John Walker Bio

John Walker is a Professor in the Department of Clinical Health Psychology at the University of Manitoba and Director of the Anxiety Disorders Program at St. Boniface General Hospital. He is also an adjunct professor in the Departments of Psychology and Community Health Sciences. In the clinical area, Dr. Walker supervises senior clinical psychology students in their training in research and treatment in the anxiety disorders area and provides individual and group treatment services himself. He is coauthor of Triumph Over Shyness, a self-help book for shyness and social anxiety and a book for practitioners titled Treating Health Anxiety and Fear of Death. Dr. Walker has a special interest in self-help approaches to treatment of anxiety disorders and has completed treatment evaluation studies demonstrating the benefits of self-help materials with panic disorder and social phobia. He was a founding board member of the Anxiety Disorders Association of Manitoba and has worked with them to develop self-help programs that provide assistance to individuals with anxiety disorders in a large region around Winnipeg. Areas of research interest include epidemiology and risk factors for anxiety disorders and major depression, cognitive-behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders in adults and children, coping with illness, and programs focused on health promotion and prevention.