Australian Rotary Health

Dr Nickolai Titov is a Senior Lecturer at the Clinical Research Unit for Anxiety and Depression, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales (UNSW).  Nickolai undertook postgraduate training in New Zealand at the University of Otago.  He completed his Masters degree in 1996, his training as a clinical psychologist in 1998, and his PhD in 1999.  He is an experienced clinical psychologist, initially specializing in working with elderly clients and clients with neurological impairments, but is now specializing in treating common mental disorders.  Nickolai completed a postdoctoral fellowship from 2001 to 2004, and was then employed as a Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology, University of Otago.  In 2005 he was bestowed with an early career award, the GV Goddard Award, by the New Zealand Psychological Society.
 

In 2006 Dr Titov moved to Sydney to begin employment as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Psychiatry, UNSW.  He is now Project Manager of the VirtualClinic education and treatment programs (www.virtualclinic.org.au).  The overall aim of this research program is to reduce the burden of mental illness in the community. 

Nickolai’s current research and clinical interests include developing easy to use, clinically and cost-effective education and treatment programs for mental disorders for use by both clinicians and the public.  More than 500 Australian adults with depression or anxiety completed the VirtualClinic programs in 2008, with plans to treat a further 1000 in 2009. 
 

Dr Titov has received funding from Australian Rotary Health to evaluate an education program for adults with generalized anxiety disorder, a common and debilitating anxiety disorder.
 

This project is evaluating the effectiveness of a new Internet-based education program called the Worry Program, designed for adults with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).  GAD is a common anxiety disorder affecting more than 400,000 Australians each year.  Symptoms include uncontrollable and distressing worrying, including excessive worrying about their health and wellbeing, the health and wellbeing of their family, their job, finances, and the future.  We expect that providing good online education about GAD will help to significantly reduce people’s symptoms of GAD, and will also teach skills to help them learn to better manage their anxiety. 

This project is part of a research program that aims to improve the mental health of Australians by using the Internet to provide cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).  CBT is an evidence-based treatment that is very effective for treating anxiety and depression. 

The proposed project involves recruiting adults with GAD from around Australia.  Over the 8 week program participants will complete 6 online lessons, homework assignments, and have regular email contact from a clinical psychologist.  Participants will also post homework assignments in an on-line discussion forum, which will allow them to communicate with people with similar symptoms.  

We expect that participation will:

   ♦   reduce symptoms of GAD
   ♦   lead to improvements in mood and
   ♦   sustain these improvements after 3 months
 

We will use what we learn to build a comprehensive online treatment program, which we will then test in late 2009.  The study aims to begin implementation and clinical effectiveness studies in 2010, both at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney and in rural settings.