Development of Anxiety and Mood Disorders in Children

The percentage of children and adolescents experiencing anxiety and mood disorders is surprisingly high—around 17%, with the likelihood that even more cases are going unreported. As family members and community leaders, how do you know when a young person in your life is experiencing the onset of an emotional, mental or behavioral disorder? It’s a crucial question since half of all mental health conditions typically begin at age 14, and many cases can be difficult to detect and treat.

On Wednesday, Oct. 27 at noon, join Well Moment for a new webinar discussing ways to identify and treat pediatric anxiety and mood disorders. The speaker will be Autumn Kujawa, Ph.D., a Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor in Psychology and Human Development, and director of the Mood, Emotion & Development Lab.

All parents, families, guardians and community leaders are invited to hear Dr. Kujawa discuss:

• The signs of anxiety and mood disorders in children and adolescents
• How to identify early risk factors for mood disorders in young people
• The treatment options for mood and anxiety disorders

About the Expert:

Autumn Kujawa, Ph.D. is a Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor in Psychology and Human Development and director of the Mood, Emotion & Development Lab. She earned her Ph.D. from Stony Brook University and completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship in the neuroscience of mental health at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Kujawa's research examines how children and adolescents process and respond to emotion, and the ways in which alterations in emotional processing may contribute to the development of mood disorders. Her work focuses on a range of emotions, including reward responsiveness, threat reactivity and regulation, and sensitivity to social feedback.