News Release

April 29, 2004

Contact: Kristina Goodnough, 860-679-3700
e-mail: goodnough@nso.uchc.edu

UConn Health Center Offers Free Anxiety Screenings May 5th

FARMINGTON, CONN. - Feelings of panic, difficulty sleeping, excessive worry and fatigue can be signs of anxiety or depression -- treatable mental illnesses that affect millions of Americans.

To help raise awareness of these illnesses and their treatment, the Department of Psychiatry at UConn Health Center is joining National Anxiety Disorders Screening Day on May 5. Participants will be able to view a video on anxiety and depressive disorders, complete an anonymous screening questionnaire, obtain information on mental disorders and have a confidential meeting with a health care professional.

“Everyone is anxious sometimes,” says Nicholas DeMartinis, M.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry at UConn Health Center and an expert in coping with stress and anxiety. “It’s a normal reaction to a threatening or worrying situation. Anxiety that impairs an individual’s ability to function is not normal and there are treatments that can help.”

The screenings will take place on May 5th from 8 to 9 a.m., from noon to 2 p.m., and from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Department of Psychiatry in Farmington at 10 Talcott Notch Road, East Lobby, 3rd Floor. To make an appointment for a free anxiety screening, call 800-535-6232 or 860-679-7692.

UConn Health includes the schools of medicine and dental medicine, the UConn Medical Group, University Dentists, and John Dempsey Hospital. Home to Bioscience Connecticut, UConn Health pursues a mission of providing outstanding health care education in an environment of exemplary patient care, research and public service. More information about UConn Health is available at www.uchc.edu.

Note: News professionals are invited to visit the UConn Health Today news page (http://today.uchc.edu) for regularly updated news and feature stories, photos and media stories. News releases are archived at http://today.uchc.edu/newsreleases/2014. UConn Health news and information is also available on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.