Discover more about our program and how you can get involved

Pre-schoolers Overcoming Phobias (POP!) a nationally funded treatment study of young children with specific phobias. The study is being run by a team of international experts in child anxiety, led by Associate Professor Lara Farrell.

The program aims to learn more about the course of childhood fears in young children, and involves testing a novel, brief intervention for childhood phobias, which has proven effective in older children and with adults.

Research funding

Associate Professor Farrell and her colleagues have been awarded a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) to conduct this research. The study has received ethics approval from the Griffith University Human Research Ethics Committee (GU Ref: 2018/145). 2017-2022. Farrell, Ollendick, Donovan, Spence, Waters, Zimmer-Gembeck One-Session Treatment for Specific Phobias in Pre-School Children: Improving access and long-term mental health outcomes. NHMRC. 5 years.

Principal Investigator

Associate Professor Lara Farrell

Ph: (07) 5678 8224

E-mail: l.farrell@griffith.edu.au

Research team

Distinguished Professor Thomas Ollendick

Co-Investigators: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Associate Professor Caroline Donovan

Emeritus Professor Susan Spence

Professor Allison Waters

Professor Melanie Zimmer-Gembeck

Relevant publications

  • Farrell, L., Waters, A., Oar, E., Tiralongo, E., Garbharran, V., Alston-Knox, C.,Ollendick, T. H. (2018). D-cycloserine-augmented one-session treatment of specific phobias in children and adolescents. Brain and Behaviour, 8(6), e00984.
  • Ollendick, T. H., Öst, L. G., & Farrell, L. J. (2018). Innovations in the psychosocial treatment of youth with anxiety disorders: implications for a stepped care approach. Evidence-based mental health, 21(3), 112-115.
  • Farrell, L. J., Kershaw, H., & Ollendick, T. (2018). Play-modified one-session treatment for young children with a specific phobia of dogs: A multiple baseline case series. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 49(2), 317-329.
  • Kershaw, H., Farrell, L. J., Donovan, C., & Ollendick, T. (2017). Cognitive behavioural therapy in a one-session treatment for a preschooler with specific phobias. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 31(1), 7-22.
  • Oar, E. L., Farrell, L. J., Conlon, E. G., Waters, A. M., & Ollendick, T. H. (2017). Patterns of Response and Remission Following a One-Session Treatment for Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia in Youth. Child & Family Behaviour Therapy, 39(1), 43-63.
  • Oar, E.L., Farrell, L.J., Waters, A.M., & Ollendick, T.H. (2016). Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia in Youth: Psychological characteristics relative to youth with Animal Phobia. Behaviour Therapy, 47, 3112-324.
  • Roberts, Farrell, Waters, Ollendick (2016). Parents' Perceptions of Novel Treatments for Child and Adolescent Specific Phobia and Anxiety Disorders. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, DOI 10.1007/s10578-015-0579-2
  • Oar, E. L., Farrell, L. J., & Ollendick, T. H. (2015). One Session Treatment for Specific Phobias: An Adaptation for Pediatric Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia in Youth. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review.
  • Oar, E.L., Farrell, L.J., Waters, A.M., Conlon, E.G., & Ollendick, T.H. (2015). One-Session Treatment for Pediatric Blood-Injection-Injury Phobia: A controlled multiple baseline trial. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 73, 131-142.
  • Ollendick, T. H., Halldorsdottir, T., Fraire, M. G., Austin, K. E., Noguchi, R. J., Lewis, K. M., ... & Whitmore, M. J. (2015). Specific phobias in youth: A randomised controlled trial comparing one-session treatment to a parent-augmented one-session treatment. Behaviour therapy, 46(2), 141-155.
  • Oar, E., & Farrell, L.J., (2014) Intensive Cognitive Behavioural Treatment Phobias in Youth. Psychopathology Review, 1(1), 175-181.
  • Waters, A. M., Farrell, L. J., Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., Milliner, E., Tiralongo, E., Donovan, C. L., McConnell, H., Bradley, B. P., Mogg, K., & Ollendick, T. H. (2014). Augmenting one session treatment of children’s specific phobias with attention training towards positive stimuli. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 62, 107-119.
  • Ollendick, T. H., Öst, L. G., Reuterskiöld, L., Costa, N., Cederlund, R., Sirbu, C., ... & Jarrett, M. A. (2009). One-session treatment of specific phobias in youth: a randomized clinical trial in the United States and Sweden. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 77(3), 504.

Books

  • Farrell, Ollendick and Muris. (Eds). (in press). Innovations in CBT for Childhood Anxiety, OCD & PTSD: Improving Access & Outcomes. Cambridge University Press.

Book Chapters

  • Milliner, E., Farrell, L.J., Ollendick, T.H. (2013). CBT for Childhood Specific Phobias (pp. 255 – 274). In Graham & Reynolds (Eds.), Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in Children and Families, third edition. London: Cambridge University Press.
  • Oar, E., Farrell, L.J., Byrne, S., & Ollendick, T.H. (2017). Specific Phobia. In C.A. Flessner and J. Piacentini (Eds.). Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A Step-by-Step Treatment Manual. Guilford Press.

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