A new study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, offers hopeful results for young children struggling with anxiety by confirming that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) positively affects certain regions of the brain, responsible for aspects of anxiety disorders.
First, researchers found a group of children who had symptoms of anxiety, as well as brain scans that confirmed over-activation in a number of brain regions associated with anxiety, including the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and amygdala.
Next, researchers offered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for 12 weeks to one group of anxious kids, nothing for another group of anxious kids, and also analyzed scans from kids without evidence of an anxiety disorder.
The results? Fantastic, for the most part.
After 12 weeks, the kids who received CBT reported symptom relief, as well as significant corresponding improvements in the frontal and parietal regions of the brain, as measured by an fMRI exam.
In fact, the improvements were so great that their brain scans in those areas looked like those of non-anxious kids.
Plus, they felt better… awesome news!
However, other regions of the brain (particularly those in the right amygdala) remained overactive and resistant to the CBT treatment.
So what to make of it?
The researchers noted that perhaps CBT for kids is only effective in treating particular regions of the brain, or that the kids just needed more than 12 weeks for the CBT to really work on regions in the amygdala.
We don’t know.
Thus, the results can’t make an exhaustive claim re: CBT for kids with anxiety, but they certainly show that CBT can be an effective tool — as measured by both symptoms and brain scans.
Which is great news.
This study provide evidence—in a large group of unmedicated youth with anxiety disorders—of altered brain circuitry underlying treatment effects of CBT. The findings could, in time, be used to enhance treatment outcomes by targeting brain circuits linked to clinical improvement. This is particularly important for the subset of children who did not significantly improve after short-term CBT.
“The next step for this research is to understand which children are most likely to respond. Are there factors we can assess before treatment begins to make the most informed decisions about who should get which treatment and when? Answering these questions would further translate our research findings into clinical practice,” said [Dr. Melissa] Brotman [Chief of the Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit in the NIMH Intramural Research Program.]’
Now…
The Christian church is coming around (slowly and in fits and starts) to some kind of peace with the concept of adults going to therapy for anxiety.
However, we have a long ways to go when it comes to kids with anxiety.
In fact, many Christian parents who’d go to therapy for themselves might worry about their child in therapy and think the fearful thought, “What if a secular therapist messes up my kid or puts ideas into their heads” etc.,
Fear, rather than a desire for healing, reigns supreme. I get that. I understand – it’s a primal concern. We’re all fiercely protective of our children. Me, too.
But if there were ever a time to treat anxiety, it’s childhood.
In fact, according to research, most adult anxiety disorders can be linked to untreated childhood anxiety.
In other words, most adult anxiety disorders don’t appear out of thin air. Their origins begin in childhood.
And untreated childhood anxiety has been linked to an increase in school dropout, adolescent and adult crime, and suicide, in addition to mental health conditions that are associated with a plethora of diseases, relationship issues etc.,
Additionally, if your child has an anxiety disorder, it’s more likely to become worse than better as they age.
In any area of life, it’s best to treat something at the beginning, right?
We shouldn’t wait to treat until cancer spreads to distant organs. We shouldn’t wait until a marriage’s impending collapse to start dealing with communication issues. The sooner you pay off a credit card, the better.
Whatever the realm, if you see a problem, it’s better to try to address it sooner rather than later.
Think about your own life. When did you start feeling that your anxiety was excessive? You probably didn’t recognize it as excessive as a kid because kids don’t understand proportion. But, thinking back, doesn’t it seem we instinctively know this thing has been dogging us in a different way from others since we were born?
So if your child is showing signs of an anxiety disorder, talk to a medical professional.
They’ll be able to help distinguish between normal childhood anxieties (separation anxieties etc) and actual disorders (which can be a very tricky thing, because kids have lots of normal anxieties that aren’t signs of disorders).
Here are a few resources.
Cleveland Clinic: Causes, symptoms, and treatments of anxiety in children.
WebMD: “Symptoms to look for.”
What does childhood anxiety look like?
How to spot signs of anxiety in children.
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: “When your child’s anxiety is worth worrying about — and how to help.”
[Photo: Pexels, free stock photography]
