A study of children with anxiety disorders has shown that the combination of the medication Zoloft along with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was the most effective in treating their condition. Either of these treatments alone was less effective than the treatments in combination.
The multi-institution, government-funded study examined 488 children aged 7 to 17 years over the course of 12 weeks. All of the children in the study were diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, or social phobia. During that time, some were on a placebo, some underwent Cognitive Behavioral Therapy alone, some just took Zoloft, and the rest had a combination of Zoloft and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The highest percentage of children in the combination group saw the most improvement during the course of the study.
This research is especially important for clinicians to emphasize the importance of treating both the chemical imbalance in the brain and the behavioral difficulties that cause these debilitating disorders. Many children who suffer from these disorders do so without treatment, and the ones who do seek treatment often only receive one type of intervention. This study reveals that both medication and therapy in combination is the strongest and most effective approach to treatment for these children.
