Sections
Goals of Treatment | Therapeutic Alliance With Patients and Families | Formulation of the Treatment Plan | Treatment Modalities | Conclusion | References
Excerpt
Children with anxiety disorders show a wide range of symptoms
ranging from mild worries to overwhelming distress. The goal of
treatment should never be the complete elimination of the subjective
symptoms of anxiety in the child. The ability to experience anxiety
under appropriate circumstances is adaptive and protective. Thus,
appropriate goals for treatment are 1) to diminish the child's
anxiety and its associated symptoms to the point that they no longer
interfere with the child's functioning in social and academic spheres,
the family's functioning, or normal development; 2) to
improve the child's and the family's ability to
identify and manage unproductive harmful worrying; and 3) to maximize the
child's ability to experience anxiety without having to express
the anxiety in dysfunctional ways.