Psychologist Hopes To Eliminate OCD and Social Anxiety Disorder

“I don’t want anyone to have obsessive-compulsive disorder, ever again. That’s pretty grandiose,” said Meredith Coles when asked about her end goal.

Coles is an associate psychology professor with Binghamtom University and the director of the Binghamton Anxiety Clinic. She has planned out a series of research projects that could lead to better treatment options and better policies for the mental health field.

Coles, along with the clinic staff, has already done studies and research into the root causes and pathologies of the disorders discovering that the patient’s perception of reality is skewed in many ways. Those with social anxiety disorder appear to be unable to read social cues because they focus on the parts of people’s faces that don’t show emotion. They also are unable to correctly assess threats in a realistic way so perceive a threat when one isn’t there.

Her current study includes surveying 500 people to find out what they see as barriers to getting treatment for various anxiety disorders. Coles received a $400,000 grant from the National Institute for Mental Health to carry out the study. She believes that the data will reveal that many put off getting help because they think they can deal with the anxiety on their own.

Coles sees early education as the key to increasing awareness of OCD and social anxiety disorder and to removing the stigma still attached to admitting that one has a mental health problem. Most people do not develop serious symptoms of the illnesses until their teens or 20s but warning signs are present much earlier. Coles would like to see awareness education being started in elementary school with both students and parents.

“The younger we educate kids, the better off they’ll be. We need to prevent mental disease in kids,” states Coles, referring to one of her main objectives with her research.