Zoloft and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Works Best for Anxious Kids
A type of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy and the prescription drug Zoloft were shown to be effective treatments for childhood anxiety disorders.
The study looked at 488 children between the ages of 7 and 17 years old. They had been diagnosed with separation anxiety, general anxiety, or social phobia disorders. The study is scientific because not only was the amount of children large enough but it was a random sample and used a placebo group i.e. a group taking probably a sugar pill.
The children who received both the cognitive behavior therapy and Zoloft saw the highest percentage. The next highest results were those receiving cognitive behavioral therapy with those receiving the drug alone doing the worst.
Zoloft is an SSRI antidepressant. Like other SSRI drugs one effect has been suicidal ideation in both children and adults. In this study none of the children attempted suicide and those with the combination of drugs were not as tired, slept better and had less restleness than those not on the combined therapies.
The study was government funded and utilized many hospitals and researchers to undertake this study.
WebMD reported this study telling us that one in 10 children suffers with anxiety and phobias. Zoloft is made by Pfizer who provided both the Zoloft and placebo used for the study.
After 3 months one quarter of the children who had been assigned to the placebo groups had improved; 55% of the group taking Zoloft had improved; Almost 2/3 of the kids just getting cognitive behavioral therapy had improved, but the important number is 81%. 81% of those getting both treatments had improved.
The conclusion of the study was that all of the types of therapy whether it was cognitive behavioral, drugs, or a combination were effective in treating children with these disorders. However, it is clear that the combination is the most effective.
Zoloft works the quickest; cognitive behavioral treatment took 2 to 3 months to kick in.
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Published by jobythebay
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