LSU’s new specialty clinic doubles as a cognitive behavioral treatment center as well as a research and training facility. The Anxiety Disorders Clinic, part of the Psychological Services Center, specializes in treating children, adolescents and young adults with various anxiety disorders, including common phobias, panic disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Anxiety disorders are one of the most common psychological problems in existence,” said director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinic and psychology assistant professor Tom Davis. Davis said one of the main goals of the clinic is providing treatment to individuals at a low cost. “We’re able to offer treatment to patients on a sliding scale which means we charge based on your income,” Davis said. “We want to make these services affordable to everyone who needs them.” The clinic charges no more than $40 per session and as little as $10 per session. Davis said the clinic is able to offer affordable treatment because there were no upfront costs in constructing the facility. The clinic used extra rooms available in the Psychological Services Center. Davis said the definition of anxiety varies with the different disorders, but in general, anxiety is the sense of fear through intrusive or intense worry. He said stress also activates anxiety. “We’re looking for some sort of fear or worry and some degree of impairment or impact,” Davis said. Kimberly Zlomke, coordinator of the clinic’s phobias study and graduate clinician, said interactions between biology and environment also spark anxiety. “We always give the example of a bear running after someone,” Zlomke said. “It’s good to feel scared when the bear is around, but when the bear is not there and you’re still feeling that fear, that’s anxiety.” Davis said the clinic focuses on cognitive behavioral, “talk therapy.” He said this type of therapy works as well as medical therapy and the outcomes last longer. “You’re learning a new way to handle and deal with the symptoms you have instead of taking medications for them,” Davis said. In addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, the clinic offers full psychological assessments, training for parents who have children with anxiety disorders as well as assessment evaluations for learning disorders and ADHD. “Generally speaking, the thing that would tie the disorders together is worry,” Davis said. “Apart from that, the disorders tend to be specific.” Zlomke said all clinicians must meet certain qualifications to work at the clinic. She said all clinicians are graduate students who have attended at least one year of graduate school. Before graduate students can see patients on their own, they must spend one semester observing the treatment process and another semester under strict supervision while treating a patient. Davis said most patients see improvement in 10 to 15 therapy sessions while phobias can be treated in a single three-hour session. The Anxiety Disorders Clinic, which opened in January, is located in the basement of Johnston Hall. The clinic is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Fridays.
_____Contact Angelle Barbazon at [email protected]