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Child Mind Institute Luncheon
Features The
Atlantic’s Scott Stossel and
Michelle Kydd Lee of Creative Artists Agency
Panel discussion on anxiety also featured Child Mind Institute (CMI)
president Dr. Harold Koplewicz and CMI expert clinician Dr.
Jerry Bubrick.
East Palo Alto, CA, September 22, 2016 – The
Child Mind Institute hosted approximately 160 guests at a panel
discussion about anxiety and the importance of early
intervention featuring Scott Stossel, editor of The
Atlantic and
author of the New
York Times bestseller My
Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread and the Search for Peace of
Mind. The event was moderated by Michelle Kydd Lee, the
Chief Innovation Officer and member of the senior leadership
team at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and also featured the
Child Mind Institute’s president, Dr. Harold Koplewicz, and Dr.
Jerry Bubrick, senior director of the CMI Anxiety & Mood
Disorders Center and director of the Obsessive-Compulsive
Disorder Service.
“Early intervention is crucial,” Stossel told the audience. “I
was first diagnosed in 1980 or 1981; at the time there was so
much stigma attached to mental illness and people thought if you
had a psychiatric disorder you were weak. It was hard for my
father — who was a doctor — to accept, but when I was 11 my
mother took me to a hospital to get evaluated and I went into
psychotherapy, which was tremendously helpful and basically kept
me in school. But it should have been earlier.”
Dr. Bubrick discussed cognitive behavioral therapy, the
gold-standard evidence-based treatment for anxiety and other
mental health disorders. “It’s interesting to learn about a
child’s history,” he said, “but what I’m really more concerned
about is how they’re functioning in that moment, what symptoms
they have, and teaching them skills and strategies to manage
their symptoms. It’s all about developing skills that will help
them long after they’ve left my office.”
Dr. Bubrick provided an example. Children with social anxiety
have an unrealistic fear of being harshly judged, he said, so
they often stop going to play dates and parties. That avoidance
temporarily relieves anxiety, but over the long term it teaches
kids to simply avoid things that cause anxiety, limiting their
lives. The intervention must be action-oriented. Dr. Bubrick
helps these children overcome fear and anxiety by gradually
introducing them to situations where they must speak to new
people, and then asking them to intentionally embarrass
themselves. This shows children they can tolerate uncomfortable
feelings and face their anxiety.
“I
often explain to the kids that I work with that the only way
around is through,” Dr. Bubrick said, adding that these
treatments are highly effective and can positively change a
child’s life.
The luncheon and other events like it are part of the Child Mind
Institute’s public education mission, giving families and
professionals accurate information at no cost about mental
health and learning disorders and how to find effective
treatment.
“We’re trying to educate America about how real, common and
treatable these disorders are,” Dr. Koplewicz said. “The most
common set of illnesses in childhood and adolescence are mental
health disorders. I don’t think people can put their head around
it because the number is so staggering: 17.1 million children in
the United States under the age of 18 will have a mental health
disorder. It is truly a public health crisis.”
The luncheon Host Committee included Cori and Tony Bates; Agapi
and Bruce Burkard; Stacy Drazan; Abby Durban; Eve and Ross
Jaffe; Linnea Roberts; Allison and Dan Rose; Annie Ulevitch; and
Amy Yang.
About the Child Mind Institute
The Child
Mind Institute is
an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of
children and families struggling with mental health and learning
disorders. Our teams work every day to deliver the highest
standards of care, advance the science of the developing brain,
and empower parents, professionals and policymakers with
resources to support children when and where they need it most.
Together with our supporters, we’re helping children reach their
full potential in school and in life. We share all of our
resources freely and do not accept any funding from the
pharmaceutical industry. Learn more at childmind.org.
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