Carrie M. Borchardt

Anxiety Disorders in Children and Adolescents: A Review of the Past 10 Years

OBJECTIVE To critically review the research on anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, focusing on new developments in the past 10 years. METHOD This review includes recent articles which contribute to the conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of childhood anxiety disorders. RESULTS Information was organized into a developmental framework. Anxiety disorders research has shown steady progress. CONCLUSIONS More research is needed, particularly in the areas of neurobiological basis of anxiety disorders, longitudinal studies, and treatment.

Anxiety Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence: A Critical Review

The 1980s were a decade of advancement in the knowledge of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents; this sets the stage for research achievements in the 1990s. This review examines the anxiety disorders of childhood and adolescence (separation anxiety disorder, overanxious disorder, and avoidant disorder), including prevalence rates, demographic profiles, comparisons of clinical presentations in different developmental age groups, and comorbidity patterns. Fears and simple phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder in children and adolescents are also evaluated. The controversy of whether panic attacks occur in prepubertal children is addressed. A brief review of behavioral and pharmacological treatment studies is included. Future directions for research are suggested.

Imipramine Plus Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in the Treatment of School Refusal

OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy of 8 weeks of imipramine versus placebo in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of school-refusing adolescents with comorbid anxiety and major depressive disorders. METHOD This was a randomized, double-blind trial with 63 subjects entering the study and 47 completing. Outcome measures were weekly school attendance rates based on percentage of hours attended and anxiety and depression rating scales. RESULTS Over the course of treatment, school attendance improved significantly for the imipramine group (z = 4.36, p < .001) but not for the placebo group (z = 1.26, not significant). School attendance of the imipramine group improved at a significantly faster rate than did that of the placebo group (z = 2.39, p = .017). Over the 8 weeks of treatment, there was a significant difference between groups on attendance after controlling for baseline attendance; mean attendance rate in the final week was 70.1% +/- 30.6% for the imipramine group and 27.6% +/- 36.1% for the placebo group (p < .001). Defining remission as 75% school attendance, 54.2% of the imipramine group met this criterion after treatment compared with only 16.7% from the placebo group (p = .007). Anxiety and depression rating scales decreased significantly across treatment for both groups, with depression on the Childrens Depression Rating Scale-Revised decreasing at a significantly faster rate in the imipramine group compared with the placebo group (z = 2.08, p = .037). CONCLUSIONS Imipramine plus CBT is significantly more efficacious than placebo plus CBT in improving school attendance and decreasing symptoms of depression in school-refusing adolescents with comorbid anxiety and depression.

Comparative Studies of Pharmacotherapy for School Refusal

Two studies compared alprazolam and imipramine in the treatment of school refusal. In an open label study (N = 17), two-thirds of the subjects completing a trial in both the alprazolam and imipramine groups showed moderate to marked global improvement in symptoms of anxiety and depression. In the double-blind, placebo-controlled study (N = 24), posttreatment scores calculated as change from baseline on the Anxiety Rating for Children were significantly different (p = .03) among the three treatment groups, with the active medication groups showing the most improvement. Additionally, on all depression rating scales, similar trends were evident with the alprazolam and imipramine groups demonstrating greater improvement than the placebo group. However, analyses of covariance (with pretreatment scores as the covariates) showed no significant differences among the three treatment groups on change in anxiety and depression scales. Thus, additional research is needed to determine whether trends in this study are explained by drug effect or baseline differences on rating scales.

Somatic symptoms in anxious-depressed school refusers

OBJECTIVE To identify the most common physical complaints in a sample of adolescent school refusers with comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders. Whether somatic symptoms are more likely to be associated with high levels of anxiety or high levels of depression was also explored. METHOD Forty-four adolescents in a treatment study were evaluated at baseline with structured psychiatric interviews and measures of anxiety, depression, and somatization. RESULTS The most common somatic complaints were in the autonomic and gastrointestinal categories. In simple regression analyses, anxiety level as measured with the Revised Childrens Manifest Anxiety Scale and depression level as measured with the Beck Depression Inventory each significantly predicted the severity of somatic symptoms. The correlation between percentage of days absent from school and severity of somatic symptoms approached significance (r = .27, p = .074). CONCLUSIONS Knowledge that somatic complaints are commonly an expression of underlying anxiety and depression may facilitate more rapid referral for psychiatric assessment and treatment and thereby help avoid unnecessary medical workups and sequelae from school refusal.

