Themed Issue 2026

Our Age of Anxiety: fear, unease and worry

Submission Due Date: 31 October 2025

Guest editors:

- Professor David Baldwin (Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Southampton, UK)

- Dr Simon Davies (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada)

- Professor Katharina Domschke (Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Freiburg, Germany),

- Dr Nathan Huneke (Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Southampton, UK)

- Dr Nicky Leadbetter (Chief Executive, Anxiety UK) 

Rationale:

Although there have been advances in understanding the causes of anxiety disorders through insights from research across a broad range of disciplines, including epidemiology, epigenetics, neuropsychobiology and psychopharmacology, the picture of the aetiopathogenesis of these common illnesses remains incomplete. Nevertheless, novel treatments have been developed, and many new psychotherapeutic and pharmacological treatments are now available and being applied in clinical practice.

This themed issue aims to bring together the knowledge that has been acquired across all aspects of anxiety disorders, filling in the gaps and building links between what we know and what we do – in particular in relation to how various treatments potentially work.

 

Suggested scope and topics:

We welcome submissions of original research, reviews and editorials, preferring contributions with robust methodologies which offer definitive evidence. We encourage submissions derived from experimental and translational neuroscience; investigations of early experience, temperament and genetic factors; studies based on cross-sectional and longitudinal clinical observations; explorations in digital and personalised medicine; and development and implementation of sequential treatment approaches. Topics of interest include insights derived from:

• pre-clinical, experimental and translational models of anxiety and anxiolytics
• neuroimaging and cognitive-emotional studies
• investigations of early life adversity, temperament and epigenetic factors
• examinations of placebo and nocebo responses in anxiety
• characterisations of emerging targets in pharmacotherapy and  psychotherapeutic treatments
• considerations of the effectiveness and acceptability of novel neurostimulation approaches
• evaluations of deployed early interventions in anxiety disorders
• investigations of the utility of algorithms for sequential treatment
• predictions of outcome using health records and precision medicine approaches
• explorations of incorporating self-help and mutual aid/peer support strategies into clinical care

 To find out more, or to inform us of your intention to submit, please contact bjp@rcpsych.ac.uk

Why submit?

• Submissions will be handled and reviewed efficiently by experts in the field.
• All papers in the themed issue will be free to view for a month.
• Reach a wide global audience of BJPsych readers, including 21,000 RCPsych members.