FAU students have a way to earn money for their anxiety, but not if they use drugs to deal with their stress.
By participating in an FAU clinical trial on anxiety, students can get paid $45 per session, and the only requirements are to be between the ages of 18 and 65, have anxiety symptoms, and be drug-free.
“The person can’t be drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana, or doing cocaine – all of that can have an effect on the study,” says Peter Holland, the FAU research professor leading the study. “They also have to be medically stable, meaning, if they have high blood pressure it’s fine, as long as it’s under control and stable.”
For students who decide to enroll, the payoff is $45 for each visit – and the trial lasts around three months. For those who complete the trial, the total payoff is $405, according to Tracey Thomas, the study coordinator for the clinical pharmacology studies.
The clinical trial is sponsored by Pfizer, a company which wants to test a new anxiety medication that’s not on the market to see how effective it is.
“By symptoms of anxiety, we mean feeling nervous, having trouble sleeping, feeling panicky,” says Holland. “These are symptoms that we all have from time to time, but they [people with Generalized Anxiety Disorder] have them every day, to the point where it interferes with their lives.”
Although students need to have anxiety symptoms to be candidates for the clinical trial, they don’t have to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder before they enroll in the program.
“We do the evaluation for the diagnosis right here [at the Boca campus],” says Thomas. “We are still accepting students into the trial, as of now there is no deadline set to enroll.”
The initial evaluation is very thorough and can take up to four hours, according to Holland.
“It’s a state of the art evaluation. We leave no stone unturned; we do a full psychological evaluation so that we really understand what’s going on with the person,” says Holland. “Even if people aren’t appropriate for the study, they find that having the evaluation is very helpful.”
Although the medication isn’t on the market, it’s been tested before in other clinical trials.
“The medication has already been tested before on several hundred patients,” says Holland. “Patients [for this trial] will be given a consent form that spells out all the risks and side effects.”
The clinical trials last around three months and students are seen approximately seven times throughout the duration of the research. After the three months is up, students are seen once or twice to make sure they are adjusting to being off the medication, according to Holland.
“There’s no obligation to stay in the study. They have the right to change their mind and drop out at any time,” says Holland. “But dropping out would interfere with the data analysis – I would wish that people who get involved understand what they’re getting into, and want to see the study the whole way through.”
Quick InfoThe study takes place on FAU’s Boca campus in the Biomedical Science building.
Students who want to take part in this study can contact Study Coordinator Tracey Thomas at (561) 297-0164, or e-mail her at [email protected].
