OUR COMPANY'S HISTORY

Marleen Lorenz, RN, MA and Chris Louro, Ph.D. started the Anxiety & Agoraphobia Treatment Center in the 1983. Marleen Lorenz started the first agoraphobia support and treatment group in the Chicago metropolitan area and Dr. Lauro began one of the first fear of flying therapy groups in the Chicago area. Both Marleen and Chris were dedicated to the empirically supported treatment of agoraphobia and phobias and attended the first national meeting on the forerunner of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America. During their first 10 years of practice, Marleen and Chris collaborated with Richard McNally, Ph.D. at the Chicago Medical School (now known as Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences) to conduct and publish research on the anxiety disorders. During this time, The Anxiety and Agoraphobia Treatment Center was the first clinic in the Midwest to offer exposure based treatments for agoraphobia in which therapists helped patients overcome their fears of driving, eating out or leaving the safety of their homes by escorting patients into the situations they feared and thereby teaching them to overcome their fears.

Karen Cassiday, Ph.D., A.C.T. joined Marleen as co-owner of AATC in 1993 after Dr. Louro’s untimely death. Dr. Cassiday’s arrival created the expansion of the practice to provide treatment for children and teens, a formal doctoral student training program, intensive treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder and intensive treatment of other severe anxiety disorders, treatment of selective mutism and the treatment of OC spectrum disorders such as trichotillomania, tourette’s syndrome and body dysmorphic disorder. Marleen retired from AATC in 1999 and Dr. Cassiday continues today as the sole owner and clinical director. Kevin Gyoerkoe, Psy.D. became co-director in 2003. Since 2000 AATC has expanded its programs to include postdoctoral specialty training in the cognitive behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders and the addition of various support groups for patients and family members. As of 2008, AATC has been working in collaboration with John E. Calamari, Ph.D., Chairman of the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Sciences Dept. of Psychology to develop and maintain a research program.

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