Preventing child anxiety disorders: Identifying therapeutic targets and improving access

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Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health disorders in children and young people worldwide.They typically begin before 12 years of age and are more common in the children of parents with anxietydisorders than in children of non-anxious parents. Moreover, anxiety disorders predict negativeeducational, employment, physical and mental health outcomes, and are associated with substantialcosts for both individuals and societies. Consequently, their prevention is desirable.We must act on two fronts to prevent the development of anxiety disorders. First, we need to understandthe mechanisms involved in children's development of anxiety, specifying modifiable risk factors that canbe targeted in anxiety prevention programmes. To address this, we will conduct experimental studies,focusing on the roles of children's temperament and particular anxious parenting behaviours in children'sdevelopment of anxiety. These will show us how infants acquire anxiety from their parents. Second, it iscrucial to improve access to anxiety prevention programmes for those who need them. To this end, wewill investigate what parents with anxiety disorders would want and expect from a programme to preventthe development of anxiety disorders in their young children.This project has potential clinical and scientific impact. It will inform clinical prevention by specifyingtargets for modification and by identifying barriers and facilitators to access to anxiety prevention. Theproject will involve both scientific laboratory-based experiments with non-clinical populations andqualitative interviews with parents who have used NHS mental health services to engage inpsychological therapy for an anxiety disorder.