Participating in research is important for a number of reasons.‌

Do you know someone with anxiety?

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, almost 1 in 5 people over the age of 18 have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. We want to understand the ways in which people with anxiety are different from people without anxiety. To do this, we recruit both anxious and non-anxious/healthy adults and children to participate in research studies. Even if you do not have anxiety, you can help someone who does.

You can help science move forward.

We are interested in studying human behavior and brain function, especially as they relate to anxiety. The more people that participate in research studies, the better we can understand how anxiety affects people in general. Each individual data helps us get a clearer picture of how the brain works and how anxiety affects people. By participating in research, you can feel good knowing you helped us answer important questions.

 You can help us develop better treatments for people with anxiety.

If we understand anxiety better, then we can improve treatments and make them more effective. Some of our research investigates how treatments work, while some studies compare different ways of making people feel better.

We hope to learn how we can alter, and possibly prevent, the 
developmental course of anxiety disorders. 

Research shows that children with anxiety disorders are often more likely to have anxiety disorders in adulthood. However, other children grow out of it. By including both anxious and non-anxious/healthy children in our studies we can better understand this pattern and how anxiety develops as the brain matures.

Your child will get a first-hand experience with research that not many others do. 

We hope that participating in research studies will spark their curiosity in science and encourage their love of learning.

Today’s kids are tomorrow’s leaders and researchers! 

We encourage participants to ask questions about the research process during their visit, and our staff will do our best to answer them. Upon request, you can leave with an educational handout on the brain and how it’s different regions function.