#179 – Dr Simon Byrne on Evolving Treatments for Anxiety and Children’s Mental Health

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Simon Byrne about evolving approaches to anxiety treatment—including CBT and ACT—and how evidence-based models can better support children’s mental health. Dr Simon Byrne is a Lecturer at the University of Queensland (UQ) since 2021. He completed a PhD/Masters of Clinical Psychology in child anxiety at Macquarie University. He has held postdoctoral positions at Yale Child Study Centre, as well as Westmead Hospital Psychiatry Department and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. His research has focused on 1) the unconventional use of psychiatric drugs to treat mental disorders in children, and 2) treatments for anxiety. He has a particular interest in the use of exposure therapy (“facing your fears”) to treat anxiety. He also teaches into UQ’s clinical psychology program and has conducted research into the use of simulations to teach ethics. Episode link at https://neshnikolic.com/podcast/simon-byrne See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.