Anxiety is a common problem for college students, said Joseph DeCola, director of clinical services at Ohio State’s Anxiety and Stress Disorders Clinic. It is most prevalent when students first start college or transfer to a new school.

“Nearly 70 percent of our patient treatments have been effective in treating anxiety disorders,” Decola said.

Decola has conducted anxiety research with the help of a grants of more than $1 million.

DeCola has a special connection to anxiety disorders. In his early twenties he experienced anxiety while attending the University of California at Los Angeles.

“Not only do I treat and know [anxiety disorders] from a clinical perspective, but I know it from a personal perspective,” DeCola said. “In the late ‘70s, early ‘80s, psychology was just beginning to develop those treatments.”

DeCola said he worked through the condition on his own, knowing that the treatment available was nothing like today.

“It makes me a more effective therapist to say I know what you are feeling,” he said. “I have felt it too.”

The five major types of anxiety compiled on the National Institute of Mental Health Web site are generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and social phobia.

Michael Vasey, research director at the OSU ASDC, said having an anxiety disorder is nothing to be ashamed of.

“New students sometimes have problems coming to a new environment, meeting people; sometimes there are issues in the winter time,” DeCola said. “Short days and cold weather, the holidays and certainly during test time and finals — students will want to visit the clinic.”

DeCola said the problem is students want to come to the clinic two days before an exam when treatment takes weeks to be effective.

“We as humans, deny we have a problem and let it snowball out of control,” DeCola said. “That’s just human nature unfortunately.”

It becomes a disorder when the anxiety becomes debilitating and people can no longer function.

Vasey said that the grants are meant to support studies with the goal of translating basic science psychology into critically relevant treatments.

“We have one study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health involving treatment for spider phobia,” he said.

At any one time the ASDC may have 20 open cases.

“We are a pretty small clinic,” DeCola said. “The main clinic in Younkin [Success Center], is going to have many more people than that. They often refer people to us because they are not focused on treating anxiety and stress.”

The most common case of anxiety is public speaking anxiety, a form of social phobia that affects 30 percent of the population.

“When someone develops an anxiety disorder, it is not the end of the world,” DeCola said. “There is a benefit from going through one that makes you wiser about the world and learn more about yourself,”

Students in need of help for an anxiety disorder can contact the ASDC at (614) 292-2345.