Group Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Phobic/Anxious Children (GCBT)

Investigators: Wendi Silverman, PhD

GCBT is a child-focused treatment intervention with parental involvement, for children with overanxious disorder, social phobia, and avoidant disorder. The key therapeutic procedure in this intervention is exposure to anxious-phobic objects or events, with contingency management and self-control training as additional therapeutic strategies. In the group format, these strategies are generally sequenced between education and application with the parent receiving training on a specific strategy and applying it to the child, then the child receiving training and applying the strategy him or herself. A randomized clinical trial conducted in 1999 evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of this program versus a wait-list control condition. The study found that 64% of the children in GCBT were recovered at posttreatment (i.e., no longer met primary diagnoses) compared with 13% of the children in the control condition. In addition, 82% of the participants showed clinically significant improvement at posttreatment compared with only 9% in the control condition. An improvement was also observed for ratings of disorder severity and for child- and parent-completed questionnaire measures. A consistent trend for treatment gains was found at the 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. Additionally, participants who were not recovered continued to show improvement into the 12-month follow-ups. The pattern for all of the child- and parent-completed measures similarly indicated a continued reduction in degree and severity of anxious symptoms from posttreatment to the 3-month follow-up, with improvements maintained at 6 and 12 months. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Helping Your Anxious Child: Bibliotherapy for Children with Anxiety Disorders Using Written Materials for Parents

Investigators: Ronald M. Rapee, PhD, Heidi J. Lyneham, PhD, Maree J. Abbott, PhD

Helping Your Anxious Child (HYAC) is a bibliotherapy outreach program based on a group cognitive-behavioral treatment program, the Cool Kids Child and Adolescent Anxiety Management Program. HYAC uses a parent-as-therapist model to assist children between 6 and 12 years of age in learning to manage their anxiety; including phobias, generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and panic attacks. HYAC materials (book for parent and workbook for child) contain a structured course of readings and activities to help parents better understand child anxiety and teach their child to manage his or her anxiety. Children’s activities and practice tasks cover skills such as cognitive restructuring, gradual exposure, problem solving, social skills, assertiveness, and dealing with teasing. The program also covers more effective parenting strategies. Over 10-12 sessions, the parent and child work on the program in tandem over a 3 to 4 month period (some families require more time to master the skills). It is recommended that therapists monitor and assist with implementation of the program via telephone, email, or personal consultation. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Let's Chat

Investigators: Seth C. Kalichman

Let’s Chat is a four-session intervention designed for use with same-sex groups of adults with chronic mental illness. Based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral (IMB) Skills Model, Let’s Chat addresses risk-reduction needs specific to persons with mental illness. In each of the 90-minute sessions, a team of two facilitators conveys important AIDS-prevention information, alternating lectures and video clips with role-play and group-participation activities. Participants discuss sexual pressure and coercion, practice negotiating condom use, and learn the proper method for using both male and female condoms. All four sessions place emphasis on clear, simple messages and useful skills practice. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) I & II: A Responsive Parenting Program for Parents of Infants and Toddlers

Investigators: Susan H. Landry, PhD & Karen E. Smith, PhD

The Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) program is a home visiting intervention for parents of infants and toddlers that target aspects of a responsive parenting style shown to enhance children's cognitive and social development. The goal of the PALS program is to teach parents responsive parenting skills to support their child's social-emotional, cognitive, and language development. The parent learns specific behaviors that help her tune into her child, respond in a sensitive and contingent manner, provide appropriate cognitive and language stimulation, and manage behavior and discipline in a positive, developmentally appropriate manner. The PALS program consists of two separate curricula: the PALS I Infant curriculum and the PALS II Toddler curriculum. Family coaches deliver the intervention by visiting families on a weekly basis over the course of three months. Each session includes a discussion of the parent's practice during the preceding week; introduction of the new topic; viewing of educational videos demonstrating the skill; guided, videotaped practice using the skill with her own child; review of the videotaped practice; and planning for practice during the upcoming week. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

The Coping Bear: Group and Individual Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Children with Anxiety Disorders and their Parents

