Advice for Parents of Children with Anxiety Disorders [Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation]

Link to their article here @

Some general points from the article:

  • There are generally two types of treatments that seem to be equally effective: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medications.
  • The best study that compared them directly in kids found one is no better than the other, and that combining the two works better than using one or the other alone.
  • Extinction is a process that we study where organisms such as rodents and non-human primates learn how to overcome their anxiety. One of the things we know about extinction is that it’s an active process; to extinguish a fear, organisms have to be exposed to the fear.
  • Beyond just learning how to cope, maybe one of the reasons why kids who face their fears do better over time is that they have opportunities to develop extinction.

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