Psychiatrists Asked to Offer Services For Anxiety Disorders Screening Day

Terrorist attacks, anthrax by mail, unemployment, air travel—each of these is enough to provoke anxiety in many Americans, especially those with mental health problems. Thus, next year’s National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day (NADSD) could be even more valuable than it has been in the past.

NADSD will be held May 1, 2002, 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.

NADSD is sponsored in part by APA, the National Institute of Mental Health, and several other mental health organizations.

“We are living in a heightened state of anxiety and stress,” said Mary Guardino, the founder and executive director of Freedom From Fear, a national nonprofit mental health advocacy organization that has coordinated NADSD since 1994. “There is an urgency for people to attend screenings so that if they are suffering, they can get the help that they need.”

Psychiatrists who register to provide NADSD screening or treatment will receive screening, publicity, and educational materials on CD-ROM so that materials can be personalized to include the physician’s name and contact information. They will also receive materials in paper form.

In the light of the recent terrorist attacks, materials about trauma will be included in this year’s registration packet, including a video, clinician guide, and patient-education brochures.

Psychiatrists participating in NADSD will be listed in 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 turn to.

Guardino pointed out that people who can’t travel to a screening site can complete the online screening questionnaire at Freedom From Fear’s Web site. After completing the questionnaire, they can type in their ZIP code to find a list of screening sites in their area. The updated list with 2002 screening and treatment sites will be available at the Web site in April.

The deadline for psychiatrists and mental health professionals to register for NADSD is February 19, 2002. Those interested in registering or obtaining further information should call Jeanine Christiana at (718) 351-1717 or go to www.freedomfromfear.org and click on “Screening Program for 2002.” ▪