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Childhood anxiety disorders are often considered gateway disorders: having an anxiety disorder in youth is associated with a higher likelihood of developing a related psychological disorder in adulthood. Successfully treating youth with anxiety disorders may reduce the likelihood of subsequent anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders later in life. This study evaluates follow-up outcomes associated with treatment for childhood anxiety by comparing successfully and unsuccessfully treated participants 16 years after the completion of treatment. A sample of 66 youth (ages 7 to 14 at time of initial study treatment, ages 18 to 32 at present follow-up) who had been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and randomized to treatment in a randomized clinical trial on average 16.24 (SD = 3.56) years prior participated in the present follow-up evaluation that included self-report measures and a diagnostic interview conducted to assess anxiety, depression, and substance misuse. Results indicate that, relative to those who respond successfully to CBT intervention for an anxiety disorder in childhood, those who were less responsive to CBT for childhood anxiety had higher rates of panic disorder, alcohol dependence, and drug abuse in adulthood. The present study is the first to assess the 16-year follow-up effects of CBT treatment for an anxiety disorder in youth on anxiety, depression, and substance abuse through the period of young adulthood when these disorders are often seen. / Psychology

Research supports shared neurological, cognitive, and environmental features among youth with sleep-related problems (SRPs) and anxiety. Despite overlap in interventions for SRPs and anxiety, little is known about the secondary benefit on SRPs following anxiety-focused treatment. The present study examined whether SRPs improved following cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for youth with anxiety disorders. It also examined whether variables that may link anxiety and sleep problems (e.g. pre-sleep arousal, family accommodation, sleep hygiene) changed across treatment, and whether said changes predicted SRPs at posttreatment. Youth were diagnosed with anxiety at pretreatment and received weekly CBT that targeted their principal anxiety diagnosis at one of two specialty clinics (N = 69 completers, Mage = 10.86, 45% males). Youth completed a sleep diary between pretreatment and session one and again one week prior to posttreatment. All other measures were administered in the first session and at the posttreatment assessment. Results indicated that parent-reported SRPs improved from pre- to post-treatment and that treatment responders yielded greater improvement than nonresponders. Specific areas of bedtime resistance and sleep anxiety showed significant improvement. Youth reported lower rates of SRPs and no pre- to post-treatment changes. Pre-sleep arousal and parental accommodation decreased over treatment but did not predict lower SRPs at posttreatment. However, higher accommodation positively correlated with greater SRPs. Sleep hygiene evidenced no change and did not mediate accommodation and posttreatment SRPs. Clinical implications for the treatment of anxious youth are discussed and suggestions for future research are offered. / Psychology

The degree to which patients and their therapists align over time on their perceptions of therapeutic processes and intermediary outcomes has generally been regarded as an important element of effective psychotherapy; however, few studies have examined empirically the influence of such dyadic convergences on ultimate treatment outcomes. This study examined (a) whether early treatment convergences in patient-therapist alliance and session progress ratings were associated with subsequent worry and distress reduction (and final posttreatment level) in psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and (b) whether treatment type and the initial (session 1) levels of perceived alliance and session progress moderated these associations. Data derived from a clinical trial in which patients with severe GAD were randomly assigned to receive either 15 sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT; n = 43) or 4 sessions of motivational interviewing (MI) followed by 11 integrative CBT-MI sessions (n = 42). Patients and therapists rated the alliance and session progress after each session. Patients rated their worry and distress multiple times throughout treatment. Dyadic multilevel modeling revealed, as predicted, that alliance convergence over the first half of therapy was associated with greater subsequent worry (p = .03) and distress (p = .01) reduction. Additionally, the combination of low initial patient-rated alliance and early divergence was associated with the worst trajectory for the distress outcome (p = .04). Unexpectedly, session progress divergence had a near significant association with lower posttreatment worry (p = .05) and was significantly associated with more accelerated subsequent distress reduction (p = .03). Additionally, for patients who perceived their initial progress more positively, whether dyads converged or diverged in early session progress ratings affected the trajectories (though not the ultimate amount) of distress change (p = .02). These findings suggest that divergence of early patient-therapist alliance perspectives, especially when coupled with lower initial patient-rated alliance quality, may be an important marker for patient nonresponse and therapist responsiveness (e.g., use of alliance repair strategies). The findings on patient-therapist session progress convergence are less straightforward, though several possible implications are discussed.

