GAD and Cormorbidity: Impact on Patient Health

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is common, chronic, and associated with substantial impairment in function and quality of life. GAD commonly occurs comorbid with mood disorders and anxiety disorders. GAD comorbidity has been clearly linked to additive worsening of outcomes and function in both Major Depressive Disorder and in Bipolar Disorder. This presentation will provide an update on current understandings about the incidence and nature of GAD and comorbid disorders, and their impact on patient health.

During this webinar attendees will:

1) Understand the overlap of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) with mood disorders

2) Understand the impact of GAD comorbidity on severity of illness including suicidality, quality of life and functioning in individuals with GAD

3) Learn about the need to address GAD and its comorbidities to optimally improve patient health

Naomi Michele Simon, M.D., M.Sc.

Dr. Naomi M. Simon is Associate Director of the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders and Director of the recently established Complicated Grief Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, and is Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

Blackwell Futura Media Services designates this educational activity for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Blackwell Futura Media Services is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. DETAILS at: http://bit.ly/ADAA_CME5

By 2050 there will be over 150 million older adults with anxiety disorders globally. Symptoms include sleep disturbance, interference with daily activities and distress, which can lead to medical illness such as coronary heart disease, disability, and higher levels of health care utilization.

Attendees will learn:
- How anxiety disorders in older adults differ from the disorders in younger adults.
~ They can be more detrimental to health and cognition in older adults.
~ These disorders may be more treatment-resistant, requiring aggressive treatment such as the combination of medication and psychotherapy.
- Why late-life anxiety disorders are undetected and undertreated.
- The benefits of using antidepressants and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy as safer alternatives to treatment for these disorders in older adults.

Webinar Speaker:
Eric Lenze, MD
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine

Dr. Lenze completed medical school and psychiatry residency at Washington University School of Medicine. He trained in a geriatric psychiatry fellowship and a clinical research fellowship at University of Pittsburgh, then joined the faculty, as part of the Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research in Late-life mood disorders. In 2007, he returned to Washington University to focus on treatment studies in late-life anxiety disorders and depression. He carries out clinical research in disabled rehabilitating elderly populations and runs a faculty practice treating late-life anxiety disorders and depression.

Blackwell Futura Media Services designates this educational activity for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Blackwell Futura Media Services is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. DETAILS at: http://bit.ly/adaa_cme4

Attendees will:
- recognize symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder in primary care patients
- use current pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments to develop a management plan
- assess different treatments for comorbid GAD and refractory cases

Webinar Speaker:
Larry Culpepper, MD, MPH
Professor of Family Medicine and Chairman, Department of Family Medicine, Boston University

Dr. Culpepper has conducted federally funded studies of depression and anxiety, otitis media, and school-based and community interventions to improve pregnancy outcomes and to prevent teen pregnancies. He currently is the principal investigator of an AHRQ funded developmental center for patient safety research devoted to the study of problems affecting low income and minority vulnerable populations in ambulatory care settings, and co-investigator of the Primary Care Anxiety Project, a study of the course of anxiety disorders in primary care settings.

Dr. Culpepper also is Chief of Family Practice at Boston Medical Center. He received his MD degree from Baylor College of Medicine and his MPH degree from Boston University.

Blackwell Futura Media Services designates this educational activity for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Blackwell Futura Media Services is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. DETAILS at: http://bit.ly/adaa_cme3

Attendees will:
- Discuss current evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatments for adults with generalized anxiety disorder.
- Identify characteristics of generalized anxiety disorder.
- Design a psychosocial treatment plan with patients with GAD.

Webinar Speaker:
Douglas Mennin, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychology, Yale University and Director of the Yale Anxiety and Mood Services Clinic

Dr. Mennin has focused his research program on understanding and treating chronic and reoccurring bouts of anxiety and mood disorders, particularly worry, stress, and depression. Our understanding of problems related to anxiety and depression has increased exponentially in the past twenty years. Advances in biological and behavioral technologies has helped us shine light on how everyday feelings such as fear and sadness can, in some individuals, translate into emotional disorder.

Blackwell Futura Media Services designates this educational activity for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Blackwell Futura Media Services is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. DETAILS at: http://bit.ly/ADAA_CME2

Attendees will:
- discuss the neurobiology of GAD
- recognize symptoms and diagnose individuals with generalized anxiety disorder
- plan evidence-based treatment for individuals with GAD and gad and comorbid disorders including depression, sleep disorders, cardiac illnesses and IBS.

Webinar speaker:
Mark Pollack, MD, Director, Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders, Massachusetts General Hospital
Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Pollack’s areas of clinical and research interest include the acute and long-term course, pathophysiology, and treatment of patients with anxiety disorders and associated comorbidities, development of novel pharmacologic agents for mood and anxiety disorders, uses of combined cognitive-behavioral and pharmacologic therapies for treatment refractory patients, presentation and treatment of anxiety in the medical setting, and the pathophysiology and treatment of substance abuse.

Blackwell Futura Media Services designates this educational activity for 1 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. Blackwell Futura Media Services is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. DETAILS at: http://bit.ly/ADAA_CME1