Brief Interventions for Anxiety.

Brief, nonpharmacological interventions for anxiety are often defined as no more than 10 sessions or 50% contact time of a full intervention. Brief interventions can be of high or low intensity, depending on the type and extent of therapist support provided, and may be concentrated. There is evidence to support the use of brief cognitive-behavioral interventions for anxiety in mental health clinics, primary care, and schools, and internet delivery can be a cost-effective alternative to standard formats.

Family Accommodation in Intensive/Residential Treatment for Adults With OCD: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis.

Many adults with OCD experience residual symptoms following CBT, with or without medication. A potential target for enhancing treatment effectiveness is family accommodation (FA). This study examined (1) possible sociodemographic and clinical correlates of FA in adults presenting for intensive/residential treatment, and (2) temporal relationships between FA and OCD symptom severity during acute treatment and follow-up phases.

Family communication and the efficacy of family focused therapy in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis with comorbid anxiety.

Aim: Comorbid anxiety disorder is related to greater illness severity among individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis, but its potential role in moderating response to Family Focused Therapy (FFT) for CHR is unexamined. We investigated whether comorbid anxiety disorder in CHR individuals is associated with less constructive communication during family problem-solving interactions, whether their communication skills differentially improve after FFT, and whether FFT is effective in reducing anxiety in this population.

Methods: Individuals recruited into the second phase of the 8-site North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS2) participated (N = 129).

Youth Anxiety About Political News.

This study assessed youth anxiety about political issues and associated characteristics. Caregivers (N = 374) were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk and reported on their child's anxiety about 15 voting issues covered in the media since the 2016 presidential election as well as their child's psychological functioning and their own trait anxiety. For the majority of voting issues, over 50% of caregivers indicated that their child experienced at least one related worry; worries about the environment and gun violence were most common.

The Impact of Treatment Expectations on Exposure Process and Treatment Outcome in Childhood Anxiety Disorders.

This study examined the relationship between caregivers' and youths' treatment expectations and characteristics of exposure tasks (quantity, mastery, compliance) in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for childhood anxiety. Additionally, compliance with exposure tasks was tested as a mediator of the relationship between treatment expectations and symptom improvement. Data were from youth (N = 279; 7-17 years old) enrolled in the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS) and randomized to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or the combination of CBT and sertraline for the treatment of separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia.

Integrating evidence-based assessment into clinical practice for pediatric anxiety disorders.

Background: Although evidence-based assessments are the cornerstone of evidence-based treatments, it remains unknown whether incorporating evidence-based assessments into clinical practice enhances therapists' judgment of therapeutic improvement. This study examined whether the inclusion of youth- and parent-reported anxiety rating scales improved therapists' judgment of treatment response and remission compared to the judgment of treatment-masked independent evaluators (IEs) after (a) weekly/biweekly acute treatment and (b) monthly follow-up care.

Methods: Four hundred thirty six youth received cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), medication, CBT with medication, or pill placebo through the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study.

Cognitive Predictors of Parental Rescue Behavior and Malleability of Behavior Using a Brief Psychoeducation Intervention.

Cognitive factors, such as beliefs that anxiety is harmful, may lead parents to engage excessively in over-controlling parenting practices, such as "rescuing" children from distress. The present study examined whether parental rescue behavior, or the speed at which parents intervened to rescue an increasingly distressed child during an audio paradigm, was associated with beliefs about child anxiety. We also evaluated the impact of psychoeducation on rescue behavior during the audio paradigm.

Defining Treatment Response and Remission in Youth Anxiety: A Signal Detection Analysis With the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children.

Objective: To determine the percent reduction cutoffs on the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) that optimally predict treatment response and remission in youth with anxiety disorders.

Method: Youths and their parents completed the MASC-C/P before and after treatment, and the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV-Child and Parent Versions (ADIS-IV-C/P) and the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement Scale (CGI-I) were administered by independent evaluators. Treatment response and remission were defined by post-treatment ratings on the CGI-I and the ADIS-IV-C/P, respectively.

Emotional reactivity to daily events in youth with anxiety disorders.

Background: Although research supports associations between anxiety and emotional reactivity in adults (Cisler, J. M., Olatunji, B.

Therapist-Reported Features of Exposure Tasks That Predict Differential Treatment Outcomes for Youth With Anxiety.

Objective: Exposure tasks are recognized widely as a key component of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for child and adolescent anxiety. However, little research has examined specific exposure characteristics that predict outcomes for youth with anxiety and that may guide its application in therapy.

Method: This study draws on a sample of 279 children and adolescents (48.

Establishing Clinical Cutoffs for Response and Remission on the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED).

Objective: To determine optimal percent reduction and raw score cutoffs on the parent- and child-report Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED) for predicting treatment response and remission among youth with anxiety disorders.

Method: Data were obtained from youth (N = 438; 7-17 years old) who completed treatment in the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal treatment Study, a multisite, randomized clinical trial that examined the relative efficacy of medication (sertraline), cognitive-behavioral therapy (Coping Cat), their combination, and pill placebo for the treatment of separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia. The parent- and youth-report SCARED were administered at pre- and posttreatment.

Parental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Understanding of Anxiety (PABUA): Development and psychometric properties of a measure.

The Parental Attitudes, Beliefs, and Understanding of Anxiety (PABUA) was developed to assess parental beliefs about their child's anxiety, parents' perceived ability to cope with their child's anxiety and to help their child manage anxious symptoms, and to evaluate parents' understanding of various parenting strategies in response to their child's anxiety. The study evaluated the PABUA in mother-child dyads (N=192) seeking treatment for youth anxiety. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a three-factor solution and identified PABUA scales of Overprotection, Distress, and Approach (with Cronbach's alpha ranging from .

