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. Adult patients (N = 315) completed baseline measures of FA and OCD symptom severity at admission to IRT. Follow-up data were collected from a subset of participants (n = 111) at discharge, 1-month, and 6-month follow-up. Cross-lagged panel analysis showed that changes in OCD symptom severity from admission to discharge predicted changes in FA from discharge to 1-month follow-up. Increases in FA from discharge to 1-month follow-up predicted increases in OCD symptom severity from 1-month to 6-month follow-up. Female patients reported greater baseline FA from their family members than did males, and there were no significant differences in FA by relationship type or marital status. Contamination, Responsibility for Harm, and Symmetry/Incompleteness symptoms were each found to uniquely predict FA at admission. Results from this study provide support for the temporal precedence of FA reduction in OCD symptom improvement as adults transition home following residential treatment.

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). They were randomly assigned to 18-sessions of FFT-CHR or three-sessions of Enhanced Care (EC). Participants completed a diagnostic interview at pre-treatment, a family interaction task at pre-treatment and 6-months, and a self-report anxiety measure at pretreatment, 6 and 12-months. RESULTS: Individuals at CHR with comorbid anxiety engaged in more negative and fewer positive behaviours during family problem-solving interactions at pre-treatment than did those without comorbid anxiety. There was a significant interaction between anxiety diagnosis and time on interactional behaviour scores, such that individuals at CHR with an anxiety diagnosis showed a greater decrease in negative behaviours and increase in positive behaviours from baseline to 6-months than those without anxiety disorder(s) regardless of treatment condition. However, individuals' self-reported anxiety symptoms decreased more in FFT-CHR than in EC from pre-treatment to 12-month follow-up, regardless of anxiety diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals at CHR with symptoms of anxiety benefit from family interventions in showing reductions in anxiety and improvements in family communication.

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. Youth empathy and intolerance of uncertainty were each positively associated with worry about political issues but did not predict such worry after accounting for the effect of youth trait anxiety. Youth with clinical levels of generalized anxiety experienced more severe worry about political issues than did youth with minimal/subthreshold anxiety. Future studies should identify strategies for mitigating the negative impact of political news on youth with anxiety disorders.

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. Caregivers and youth independently reported treatment expectations prior to randomization, anxiety was assessed pre- and post-treatment by independent evaluators blind to treatment condition, and exposure characteristics were recorded by the cognitive-behavioral therapists following each session. For both caregivers and youths, more positive expectations that anxiety would improve with treatment were associated with greater compliance with exposure tasks, and compliance mediated the relationship between treatment expectations and change in anxiety symptoms following treatment. Additionally, more positive parent treatment expectations were related to a greater number and percentage of sessions with exposure. More positive youth treatment expectations were associated with greater mastery during sessions focused on exposure. Findings underscore the importance of addressing parents' and youths' treatment expectations at the outset of therapy to facilitate engagement in exposure and maximize therapeutic gains.

Mood and suicidality outcomes 3-11 years following pediatric anxiety disorder treatment.

BACKGROUND: Youth anxiety interventions have potential to reduce risk for depression and suicidality. METHODS: This naturalistic follow-up of the multi-site, comparative treatment trial, inking and behavior, and depressive symptoms 3-11 years (mean 6.25 years) following 12-week evidence-based youth anxiety treatment. Participants (N = 319; 10-26 years, mean 17 years) completed semiannual questionnaires and annual diagnostic interviews for 4 years. RESULTS: One-fifth (20.4%) of the sample met DSM-IV criteria for a mood disorder, 32.1% endorsed suicidal ideation, and 8.2% reported suicidal behavior. Latent class growth analysis yielded two linear trajectories of depressive symptoms, and 85% of the sample demonstrated a persistent low-symptom course over seven assessments. Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Study (CAMS) 12-week treatment outcome (positive response, remission) and treatment condition (cognitive behavior therapy [CBT], medication, CBT + medication, pill placebo) were not associated with subsequent mood disorder or suicidal thinking. CAMS remission predicted absence of suicidal behavior, and treatment response and remission predicted low depressive symptom trajectory. Greater baseline self-reported depressive symptoms predicted all long-term mood outcomes, and more negative life events predicted subsequent mood disorder, depressive symptom trajectory, and suicidal ideation. CONCLUSIONS: Effective early treatment of youth anxiety, including CBT, medication, or CBT + medication, reduces risk for subsequent chronic depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. Attention to (sub)clinical depressive symptoms and management of negative life events may reduce odds of developing a mood disorder, chronic depressive symptoms, and suicidality. Findings contribute to evidence that early intervention for a primary disorder can serve as secondary prevention.

