Chapter 19 - Working with parents in the treatment of child and adolescent anxiety

Abstract

A rich literature on parents' role in the etiology of child and adolescent anxiety underscores the theoretical importance of involving parents in treatment of their child or adolescent's anxiety disorder (Vasey et al., 2014). Yet, the clinical treatment literature focused on testing different parent involvement approaches is relatively nascent (beginning in the 1990s). The literature is characterized by considerable methodological variations, particularly with respect to the parent variables targeted across treatments and whether they were assessed and/or evaluated for change. This has made it difficult to draw valid inferences about the effects of working with parents in their child's anxiety treatment. Given the current state of the literature, researchers have broadly concluded that parent-involvement approaches are efficacious but confer little if any clinically enhanced effects over individual child treatment approaches. In this chapter, we discuss the evolving nature of the clinical research on parent involvement in child and adolescent anxiety treatment. This discussion sheds light not only on the major strengths and limitations of the research but also on concrete recommendations for clinical practice. We also discuss ideas and directions to extend and strengthen the extant evidence base.