Sleep-Related Problems and the Effects of Anxiety Treatment in Children and Adolescents.

This study examined (a) demographic and clinical characteristics associated with sleep-related problems (SRPs) among youth with anxiety disorders, and (b) the impact of anxiety treatment: cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT; Coping Cat), medication (sertraline), their combination, and pill placebo on SRPs. Youth (N = 488, ages 7-17, 50% female, 79% White) with a principal diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, or social phobia participated. SRPs were reported by parents and youth.

Dysregulation in Youth with Anxiety Disorders: Relationship to Acute and 7- to 19- Year Follow-Up Outcomes of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy.

This study evaluated the impact of dysregulation across cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains on acute and 7- to 19-year follow-up outcomes of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety, and explored dysregulation as a predictor of psychopathology and impairment in young adulthood among individuals who received anxiety treatment as youth. Participants (N = 64; 50 % female, 83 % non-Hispanic White) from two randomized clinical trials completed a follow-up assessment 7-19 years later. Latent profile analysis identified dysregulation based on Anxious/Depressed, Attention Problems, and Aggressive Behavior scores on the Child Behavior Checklist.

Development of the pediatric accommodation scale: reliability and validity of clinician- and parent-report measures.

The present study developed parallel clinician- and parent-rated measures of family accommodation (Pediatric Accommodation Scale, PAS; Pediatric Accommodation Scale-Parent Report; PAS-PR) for youth with a primary anxiety disorder. Both measures assess frequency and impact of family accommodation on youth and families. Studying youth ages 5-17 (N=105 caregiver-youth dyads), results provide evidence for the psychometric properties of the PAS, including internal consistency, inter-rater reliability, and convergent and discriminant validity.

Naturalistic follow-up of youths treated for pediatric anxiety disorders.

Importance: Pediatric anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and impairing and are considered gateway disorders in that they predict adult psychiatric problems. Although they can be effectively treated in the short term, data are limited on the long-term outcomes in treated children and adolescents, particularly those treated with medication.

Objective: To determine whether acute clinical improvement and treatment type (i.

Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents: 20 years after.

Brady and Kendall (1992) concluded that although anxiety and depression in youths are meaningfully linked, there are important distinctions, and additional research is needed. Since then, studies of anxiety-depression comorbidity in youths have increased exponentially. Following a discussion of comorbidity, we review existing conceptual models and propose a multiple pathways model to anxiety-depression comorbidity.

Somatic complaints in anxious youth.

This study examined (a) demographic and clinical characteristics associated with physical symptoms in anxiety-disordered youth and (b) the impact of cognitive-behavioral therapy (Coping Cat), medication (sertraline), their combination, and pill placebo on physical symptoms. Youth (N = 488, ages 7-17 years) with a principal diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, or social phobia participated as part of a multi-site, randomized controlled trial and received treatment delivered over 12 weeks. Diagnostic status, symptom severity, and impairment were assessed at baseline and week 12.

Preliminary examination of ethnic group differences in adolescent girls' attitudes toward depression treatments.

Efficacious treatments are only valuable to the extent that they are used. Given ethnic disparities in mental health service utilization, this preliminary study examined differences between Hispanic and non-Hispanic White (NHW) adolescents' ratings of the acceptability of depression treatments and related constructs. Female high school students (N = 67; 54% Hispanic) read a vignette describing a depressed adolescent and rated the acceptability of four single treatments for depression (i.

The therapeutic relationship in cognitive-behavioral therapy and pharmacotherapy for anxious youth.

Objective: We examined the therapeutic relationship with cognitive-behavioral therapists and with pharmacotherapists for youth from the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (Walkup et al., 2008). The therapeutic relationship was examined in relation to treatment outcomes.

Defining treatment response and remission in child anxiety: signal detection analysis using the pediatric anxiety rating scale.

Objective: To determine optimal Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) percent reduction and raw score cut-offs for predicting treatment response and remission among children and adolescents with anxiety disorders.

Method: Data were from a subset of youth (N = 438; 7-17 years of age) who participated in the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS), a multi-site, randomized controlled trial that examined the relative efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT; Coping Cat), medication (sertraline [SRT]), their combination, and pill placebo for the treatment of separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia. The clinician-rated PARS was administered pre- and posttreatment (delivered over 12 weeks).

The acceptability of treatments for depression to a community sample of adolescent girls.

An efficacious treatment is diminished in value if consumers do not seek it out and adhere to it, making treatment acceptability an important predictor of the effectiveness of treatment. This study examined the acceptability of treatments for depression to 67 female high school students. All participants read a vignette describing a depressed adolescent and rated the acceptability of four single treatments for depression (cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, family therapy, and pharmacotherapy) and three treatment combinations.

A structural equation analysis of family accommodation in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Family accommodation of symptoms is counter to the primary goals of cognitive-behavioral therapy for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and can pose an obstacle to positive treatment outcomes. Although increased attention has been given to family accommodation in pediatric OCD, relatively little is known about associated child and parent characteristics, and their mediating/moderating effects. This study examined a structural equation model of parent and child variables related to parent reports of family accommodation.

Preliminary investigation of web-camera delivered cognitive-behavioral therapy for youth with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

This study reports a waitlist controlled randomized trial of family-based cognitive-behavioral therapy delivered via web-camera (W-CBT) in children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Thirty-one primarily Caucasian youth with OCD (range=7-16years; 19 male) were randomly assigned to W-CBT or a Waitlist control. Assessments were conducted immediately before and after treatment, and at 3-month follow-up (for W-CBT arm only).