Developmental trajectories of anxiety

Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in childhood and adolescence and have a high tendency to persist. Anxiety disorders typically start already during childhood and are the precursor of a range of other disorders such as major depression. Thus, it is evident that better understanding of the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders is paramount.

The goal of our research group is to better understand the developmental trajectories of anxiety and anxiety disorders on different levels with the long-term goal to enhance therapeutic responses and to create preventive strategies.

SFB TRR 58

Within the SFB TRR 58/subproject Z02 the to date biggest sample of nearly 500 children and adolescents between 8 and 12 years underwent a fear conditioning and generalization paradigm and were characterized for psychological, environmental and genetic aspects. Most of these children were investigated again within a follow-up design to test which pathogenic parameters causes an anxiety disorder. Additionally, we investigate some further groups of participants – e.g. patients with anxiety disorders – with the same methods to compare the groups even with regard to prediction markers of anxiety and anxiety disorders.

For more information on the SFB TRR 58 

PROTECT AD

Furthermore, within a multicenterBMBF study (PROTECT-AD „Differential Impact of Parental Participation on Intensified Exposure-Based Psychological Interventions in Anxiety Disorders in Children (PEACH)“) the differential impact of parental participation on intensified exposure-based psychological interventions in anxiety disorders in children aged 8 to 14 years with separation anxiety, specific phobia or social anxiety were investigated within a randomized investigation design. The therapeutic response will be measured after treatment and six month after treatment.

Research methods

Our research methods range from questionnaires, behavioral experiments (discriminative conditioning, generalization) to physiological and neural measures. Moreover, genetic and epigenetic markers of children and adolescents are of interest.