Anxiety Screening Project Seeks A Few Good Psychiatrists

Freedom From Fear, the New York–based organization that sponsors National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day, and APA, which cosponsors the event, are encouraging psychiatrists to sign up for the 2003 National Anxiety Disorders Screening Project (NADSP).

NADSP will be held May 7, 2003, to coincide with National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day, which is held annually at sites across the U.S. and Canada to screen people for anxiety and depression, guide those who need treatment to psychiatrists and qualified mental health professionals, and educate the public about mental illness.

Psychiatrists who register for the screening project will receive materials to help with screening, education, and promotion of NADSP, which include a planning and promotion guide and CD-ROM with screening form, fact sheets for patients on anxiety disorders and depression, and promotional materials. Most of the materials can be modified to add the physician’s name and contact information.

New this year is an educational film on social anxiety disorder, hosted by entertainer Donny Osmond.

The deadline for registration is February 24, 2003. A one-time fee for participating health professionals is $100.

Those who register to provide screening are expected to review the screening form at no cost. If the screening form reveals that a person has an anxiety or depressive disorder, the psychiatrist can either treat the person or refer the person to a qualified professional in the community.

Screening professionals are listed on the Freedom From Fear Web site’s “Referral Room,” so that people wishing to get screened and treated have a ready list of clinicians to whom they can turn. Their names and contact information can also be accessed through the organization’s toll free number at (888) 442-2022.

Since NADSP was established in 1994, more than 500,000 individuals have been screened for anxiety and depressive disorders.

Those wishing to register for the National Anxiety Disorders Screening Project or learn more about it can contact Jeanine Christiana at (718) 351-1717 or go the Web at http://www.freedomfromfear.com/commread.asp?id=38. ▪