Posted
December, 2010
Adult
Outcomes of Three Treatments for Childhood Anxiety Disorders
Numerous
studies have compared short-term outcomes for different treatments
of childhood disorders. However, few studies of child treatments
have compared adult outcomes. Saavedra et al. (2010) compared
outcomes from childhood through adulthood for 67 U.S. children
who had received (a) group cognitive behavioral
therapy (GCBT) that used peer reinforcement and modeling to
facilitate exposure-based procedures or individual cognitive
behavioral therapy that used (b) behavioral
facilitative strategies such as contingency management (CM)
or (c) cognitive facilitative strategies such
as self-control (SC). Pre-treatment, post-treatment, 3-month,
6-month, and 12-month assessments were done with the CBCL
and other parent- and child-completed measures. Adult outcomes
were assessed with the Young Adult Self-report (YASR-the predecessor
to the ASR) and adult counterparts of the other measures that
had been completed when the participants were children. Internalizing
scores on the CBCL showed substantial declines from pre- to
post-treatment, followed by steady declines thereafter on
the CBCL and YASR for all three treatment groups. However,
both individual treatments were followed by significantly
steeper reductions in Internalizing scores than were found
for GCBT. Furthermore, the reductions in Internalizing scores
during the follow-up period were greater for the SC group
than for the GCBT group at p = .056. Other measures of anxiety
and depression showed less consistent differences between
treatment conditions. Because the groups receiving each treatment
condition were relatively small and because ethical considerations
precluded inclusion of a no-treatment control condition, Saavedra
et al. acknowledged the need for replication and extension
of the study, but concluded that their "findings suggest
the potential utility of early detection and identification
of anxiety disorder in youth for effective short- and long-term
benefits, at least until adulthood" (p. 932).
Reference:
Saavedra, L.M., Silverman, W.K., Morgan-Lopez, A.A., &
Kurtines, W.M. (2010). Cognitive behavioral treatment for
childhood anxiety disorders: long-term effects on anxiety
and secondary disorders in young adulthood. Journal of
Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 51, 924-934.
