Group and individual cognitive-behavioral treatments for youth with anxiety disorders: A randomized clinical trial

Children (aged 8-14 years) with anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral individual treatment, cognitive-behavioral group treatment, or a wait-list control. Treatment outcome was evaluated using diagnostic status, child self-reports, and parent teacher-reports. Analyses of diagnostic status revealed that significantly more treated children (73% individual, 50% group) than wait-list children (8%) did not meet diagnostic criteria for their primary anxiety disorder at posttreatment. Other dependent measures demonstrated the superiority of both treatment conditions compared to the wait-list condition. However, a child-report of anxious distress demonstrated only the individual treatment to effect significant improvement. Measures of social functioning failed to discriminate among conditions. Analyses of clinical significance revealed that notable proportions of treated cases were returned to nondeviant limits at posttreatment. Treatment gains were maintained at a 3-month follow-up.