Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorder Interventions

Anxiety disorders represent some of the most common and impairing mental health conditions in young people, with onset frequently occurring during childhood or adolescence. Interventions span psychosocial therapies, pharmacological treatments and combined approaches. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), often incorporating exposure techniques, remains the first‐line psychosocial intervention, demonstrating robust efficacy in reducing excessive fear and avoidance across a range of anxiety presentations. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have become the most widely prescribed pharmacological agents for moderate to severe cases, either alone or adjunctively with CBT. Recent advances have explored augmentation strategies to enhance fear extinction processes, developmental tailoring of interventions and novel delivery platforms such as digital and school‐based programmes. Global efforts have emphasised early identification, transdiagnostic approaches and cultural adaptation to ensure equitable access and long‐term resilience in diverse settings.

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Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorder Interventions publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in child and adolescent anxiety disorder interventions across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT): A structured, time‐limited psychosocial intervention that targets maladaptive thoughts and behaviours to reduce anxiety symptoms.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI): A class of antidepressant medications that increase serotonin availability in the brain and are effective in treating anxiety disorders.

Exposure therapy: A behavioural technique involving systematic confrontation with feared stimuli to promote fear extinction and reduce avoidance.

Fear extinction: The process by which conditioned fear responses decrease following repeated, non‐reinforced exposure to the fear‐eliciting stimulus.

References

1. Preclinical behavioral and pharmacological treatments for enhancing fear extinction in adolescence. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2025).
2. The Management of Anxiety and Depression in Pediatrics. Cureus (2022).
3. A Multicenter Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Escitalopram in Children and Adolescents with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (2023).