Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

At Boston Children’s Hospital, we’re dedicated to proving the effectiveness of our treatment approaches through rigorous scientific testing. Our research program is one of the largest and most active of any pediatric hospital in the world.

Each day, our psychiatry and psychology researchers are working toward important discoveries to propel new advances in preventing, diagnosing and treating mental and behavioral disorders. This research reinforces our ongoing commitment to enhancing mental health care for all children and adolescents.

Our research projects with potential implications for treating anxiety include:

• Michelle Bosquet, PhD, staff psychologist at Boston Children’s, is examining how infants and children develop psychologically when their mothers are suffering from anxiety.
   
• David Clapham, chief of Boston Children’s Basic Cardiology Research Laboratories, along with a team of collaborators, has discovered a molecular “on-off” switch for innate fear (the fear that is embedded in our genes). This breakthrough could potentially lead to more effective anti-anxiety drugs.
   
• David DeMaso, MD, Boston Children’s psychiatrist-in-chief, is exploring the use of new media technologies to help physically ill children cope with—and communicate—their feelings of worry and stress.
   
• Baruch Krauss, MD, attending physician in Boston Children’s Division of Emergency Medicine, is studying new treatments—both those that involve medication, and those that do not—to help relieve acute anxiety in children who are undergoing procedures in the Emergency Room.
   
• Jennifer LeBovidge, PhD, and her colleagues in Boston Children’s Immunology Program are conducting a study of a group approach to treating children with food allergies. They aim to determine how best to help these children and their parents manage their allergies and cope with related feelings of anxiety.