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. Participants and parents completed the following anxiety scales at pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up: Screen for Childhood Anxiety and Related Disorders (SCARED) and Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). IEs rated anxiety on the Clinical Global Impression of Severity (CGI-S) and Improvement (CGI-I) at posttreatment and follow-up. Therapists rated anxiety severity and improvement using scales that paralleled IE measures. RESULTS: Fair-to-moderate agreement was found between therapists and IEs after acute treatment (κ = 0.38-0.48), with only slight-to-fair agreement found after follow-up care (κ = 0.07-0.33). Optimal algorithms for determining treatment response and remission included the combination of therapists' ratings and the parent-reported SCARED after acute (κ = 0.52-0.54) and follow-up care (κ = 0.43-0.48), with significant improvement in the precision of judgments after follow-up care (p < .02-.001). CONCLUSION: Therapists are good at detecting treatment response and remission, but the inclusion of the parent-report SCARED optimized agreement with IE rating-especially when contact was less frequent. Findings suggest that utilizing parent-report measures of anxiety in clinical practice improves the precision of therapists' judgment.

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. A nonclinical sample of 310 parents was recruited from an online crowdsourcing platform. Findings support the hypothesis that parents' stronger beliefs that anxiety is harmful relate to parents' faster speed of rescue. Additionally, participants who received psychoeducation delayed their rescue responses more than did participants who received benign information. Findings add to the growing body of evidence that cognitive factors contribute to countertherapeutic parent behavior and indicate that psychoeducation can be an important component of family-based child anxiety treatment.

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. Quality receiver operating characteristic methods determined the optimal cutoff on the MASC-P for predicting overall remission (loss of all study entry diagnoses) and optimal percent reductions on the MASC-P for predicting treatment response and remission of separation anxiety, social anxiety, and generalized anxiety. RESULTS: A post-treatment raw score of 42 optimally predicted remission. A reduction of 35% on the total MASC-P predicted treatment response. A reduction of 30% on the Separation Anxiety/Panic subscale of the MASC-P predicted separation anxiety remission. A reduction of 35% on the Social Anxiety subscale of the MASC-P predicted social anxiety remission. The MASC did not evidence a cutoff for remission of generalized anxiety disorder. CONCLUSION: MASC cutoffs can facilitate comparison across studies and guide practice, aiding clinicians in assessing progress and informing treatment plans.

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. O., Feldner, M. T., & Forsyth, J. P. (2010). Emotion regulation and the anxiety disorders: an integrative review. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32(1), 68-82.), few studies have examined emotional reactivity in anxious youth (e.g., Carthy et al., 2010; Tan, P. Z., Forbes, E. E., Dahl, R. E., Ryan, N. D., Siegle, G. J., Ladouceur, C. D., & Silk, J. S. (2012). Emotional reactivity and regulation in anxious and nonanxious youth: a cell-phone ecological momentary assessment study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 53(2), 197-206.). METHODS: Using daily diary methodology, this study examined both negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) reactivity to daily events in youth diagnosed with anxiety (N = 68; 60% female; 78% non-Hispanic White; M age = 11.18 years, SD = 3.17). We also examined whether parent-reported emotion regulation would predict emotional reactivity. RESULTS: Participants reported more NA on days they experienced more negative parent and teacher events and less PA on days that they experienced more negative peer events. Additionally, better emotion regulation was associated with less NA reactivity to negative teacher events and to both negative and positive academic events. CONCLUSIONS: Interpersonal events have a salient effect on daily affect for anxious youth. Youth anxiety therapists should target emotion regulation associated with negative events involving adults and address barriers to developing and maintaining positive peer relationships.

