ABSTRACT
The past few decades have seen rapid development in three distinct but related areas of psychological research: late life anxiety, cognitive aging, and affective neuroscience. Clinical psychologists are now poised to integrate findings from these three areas. This interdisciplinary approach has the potential to enhance knowledge of anxiety and its treatment in the older population, which is a neglected area of study (Bryant, Jackson, & Ames, 2008). By taking into consideration cognitive aspects of anxiety disorders, aging, and their neural underpinnings, we can move toward the development of assessment strategies and interventions better tailored to the older individual. Given the global aging trend (Kalache, Baretto, & Keller, 2005), the widespread prevalence of anxiety in later life (Lenze, Mohlman, & Wetherell, 2014; Schutzer & Graves, 2004; Wolitzky-Taylor, Castriotta, Lenze, Stanley, & Craske, 2010), and the reduced therapeutic response rates in older as compared to younger adults (Ayers, Sorrell, Thorp, & Wetherell, 2007; Thorp et al., 2009), the neurocognitive perspective could be instrumental in taking the field in new directions.
