A University of Central Florida lecture series that begins this month will educate the community about a variety of health and mental topics as well as highlight faculty and student research.
“Minding Your Health” was created by Dr. Deborah Beidel, director of UCF’s Anxiety Disorders Clinic.
Beidel has extensive experience treating individuals with all types of anxiety disorders including helping veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She is leading a treatment research program at UCF that uses virtual reality to assist in exposure treatment for PTSD, using sights, sounds and smells that allow the veteran to overcome the memories of combat trauma they experienced in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The first lecture of the new series, “Allergic to People: Shyness and Social Phobia,” will focus on social phobia in children, adolescent and adult populations. The lecture begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Mar. 27, in room 106 of the Psychology building located on UCF’s east Orlando campus.
April and May’s lectures will cover PTSD and using virtual reality to treat phobias and therapy, respectively. All lectures are free and open to the public.
Following the April lecture, the Anxiety Disorders Clinic will host the first meeting of a monthly support group for veterans and their families. Meetings will begin at 8 p.m. and will be held in room 106 of the Psychology building. For more information, call 407-823-1668.
To learn more about UCF’s Anxiety Disorders Clinic, visit https://sciences.ucf.edu/psychology/research/laboratories/labs_anxiety/.