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New clinic focuses on mood disorders

Program builds on previously available treatments of anxiety and depression

By Jennifer Brzowski
The Daily Cougar

The University's Psychology Department is launching a new clinic to target the needs of people suffering from anxiety and mood disorders, problems that affect millions of Americans and often go untreated.

The National Institute for Mental Health reports that 19.1 million Americans ages 18 to 54 have anxiety disorders, while another 18.8 million suffer from depressive disorders. Such disorders can cripple day-to-day functioning, damage relationships or imperil a life.

"Within the general community, it's not recognized nearly as much as it should be," Peter Norton, co-director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorder Clinic, said. Norton estimated that only 20 or 30 percent of those suffering from such disorders receive proper therapy.

The clinic will use cognitive behavioral treatment during group sessions led by Norton or co-director Jeremy Pettit with the help of graduate students.

According to NIMH, cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective treatment therapy involving a change in a patient's thought process, or cognition, and a change in their reactions to anxiety-provoking situations.

"It's really a big word for something simple," Pettit said.

Anxiety disorders are characterized by an inordinate fear or apprehension of something, often to the point that the fear interferes with daily life. Serious depression can be characterized by symptoms such as a loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities, lethargy, insomnia, persistent sadness, loss of appetite and even persisting physical symptoms such as headaches or chronic pain.

When left untreated, Norton said, anxiety and mood disorders can lead to personal and economic cost and an increased risk of suicide. The longer these disorders remain untreated, the greater the impact, Pettit said.

"The earlier we can identify the problem, the less disruption it will cause," he said.

Sessions at the clinic will involve approximately eight people and will meet once a week for 8 to 12 weeks. The clinic offers a free evaluation, and the subsequent sessions are $20 each.

That's a value compared with the cost of treatment in the general community, which Norton said can run $100 per session on top of a several-hundred-dollar evaluation.

UH's Psychology and Research Center previously offered services to those suffering from disorders like depression, but not on the level they will be addressed by the clinic. "The way we're doing it has not been done before (on the campus)," Pettit said.

He said the clinic, open to the UH community and the city, will offer the best available treatments and will research new treatment methods.

The clinic is located on campus at 4505 Cullen Blvd. For more information, call (713) 743-8600.
 

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