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 (48.4% male; 79.6% white) with a principal anxiety disorder who received 14 sessions of CBT, either alone or in combination with medication, through the Child/adolescent Anxiety Multimodal treatment Study (CAMS). The present study examines therapist-reported quantity, difficulty level, compliance, and mastery of exposure tasks as they related to CBT response (i.e., Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement ratings). Secondary treatment outcomes included reduction in anxiety symptom severity on the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale, global impairment measured via the Children's Global Assessment Scale, and parent-report of anxiety-specific functional impairment on the Child Anxiety Impairment Scale. RESULTS: Regression analyses indicated a dose-response relationship between therapist-reported quantity of exposure and independent evaluations of treatment outcome, with more time devoted to exposure linked to better outcomes. Similarly, greater time spent on more difficult (rather than mild or moderate) exposure tasks predicted better outcomes, as did therapist ratings of child compliance and mastery. CONCLUSION: The present findings highlight the importance of challenging children and adolescents with difficult exposure tasks and of collaborating to ensure compliance and mastery.

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. Quality receiver operating characteristic methods evaluated the performance of various SCARED percent reduction and absolute cutoff scores in predicting treatment response and remission, as defined by posttreatment ratings on the Clinical Global Impression scales and the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule. RESULTS: Reductions of 55% on the SCARED-Parent and 50% on the SCARED-Youth optimally predicted treatment response. Posttreatment absolute raw scores of 10 (SCARED-Parent) and 12 (SCARED-Youth) optimally predicted remission in the total sample, although separate SCARED-Parent cutoffs for children (12-13) and adolescents (9) showed greatest quality of efficiency. Each cutoff significantly predicted response and remission at 6-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: Results serve as guidelines for operationalizing treatment response and remission on the SCARED, which could help clinicians systematically monitor treatment outcomes of youth with anxiety disorders in a cost- and time-efficient manner. Clinical trial registration information-Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders (CAMS); http://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT00052078.

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. Findings differed by informant and by type of SRP, with evidence that SRPs are associated with age, anxiety severity, externalizing problems, functional impairment, and family burden at pretreatment. Anxiety treatment reduced SRPs; effect sizes were small to medium. Reductions in parent-reported separation-related sleep difficulties were significantly greater in active treatment than in the placebo condition, with the greatest reductions reported by parents of youth whose active treatment was multimodal or included sertraline. Youth whose anxiety treatment involved CBT reported significantly greater decreases in dysregulated sleep (e.g., sleeplessness). Both CBT for anxiety and sertraline appear to be somewhat effective in reducing SRPs, and multimodal treatment may be preferable depending on the symptom presentation. To inform practice, future research should examine a broad range of SRPs, incorporate objective measures of sleep, and evaluate the impact of behavioral strategies that directly target SRPs in youth with anxiety disorders.

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 .67 to .83). Convergent and divergent validity of PABUA scales was supported by the pattern of associations with measures of experiential avoidance, beliefs related to children's anxiety, empathy, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms; parent-reported family functioning; parent- and youth-reported anxiety severity; and parent-reported functional impairment (n=83). Results provide preliminary support for the PABUA as a measure of parental attitudes and beliefs about anxiety, and future studies that investigate this measure with large and diverse samples are encouraged.

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. Although pretreatment dysregulation was not related to acute or follow-up outcomes for anxiety diagnoses that were the focus of treatment, dysregulation predicted an array of non-targeted psychopathology at follow-up. Among youth with a principal anxiety disorder, the effects of CBT (Coping Cat) appear to be robust against broad impairments in self-regulation. However, youth with a pretreatment dysregulation profile likely need follow-up to monitor for the emergence of other disorders.

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. The PAS-PR exhibited good internal consistency and convergent validity with the PAS. Nearly all parents (>95%) endorsed some accommodation and accommodation frequency was associated with parent-rated impairment (home and school), and with youth-rated impairment (school only). Greater impact of accommodation on parents was associated with parent self-reported depressive symptoms. Findings support the common occurrence of family accommodation in youth with anxiety disorders, as well as for the use of the PAS and PAS-PR to measure family accommodation in this population.

