University of Málaga, Spain

Anxiety disorders and problems in children and adolescents: psychopathology, assessment and treatment

The present symposium has the aim of introducing new knowledge on anxiety disorders and problems in children and adolescents. The first speaker, Josefa Canals, will talk about psychopathology and will present data on the epidemiology of these disorders in our environment, as well as indicative data on the importance of anxiety problems on school performance and on the physical health of the people who suffer from them. The second presentation, belonging to Alejandro de la Torre, talks about the feasibility and validity when assessing these types of disorders via the Internet. The third speaker, Virginia Martín, will explain an important problem present in the majority of anxiety disorders: its high comorbidity with other psychological disorders. In particular, her paper will present data of anxiety disorder´s comorbidity with oppositional defiant disorder, as well as data on some common underlying variables that could facilitate the treatment and prevention of both types of disorders. Finally, Raquel Nogueira´s presentation will be an explanation on how comorbidity has an influence on the treatment results in obsessive-compulsive disorder.