ADAA Virtual Fall Forum - Anxiety and Worry in Youth

Recorded on October 29, 2020

The 2020 ADAA Virtual Fall Forum focused on anxiety and worry in youth, a transdiagnostic issue affecting children, teens, and emerging adults and will address the ways in which technology can be harnessed to address these challenges. An interdisciplinary group of speakers presented on biological and psychosocial mechanisms and interventions.  

Individual Presentations

"Will My Child be Permanently Affected?" A Developmental Approach to Helping Anxious Youth and Their Caregivers Meet the Challenges of These Times
Sandra Pimentel, PhD

A look at how developmental milestones have been disrupted by COVID-19 with particular effects on anxious youth (e.g. social anxiety). The speaker discussed the impacts of isolation and quarantine, the uncertainty of youth returning or not returning to schools, the feelings of relief from the removal of social task demands, as well as the impacts of new challenges from increased virtual activity.

Innovations in Child and Adolescent Anxiety Treatment
Mona Potter, MD

This session started by providing a brief overview of the current landscape of evidence-based treatment for pediatric anxiety disorders and OCD. The speaker then touched on updates and innovations in treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders and OCD in three areas: 1) treatment delivery and therapeutic approach, 2) digital therapeutics, and 3) select complementary and alternative interventions

Panel Discussion: The Intersection of Technology and Youth Anxiety
Eli Lebowitz, PhD, Krystal M. Lewis, PhD, Lynn Lyons, LICSW, Jamie Micco, PhD, ABPP, and John T. Walkup, MD

This panel focused on the ways in which technology has aided the development of innovative new treatments for anxious children and adolescents (e.g., teletherapy, therapy apps, computerized interventions) and has helped to normalize the experience of anxiety through targeted social media messaging. We also discussed the ways in which technology has contributed to the significant increase in youth anxiety disorders and possible mechanisms involved in this correlation. 

Registration includes access to the webinar recording.

For questions, please contact webinars@adaa.org.