Editorial: Parent-Based Treatment for Childhood Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are among the most common psychiatric illnesses in childhood and adolescence.¹ The mainstays of treatment for childhood anxiety disorders are cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and medications.² Both of these treatments focus primarily on the child. However, parents and families often play a major role in the reinforcement of anxiety disorders through accommodations that may adversely affect the child's development.³ Examples of such accommodations include keeping a child with separation anxiety disorder home from school, permitting a child with social anxiety disorder to avoid social events, or providing undue reassurance for a child with generalized anxiety disorder. The article by Lebowitz et al.⁴ in this issue of the Journal evaluates a parent-focused treatment for childhood anxiety disorders and establishes its efficacy as equivalent to that of CBT.