What are the top anxiety programs?

[JediJeff]

What are the top programs/faculty in the country for anxiety research? Just starting out, anxiety does pique my interest so I'm looking into it a bit.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[PublicHealth]

What are the top programs/faculty in the country for anxiety research? Just starting out, anxiety does pique my interest so I'm looking into it a bit.

http://www.bu.edu/anxiety/

 

[psychanon]

Faculty do move/retire/get hired/change interests over time, but some to look into include:
BU
Temple
Penn
Penn State
UVA
UT-Austin
Florida State
U of Washington
UCLA
Northwestern
SUNY-Buffalo
SUNY-Albany
Drexel
Yale

I'm sure there are many others that I'm leaving out....

 

[positivepsych]

Psychanon makes a good point. Though I admire your interest at an early age, I would not worry about graduate school at this point AT ALL. By the time you head off to grad school, which is 4-8 years from now, things can change drastically by school.

Enjoy the rest of high school and persue your interests in psychology in college. Your interests and maturation will guide you towards the right path and place.

 

[JediJeff]

Psychanon makes a good point. Though I admire your interest at an early age, I would not worry about graduate school at this point AT ALL. By the time you head off to grad school, which is 4-8 years from now, things can change drastically by school.

Enjoy the rest of high school and persue your interests in psychology in college. Your interests and maturation will guide you towards the right path and place.

Thank you, positivepsych. I've always been the type to plan years in advance for even the simplest events so I'll just have to stifle that urge for now regarding grad school.

 

[clinpsychgirl]

Hi Jedi,

I'm the same as you- planning years in advance... so it's all good😉

anyway...

the lists provided is a good start for you. Anxiety is a special interest of mine so let me give you some specifics about a couple of the programs already mentioned. FYI: These are some of the most strongest research oriented programs around- so just keep that in mind. I also have a east coast bias. UCLA and others outside of my geographic locale are certainly worth looking into as well.

Temple- I'd say the perhaps one of the strongest anxiety programs, overall. Two of the most profilic researchers in the country are there and both study anxiety- (one studies child, one studies adult). They are "getting up there" though- and honestly I have no idea if either plans to retire in coming years. One potential con of this program is that there is little interaction between the child and adult anxiety lab. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, depending on your interests, but its just something to keep in mind.

Boston University- They have one of the most profilic researchers in the country heading up their lab- BUT he is on the five year plan out of there. That being said, there is a wealth of promising young faculty affiliated with the clinic. Even after he leaves, it's still going to be an solid place to train if your interest is in anxiety disorders. There's a strong person taking over and there is more collaboration between the child and adult people (e.g. they are housed in the same center).

Virginia Tech- one of the strongest researchers in the country who is currently researching child anxiety. But, alas, he too is getting close to retirement. A con, nothing here if your interests are in adult anxiety. A pro, there is a special "child track" to this program, if that suits you.

Yale- The guy at Yale who does adult anxiety was actually trained under the adult anxiety person at Temple. He's very young, but very promising. The thing with Yale is that he won't be there for more than 5 years because they don't tenure professors unless they hire you already tenured. I'd keep an eye out for him and see where he ends up and then apply to where ever that place is.

Rutgers- Trained under the child person at Temple. He is doing some great work and very promising young researcher if child anxiety is your bag of chips.

Anyway, I say plan as much as you can, but know that there will be no way to have a solid list of programs until the summer before you apply. The ability for a researcher to take a student is contigent on many factors including lab space, present funding, and whether or not the faculty member even plans to be there or not.

PS. I hope you are a Red Sox fan (I, too, went to college in Boston)

 

[JediJeff]

Hi Jedi,

I'm the same as you- planning years in advance... so it's all good😉

anyway...

the lists provided is a good start for you. Anxiety is a special interest of mine so let me give you some specifics about a couple of the programs already mentioned. FYI: These are some of the most strongest research oriented programs around- so just keep that in mind. I also have a east coast bias. UCLA and others outside of my geographic locale are certainly worth looking into as well.