A Review of ECT for Children and Adolescents

Two cases of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in adolescence are presented and the literature on the use of ECT in childhood and adolescence is reviewed. ECT was effective in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder and depression. Inadequate information exists to make a judgment regarding schizophrenia, delirium, and anorexia nervosa. ECT is not effective in autism and chronic organic brain syndromes. Complications cited include organicity and seizures in the period immediately after ECT, anxiety reactions, and disinhibition. Long-term memory deficit or cognitive impairment has not been found, although further research to rule out residual impairment is needed.

Treatment of school refusal: one-year follow-up.

OBJECTIVE To conduct a 1-year follow-up of anxious-depressed school-refusing adolescents who participated in an 8-week study of imipramine versus placebo, each in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy. METHOD Sixty-five percent (41 of 63) of the randomly assigned subjects returned for follow-up evaluation, which consisted of diagnostic interviews, clinician rating scales for anxiety and depression, family functioning measure, and a questionnaire regarding interim treatments and school programs. RESULTS From the adolescent and/or parent perspective, 64.1% met criteria for an anxiety disorder and 33.3% met criteria for a depressive disorder. Remission rates and acquisition rates for specific anxiety and depressive disorders were determined. In the follow-up period, 67.5% received at least one psychotropic medication trial and 77.5% had outpatient therapy. Higher level of somatic complaints on the Anxiety Rating for Children-Revised Physiological subscale at baseline predicted more severe depression on the Childrens Depression Rating Scale-Revised at follow-up (p = .029). CONCLUSIONS In this naturalistic follow-up study, there was high utilization of mental health interventions. In addition, a substantial number of subjects met criteria for anxiety and/or depressive disorders 1 year after treatment. Investigation of duration of acute treatments and evaluation of maintenance treatments for school refusal is needed.

Comorbid disorders in hospitalized bipolar adolescents compared with unipolar depressed adolescents

This study examined comorbid psychiatric disorders in adolescents with bipolar disorder. Hospitalized bipolar adolescents (N=10) were compared to hospitalized adolescents with unipolar depression (N=33), and to adolescents with nonaffective psychiatric disorders (N=11). Results showed conduct disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, psychosis, and having any DSM-III-R psychoactive substance use disorder were all significantly more common in the bipolar group than the unipolar depressed group. Comorbid anxiety disorder was present in 40–45% of the subjects in the unipolar and bipolar groups, but in none of the control group subjects.

Case study : When restraints are the least restrictive alternative for managing aggression

This article discusses the controversial use of restraints with a persistently violent adolescent on a child and adolescent psychiatry unit. The authors present an individualized program that used a series of ambulatory restraints on a long-term basis and prophylactically to contain the aggression of a psychotic girl. Clozapine was used concomitantly to control her psychosis. The prophylactic use of mechanical restraints allowed this teenager to be integrated into the milieu and to receive multiple treatments that the standard protocol precluded. This case underscores the difficulties in managing aggression when youths do not respond to standard protocols and do not conform to our assumptions about the least restrictive alternative. It is concluded that prophylactic mechanical restraint provided the least restrictive alternative to personal freedom for this teenager and had therapeutic benefit.

School refusal: Family constellation and family functioning

Abstract One hundred thirty-four families of children with school refusal were evaluated with the Family Assessment Measure (FAM). The families were divided into seven types based on adults in the home. Single-parent families were overrepresented in this sample compared to the general population. Comparisons were made between the two largest family types: mother-only families, in which the mothers were separated, divorced, or widowed (n = 40), and families with two biological parents (n = 61). Mothers of school refusers in these single-parent families reported significantly more family problems on the FAM compared with mothers living with the childrens fathers. The two areas of family problems identified in the single-parent families were role performance and communication. Children in both groups reported normal family functioning on the FAM. Fathers of school refusers, compared to mothers, reported more symptoms of somatization, depression, and phobic anxiety on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised.