Editorial: Considerations for the Long Game: Attention Bias Modification Training for Anxious Youth

Anxiety disorders often emerge early in life but are frequently overlooked and insufficiently treated, leading to significant academic, social, and psychiatric challenges that can persist throughout adulthood.^1,2 Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are standard treatments for childhood anxiety, these interventions do not always provide adequate relief, underscoring the need for more personalized and effective interventions.² Over the past 2 decades, Attention Bias Modification Training (ABMT) has been studied as a possible intervention for anxiety disorders.³ Interventions with ABMT use a computer-based adaptation of the dot-probe task. Some patients with anxiety disorders have an implicit tendency to focus on threatening or negative stimuli. With ABMT, patients view a pair of images or words-one threatening and one neutral. A dot or other symbol then replaces the neutral stimulus, thereby training the brain to shift attention away from the negative threatening stimulus.