Temple- I'd say the perhaps one of the strongest anxiety programs, overall. Two of the most profilic researchers in the country are there and both study anxiety- (one studies child, one studies adult). They are "getting up there" though- and honestly I have no idea if either plans to retire in coming years. One potential con of this program is that there is little interaction between the child and adult anxiety lab. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, depending on your interests, but its just something to keep in mind.

Boston University- They have one of the most profilic researchers in the country heading up their lab- BUT he is on the five year plan out of there. That being said, there is a wealth of promising young faculty affiliated with the clinic. Even after he leaves, it's still going to be an solid place to train if your interest is in anxiety disorders. There's a strong person taking over and there is more collaboration between the child and adult people (e.g. they are housed in the same center).

Virginia Tech- one of the strongest researchers in the country who is currently researching child anxiety. But, alas, he too is getting close to retirement. A con, nothing here if your interests are in adult anxiety. A pro, there is a special "child track" to this program, if that suits you.

Yale- The guy at Yale who does adult anxiety was actually trained under the adult anxiety person at Temple. He's very young, but very promising. The thing with Yale is that he won't be there for more than 5 years because they don't tenure professors unless they hire you already tenured. I'd keep an eye out for him and see where he ends up and then apply to where ever that place is.

Rutgers- Trained under the child person at Temple. He is doing some great work and very promising young researcher if child anxiety is your bag of chips.

Anyway, I say plan as much as you can, but know that there will be no way to have a solid list of programs until the summer before you apply. The ability for a researcher to take a student is contigent on many factors including lab space, present funding, and whether or not the faculty member even plans to be there or not.

PS. I hope you are a Red Sox fan (I, too, went to college in Boston)

clinpsychgirl, I too have an east-coast bias so I understand. 🙂 I've lived outside of Boston for my entire life so I definitely would love BU's clinical program. Is the "five-year plan out of there" researcher at BU you're referring to David Barlow? And if so, who is taking over?

 

[scienceisbeauty]

Just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions and if these ones are still good.
I'm interested in PhD Clinical Prgrms - with adult age group

 

[Ollie123]

I'll add SUNY Stony Brook to the list - check out Greg Hajcak. Young, but expect he will be big in a few years.

If you're interested in panic disorder and health psych, check out Mike Zvolensky at UVM.

SUNY Buffalo...well, let's just say check out their faculty listings, and PM me if someone there seems of interest. If its who I'm thinking of...well, PM me and we can talk.

 

[ArthenaDent]

I interviewed with Greg Hajcak at Stony Brook in January. Great guy! And you're right--he's going to be big soon 🙂

 

[psychanon]

Hey, it was me who posted that list-- wow, over two years ago (guess i've been around for a while...). I haven't checked out who has retired or moved, but as far as I know most of those are still accurate. It also really depends on what aspects of anxiety you are interested in. If you are interested in the biological aspects of anxiety, Hajcak at Stony Brook is a good option, as are UDel, UIUC, etc. If you are interested in interpersonal aspects of anxiety, try Buffalo, UBC, or Miami; if you're interested in anxiety in kids, try U of Miami or Virginia Tech; if you're interested in treatment of anxiety, there may be other people. Also, a lot of depression researchers also study anxiety (given the high comorbidity), so that's another venue to check out.

 

[soho54]

Just to add to the list...

Peter Norton - University of Houston
Debra Hope - University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Brett Deacon - University of Wyoming
Todd Kashdan - George Mason University
Rick Zinbarg - Northwestern
Sue Mineka - Northwestern
Michelle Newman - Penn State
Brad Schmidt - Florida State University
Deborah Biedel - University of Central Florida
Lizabeth Roemer - UMass Boston
Holly Hazlett-Stevens - University of Nevada-Reno

 

[Ilovecows]

I was wondering...these are all really awesome pgrms, but is it also a good idea to look in the Insider's Guide for schools that have anxiety clinics?

 

[psychanon]

That may be a good staring point for finding more programs (although you'd want to make sure they have anxiety researchers as well, and not having a clinic wouldn't necessarily be a problem), but you should always verify all information on the program's website. The Insider's Guide is notoriously out-of-date and incomprehensive, so you should never never never never never never ever take its word as gospel.