Background: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a culturally sensitive, cognitive-behavioral family treatment (CBFT) for pediatric patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) to improve pain symptoms, health-related quality of life, functionality, depression, and coping strategies. Individual cognitive-behavioral treatment has been shown previously to be effective at improving pain symptoms, functionality, adaptive coping, and health care utilization, but such benefits have not yet been shown for SCD patients. The present study aimed to address this limitation by modifying the intervention to both include the family and to utilize culturally sensitive practices, which may be particularly relevant for this population. Methods: A non-concurrent multiple baseline design was used to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. A sample of 4 children (ages 8 to 12) and 4 adolescents (ages 13 to 15) participated in the intervention. Manualized treatment consisted of five sessions (including child and parent) that targeted problem-solving skills, cognitive processes, coping strategies, goal setting, and family processes. Outcomes of interest including health-related quality of life, functionality, psychological adjustment, and coping strategies, were assessed by child and parent report at pre-treatment (baseline), post-treatment, and 2-, 4-, and 6-month follow-up. Participants completed daily diaries to quantify pain, anxiety, and functionality. Results: Repeated-measures general linear model analyses were run separately for all outcome variables. A significant main effect of time was found for youth-reported HRQoL, F(4, 20) = 4.6, p=.01, depressive symptomatology, F(4, 20) = 4.5, p=.01, and parent-reported Internalizing, F(4, 16) = 3.4, p=.03, Externalizing, F(4, 16) = 7.2, p=.00, and Total Behavior Problems, F(4, 16) = 7.7, p=.00 from baseline to 6-month post-treatment. The mean frequency of pain symptoms also decreased for five of the eight participants (i.e., visual inspection of the daily diaries from baseline to treatment). Conclusions: These results suggest the potential for clinical gains through the incorporation of culturally sensitive and family-based practices into existing cognitive-behavioral interventions for SCD. The symptomatic improvements observed in the present study indicate gains in both specific domains (i.e., pain), as well as general psychological outcomes (i.e., improvements in depression, health-related quality of life, internalizing and externalizing behaviors). / Ph. D.

Although evidence demonstrated efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in adolescents with binge-eating disorder (BED), treatment response is heterogeneous. This study uniquely examined baseline predictors of symptom trajectories in N = 73 adolescents (12–20 years) with an age-adapted diagnosis of BED (i.e., based on objective and subjective binge-eating episodes). Based on evidence from adult BED, dietary restraint, overvaluation of weight/shape, and depressive symptoms were used to predict changes in abstinence from binge eating and eating disorder psychopathology after 4 months of individual, face-to-face CBT using growth models. Longitudinal trajectories of abstinence from objective and subjective binge eating and global eating disorder psychopathology assessed via the Eating Disorder Examination were modeled for five time points (pre- and posttreatment, 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up). Beyond significant, positive effects for time, no significant predictors for abstinence from binge eating emerged. In addition to significant decreases in eating disorder psychopathology over time, higher pretreatment dietary restraint and overvaluation of weight/shape significantly predicted greater decreases in eating disorder psychopathology over time. Consistent with research in adult BED, adolescents with higher than lower eating disorder-specific psychopathology especially benefit from CBT indicating that restrained eating and overvaluation of weight/shape may be BED-specific prognostic characteristic across developmental stages. Future predictor studies with an additional focus on potential age-specific predictors, such as family factors, and within-treatment processes may be critical in further evaluating treatment-related symptom trajectories in adolescent BED.