Exploring the Mechanisms in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Anxious Children: Does Change in Emotion Regulation Explain Treatment Effect?

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for childhood anxiety has shown moderate effects. However, inconsistency in findings during the last decades of treatment research and lack of measurable treatment gains over time has led to a call for optimizing interventions by identifying the active mechanisms involved and for whom such interventions are effective. It has been suggested that the moderate effects may be explained by the fact that emotion regulation rarely is directly targeted in CBT-interventions and that interventions may be more effective for children with a certain level of problems with emotion regulation. Using data from a randomized controlled trial with 160 children and their mothers at baseline (t1) and posttreatment (t2), we examined whether being randomized to CBT predicted change in anxiety symptoms from t1 to t2 and whether this change was mediated by change in emotion regulation from t1 to t2. We also investigated whether the strength of this indirect pathway depended on the level of emotion regulation problems at baseline. Latent baseline target moderated mediation analyses within a structural equation modelling framework were conducted. Results showed a significant indirect pathway between receiving CBT to improved emotion regulation, which again was significantly associated with reductions in anxiety symptoms. The findings suggest that the effect of CBT is similar for children irrespective of initial levels of emotion regulation measured broadly, whereas there was some evidence of a baseline moderation effect of the subdomain emotional control. Emotion regulation, and especially emotional control, seems to be an underlying mechanism for positive effects of CBT for anxiety disorders in children, possibly indicating that a greater emphasis on emotion regulation may optimize the intervention.

A 12-month follow-up of a transdiagnostic indicated prevention of internalizing symptoms in school-aged children: the results from the EMOTION study.

BACKGROUND: Anxious and depressive symptoms in youth are highly prevalent, are often comorbid and have a high rate of relapse. Preventive interventions are promising, but follow-up results are lacking. The transdiagnostic EMOTION program is an indicated preventive cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention targeting children aged 8-12 years. METHODS: The present study investigates the 12 months follow-up effects of the EMOTION intervention in a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 795 children that included both child self-reports and parental reports. RESULTS: Mixed model analyses showed a larger decrease of symptoms in the intervention group than in the control group for child self-reported anxious symptoms (The Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC) difference 4.56, CI 1.83 to 7.29, p = .001). Parental reports for both anxious (MASC difference 2.50, CI .26 to 4.74, p = .029) and depressive (The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire-short form (SMFQ) difference 1.55, CI .83 to 2.26, p ≤ .001) symptoms in children also showed a reduction. No statistically significant difference was found for child self-reported depressive symptoms (SMFQ difference .69, CI - .22 to 1.60, p = .139). CONCLUSION: The transdiagnostic EMOTION program has shown the potential for long-term reductions in symptoms of both anxiety and depression in school-aged children. However, results regarding depressive symptoms must be considered preliminary as only parental report indicated effect.Trial registration The regional ethics committee (REC) of Norway approved the study. Registration number: 2013/1909; Project title: Coping Kids: a randomized controlled study of a new indicated preventive intervention for children with symptoms of anxiety and depression. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier; NCT02340637.

Emotion regulation and its relation to symptoms of anxiety and depression in children aged 8-12 years: does parental gender play a differentiating role?

BACKGROUND: Symptoms of anxiety and depression are prevalent and highly comorbid in children, contributing to considerable impairment even at a subclinical level. Difficulties with emotion regulation are potentially related to both anxious and depressive symptoms. Research looking at maternal contributions to children's mental health dominates the literature but ignores the potentially important contributions of fathers. METHOD: The present study is part of the Coping Kids study in Norway, a randomized controlled study of a new indicated preventive intervention for children, EMOTION. EMOTION aims to reduce levels of anxious and depressive symptoms in children aged 8-12 years. Using cross sectional data and multiple regression analyses, we investigated the relations between anxious and depressive symptoms and emotion regulation in n = 602 children. Symptoms were reported by the child, mothers and fathers. Emotion regulation was reported by mothers and fathers. RESULTS: Symptoms of anxiety, as reported by parents, were associated with poorer emotion regulation. This association was also demonstrated for depressive symptoms as reported by both parents and children. When analyzing same gender reports, parental gender did not differentiate the relationship between anxiety symptoms and emotion regulation. For depressive symptoms, we did find a differentiating effect of parental gender, as the association with dysregulation of emotion was stronger in paternal reports, and the association with adaptive emotion regulation was stronger in maternal reports. When using reports from the opposite parent, the emotion regulation difficulties were still associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, however exhibiting somewhat different emotional regulation profiles. CONCLUSION: Problems with emotion regulation probably coexists with elevated levels of internalizing symptoms in children. In future research, both caregivers should be included. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The regional ethics committee (REC) of Norway approved the study. Registration number: 2013/1909; Project title: Coping Kids: a randomized controlled study of a new indicated preventive intervention for children with symptoms of anxiety and depression. ClinicalTrials.gov; Protocol ID 228846/H10 .