Investigators: Katharina Manassis, MD & Sandra L. Mendlowitz, PhD

The Coping Bear is an intervention with parental involvement for children with: social phobia, depression, simple phobia, panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and/or separation anxiety disorder. The treatment program utilizes a group process problem-solving approach with the overall goals of: 1) teaching children to recognize their emotional distress, and to learn and practice new coping skills; and 2) facilitating the generalization of these coping skills by involving parents in the treatment process. The program can be implemented in both individual and group settings and includes systematic desensitization techniques, reinforcement principles, approaches to resistant behavior, aids to exposure to anxiety-provoking situations, and relaxation techniques. Two separate randomized clinical trials evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of this program. In the 1999 study, participants were randomly assigned to a child only therapy group (no parental involvement), parent only group (no child involvement), or child and parent group (separate groups of children and parents run concurrently), or a wait list control condition. Less anxiety and depression were reported post-treatment by all children. Children who were treated with their parents used more active coping strategies than children in the other treatment groups. In the 2002 study, participants were randomly assigned to either separate individual therapy sessions for child and for parent, or concurrent child-only and parent-only groups. Assessments pre- and post-treatment showed that regardless of treatment setting, children and mothers reported decreased anxiety and improved global functioning post treatment. In addition, children with high social anxiety had more improvement in an individual treatment setting than in a group setting. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

The Coping Course for Juvenile Corrections

Investigators: Paul Rohde, PhD, Jenel Jorgensen, MA, John Seeley, PhD, David Mace, ED

THE COPING COURSE utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy to treat incarcerated youth in closed-custody juvenile facilities. The aims of this intervention are: improving behavior within the facility; reducing negative emotions, including depression, anger, frustration, boredom, sadness, and fear; and enhancing general coping and problem solving skills. THE COPING COURSE consists of 16 group treatment sessions occurring twice a week over 8 weeks. The program uses handouts, structured learning tasks, short quizzes, and homework assignments to teach the following skills in a group treatment setting: social skills, relaxation techniques, identifying and increasing fun activities, changing negative thinking, communication and problem-solving skills, and developing a Life Plan and long term goals. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Trauma Focused Coping: Group Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after Single-Incident Trauma

Investigators: John S. March, MD, MPH & Lisa Amaya-Jackson, MD, MPH

Trauma Focused Coping (TFC) is a group cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program for children and adolescents with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and collateral symptoms of depression, anxiety, anger, and external locus of control originating from single-incident trauma. Based on social learning theory, TFC uses a group skills-oriented cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach and involves 14 weekly sessions in which the first few sessions lay the groundwork for the child to think differently about PTSD. The treatment model is one of graded exposure, and begins with psychoeducation and cognitive therapy before moving to more exposure-based activities. TFC has two overall goals: 1) to help the child organize an accurate trauma narrative that places the trauma in the past and is without cognitive distortions, and 2) to promote behavior consistent with the view that the world is no longer dangerous when threat is truly absent. Each child completes a narrative Chapter Book that tells his or her story, including an accurate telling of the trauma history, its effects on the child's life, and successes in overcoming that history so that the child can live as comfortably as possible in the present. Session components include: psychoeducation, cognitive therapy, exposure-based behavior therapy, generalization training, and relapse prevention. TFC also offers developmentally appropriate treatment adaptations for elementary school-age children and junior high school adolescents including therapeutic modalities such as storybooks, narrative exposure, cognitive games, and peer modeling. Click here to view more detailed information on this program.

Treatment Process: A Problem at Three Levels, 1988

Investigators: Gerald R. Patterson and Patricia Chamberlain

This study investigates the process of therapeutic intervention in the treatment of oppositional children and their parents. As part of an ongoing program of empirical investigation of treatment process variables, Patterson and Chamberlain employ nonreactive observational measures of behavior to assess the effects of family management training on the behavior of extremely antisocial, preadolescent children. This dataset is comprised of two separate raw data files generated from this research. The first includes therapist-client verbal interaction codes for 73 families participating in the Parent Training treatment program conducted at the Oregon Social Learning Center (OSLC). Three phases of treatment were videotaped. Verbal interactions were coded with the Therapy Process Coding System developed at OSLC. The second dataset includes demographic data gathered during the treatment intake interview.