Episode Details
Back to Episodes85. Anxiety in Kids: When Is Therapy Enough—and When Should You Add an SSRI? (And why Remission Matters)
Description
Episode 85 of ADHD, Anxiety & More is for pediatric clinicians who want to know when to prescribe medication for children and teens with anxiety.
In this episode, you will learn about:
- Which treatment (therapy, medication, or combination of both) offers the highest response for child and teen anxiety
- Why it is important to treat anxiety to remission
- The 3 things to do when referring to CBT
She explains why remission matters, citing follow-up findings that remission is associated with better long-term outcomes including lower suicidal behavior and substance use problems.
She also advises clinicians to ensure therapy is true CBT, track symptoms over time with tools like the SCARED, and revisit treatment within 4–6 week intervals if improvement is not robust.
00:00 Anxiety Treatment Choices
03:01 CBT vs SSRI vs Both
03:35 Evidence From CAMS
04:26 Why Remission Matters
07:43 Option One CBT Done Right
12:20 Option Two SSRI When Therapy Is Hard
14:07 Option Three Combination Gold Standard
15:49 Take Home Points and Wrap Up
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