Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University

The Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders (CARD) is a world-renown clinical research center founded by Dr. David Barlow and housed in the BU Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences with research currently led by Dr. Todd Farchione. CARD’s mission is to transform the understanding and treatment of emotional and behavioral disorders across the lifespan with an emphasis on novel and interdisciplinary methods of cognitive-behavioral treatment, clinical research, and training. CARD researchers have recently piloted an adjunctive treatment module drawing on positive psychology and virtue constructs in an attempt to foster relapse prevention and have published research on hope as a transdiagnostic mechanism of change. Staff members include licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, a nurse, research technicians, clinical psychology doctoral trainees, and psychiatric residents. CARD utilizes an income-based sliding fee scale, which ensures recruitment of a diverse sample in terms of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and severity (via disability status) and maintains a substantial patient flow of over 300 new patient evaluations each year. CARD staff involved in this project also direct the Unified Protocol Institute, an organization incorporated to disseminate evidence-based psychological treatments internationally through didactic workshops, clinical supervision, and consultation on program implementation to a range of service delivery settings and over 700 practitioners over the past three years.