Editorial: Broadening the Assessment and Intervention Paradigms for Anxious Children

Anxiety is a normal and even protective part of everyday life. At the same time, anxiety disorders (AD) are among the most common disorders of childhood and adolescence, with a point prevalence of approximately 7%¹ and a childhood/adolescent lifetime prevalence approaching 25% to 30%.^2,3 Ideally, parents and professionals would be able to identify children with early or modest forms of AD, and then provide interventions that treat as well as prevent the disorders' progression to more serious forms (secondary prevention). Early identification of AD is particularly challenging because some anxiety is normal and, as an internalizing disorder, the early manifestations of AD often go unseen by those around the child. Even if we were able to identify these at-risk children, providing effective evidence-based care is problematic. Although cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and medications have evidence-based support, the evidence is at times modest,⁴ and there are not enough mental health professionals to meet the clinical need.