Investigating the Effects of Parent Component to Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for Youth With Anxiety Disorders

Investigating the Effects of an Added Parent Component to Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Youth With Anxiety Disorders

Investigation is designed to determine whether the gold standard for treating anxious youth is enhanced by teaching parents to become their anxious child's CBT coach. Children (7-17 years old) with either Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Phobia, or Separation Anxiety Disorder are treated with a combination of the Coping Cat Program and a parent-training intervention that is designed to teach the child's parents the same cognitive and behavioral skills that the child is learning and how to help their child to complete exposure activities. The research methods are parallel to those used in the CAMS study so that this data can be merged with that data set to evaluate the relative efficacy of the enhanced intervention.

Children between the ages of 7 and 17 years old who are primarily experiencing either Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Separation Anxiety Disorder or Social Phobia and are not experiencing a cognitive or learning disability that would prevent them from validly completing the measures are eligible for participation in the study. Children who are experiencing another psychological disorder as their primary disorder would be excluded from the current investigation. Outcome measures include the ADIS for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (fourth edition)(DSM-IV( Child or Parent, Children's Global Improvement Scale (CGI-I), Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS), Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS), Negative Affect Self-Statements Questionnaire (NASSQ), Coping Questionnaire (CQ), Goal Attainment Scale (GAS), Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ), Multi-dimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC), Screen for Child Anxiety and Related Emotional Disorders (SCARED),Family Assessment Measure (third editions) (FAM-III Dyadic), Perception of Therapeutic Relationship (PTR), Satisfaction Questionnaire (SQ), Child Behavior Check List (CBCL), Family Burden Assessment Scale (BAS), Brief Symptom Index (BSI), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Brief Family Assessment Measure (third editions (Brief FAM-III).

Inclusion Criteria:

• Child is between 7-17 years old
• Primary diagnosis of Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• Separation Anxiety Disorder, or Social Phobia.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Presence of Major Depression, suicidal risk, presence of a learning disability or cognitive deficit that would prevent the child from validly completing the measures
• Presence of another psychological disorder that is of primary significance