feared consequence immediacy, and feared consequence type (physical, social, etc.) in differentiating panic disorder and hypochondriasis.

Race and Anxiety

Peter Norton, Principal Investigator

Given the racial diversity of the University of Houston, we have an excellent opportunity to investigate the similarities and differences in how people of different races, cultures, and ethnicities experience anxiety. We are conducting several such studies using data from the Understanding Anxiety and Depression study.