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. The total number and severity of physical symptoms was associated with age, principal diagnosis, anxiety severity, impairment, and the presence of comorbid internalizing disorders. Common somatic complaints were headaches, stomachaches, head cold or sniffles, sleeplessness, and feeling drowsy or too sleepy. Physical symptoms decreased over the course of treatment, and were unrelated to treatment condition. Clinical implications and directions for future research are discussed (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00052078).

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. Pathway 1 describes youths with a diathesis for anxiety, with subsequent comorbid depression resulting from anxiety-related impairment. Pathway 2 refers to youths with a shared diathesis for anxiety and depression, who may experience both disorders simultaneously. Pathway 3 describes youths with a diathesis for depression, with subsequent comorbid anxiety resulting from depression-related impairment. Additionally, shared and stratified risk factors contribute to the development of the comorbid disorder, either by interacting with disorder-related impairment or by predicting the simultaneous development of the disorders. Our review addresses descriptive and developmental factors, gender differences, suicidality, assessments, and treatment-outcome research as they relate to comorbid anxiety and depression and to our proposed pathways. Research since 1992 indicates that comorbidity varies depending on the specific anxiety disorder, with Pathway 1 describing youths with either social phobia or separation anxiety disorder and subsequent depression, Pathway 2 applying to youths with coprimary generalized anxiety disorder and depression, and Pathway 3 including depressed youths with subsequent social phobia. The need to test the proposed multiple pathways model and to examine (a) developmental change and (b) specific anxiety disorders is highlighted.

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.e., cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, family therapy, and pharmacotherapy) and three treatment combinations. Hispanic adolescents completed a self-report measure of acculturation and all adolescents were interviewed about their beliefs of the causes of depression. Results showed more similarities than differences between ethnic groups, with Hispanic and NHW adolescents favoring psychological treatments over pharmacotherapy. Among Hispanic participants, overall ratings of treatment acceptability were significantly higher for bicultural adolescents than Hispanic adolescents immersed predominantly in non-Hispanic culture. Hispanic and NHW adolescents generally showed similar beliefs about the causes of depression, with both groups endorsing personality and cognitions at high rates, but Hispanics were significantly less likely than NHWs to endorse trauma as a cause of depression. Implications for decreasing ethnic disparities in unmet need for treatment are discussed.

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. METHOD: Participants were 488 youth (ages 7-17 years; 50% male) randomized to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT; Coping Cat), pharmacotherapy (sertraline), their combination, or placebo pill. Participants met criteria for generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and/or separation anxiety disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The therapeutic relationship was assessed by youth report at Weeks 6 and 12 of treatment using the Child's Perception of Therapeutic Relationship scale (Kendall et al., 1997). Outcome measures (Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale; Research Units on Pediatric Psychopharmacology Anxiety Study Group, 2002; and Clinical Global Impressions Scales; Guy, 1976) were completed by independent evaluators blind to condition. RESULTS: For youth who received CBT only, a stronger therapeutic relationship predicted positive treatment outcome. In contrast, the therapeutic relationship did not predict outcome for youth receiving sertraline, combined treatment, or placebo. CONCLUSION: A therapeutic relationship may be important for anxious youth who receive CBT alone.

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). Quality receiver operating characteristic methods assessed the performance of various PARS percent reductions and absolute cut-off scores in predicting treatment response and remission, as determined by posttreatment ratings on the Clinical Global Impression scales and the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV. Corresponding change in impairment was evaluated using the Child Anxiety Impact Scale. RESULTS: Reductions of 35% and 50% on the six-item PARS optimally predicted treatment response and remission, respectively. Post-treatment PARS raw scores of 8 to 10 optimally predicted remission. Anxiety improved as a function of PARS-defined treatment response and remission. CONCLUSIONS: Results serve as guidelines for operationalizing treatment response and remission in future research and in making cross-study comparisons. These guidelines can facilitate translation of research findings into clinical practice.