Preventing problematic childhood anxiety

Background: At any given time, about 5.2% of children aged four to 18 likely meet criteria for an anxiety disorder. Considering anxiety disorders typically emerge early in the lifespan and some anxiety disorders are particularly likely to be diagnosed in early childhood, anxiety prevention needs to start early. Consequently, we set out to identify effective anxiety prevention programs.
Methods: We used systematic review methods to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating programs aimed at preventing anxiety disorders in children 12 years or younger. After applying our rigorous inclusion criteria, we accepted four RCTs, evaluating four programs including three that used cognitive-behavioural therapy techniques.
Results: All four programs showed at least some benefits. This included Cool Little Kids which reduced anxiety symptoms up to 1¾ years after the program ended but failed to prevent anxiety disorders. Coping Cat reduced anxiety symptoms according to child self-reports but not maternal ratings. The EMOTION produced positive findings on all anxiety measures and MindLight proved to be as beneficial as Coping Cat in reducing anxiety symptoms.
Conclusions: CBT is effective in preventing and reducing anxiety among children and its impacts can be enduring. For this reason, successful CBT programs need to be made more widely available in order to avert the potential for the long-term distress that often accompanies anxiety disorders.