Should I Relax or Change My Thoughts? A Preliminary Examination of Cognitive Therapy, Relaxation Training, and their Combination with Overanxious Children

This investigation examined the efficacy of cognitive therapy, relaxation training, and their combination with 4 children (6-15 years of age) diagnosed with DSM-III-R overanxious disorder using a multiple baseline design across subjects. Each intervention contained an exposure component equalized across treatments. All children improved on child and parent pre-post self-report measures as well as parent and independent clinician’s ratings. Treatment gains were maintained at six month follow-up. While all three treatments were associated with diminished anxiety, evidence suggested that interventions were most effective when “matched” to a child’s problematic response class (i.e. cognitive symptoms, somatic symptoms or both). Implications for treatment of childhood anxiety disorders are discussed.