Your support changes lives. Thank you!
Learn More
We invite you to learn about self-talk as a simple yet highly effective secret weapon to battle…
In memoriam
President & CEO, Anxiety Disorders Association of America
Director, The Ross Center for Anxiety & Related Disorders, Inc.
Jerilyn Ross, MA, LICSW, was one of the nation’s leading experts on anxiety disorders. An active psychotherapist, patient advocate, and author, Jerilyn was president and CEO of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA) until her death in January 2010. She was also director of The Ross Center for Anxiety & Related Disorders, an outpatient multidisciplinary treatment center in Washington, D.C.
As president and CEO of ADAA, she represented thousands of people who suffer from phobias, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), posttraumatic stress disorder, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. She twice testified before Congress on behalf of those suffering from anxiety disorders, and she served on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the federal government's Panic Disorder Prevention and Public Education Program.
A member of the American Psychological Association and the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Jerilyn authored numerous books, including One Less Thing to Worry About: Uncommon Wisdom for Coping With Common Anxieties, Triumph Over Fear: A Book of Help and Hope for People with Anxiety, Panic Attacks and Phobias, and she published articles in the American Journal of Psychiatry and Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
She conducted public and professional lectures, seminars, and workshops on anxiety disorders and appeared on more than 300 television and radio shows, including Nightline, Dateline, Anderson Cooper 360, 20/20, Today, Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and The Diane Rehm Show. From 1987 to 1992, she hosted a weekly award-winning talk show on WRC Radio in Washington, D.C., and she produced Freedom From Anxiety, a comprehensive self-help program.
Jerilyn received her graduate training in psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York City and began her clinical practice and public advocacy activities in 1978. Honors include the Anxiety Disorder Initiative Award 2001 from the World Council on Anxiety and the World Psychiatric Association, a 2000 Telly Award, a Distinguished Humanitarian Award from the American Association of Applied and Preventive Psychology, and media awards from the American Association of University Women and the Mental Health Association of Northern Virginia.
