Long-term effectiveness of CBT for anxiety disorders in an adult outpatient clinic sample: a follow-up study.

The short-term efficacy and effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for treating anxiety disorders in adults has been well established by a multitude of clinical studies and well-controlled randomized trials. However, though the long-term efficacy of CBT as a treatment modality is fairly well established, the degree of its long-term effectiveness has yet to be fully evaluated. Thus, the present study sought to assess both the immediate and long-term effectiveness of individually-administered CBT for the treatment of anxiety disorders in an outpatient psychological clinic. Individuals with a primary diagnosis of Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder who had received 3 or more sessions of CBT were assessed for symptom severity and improvement prior to initiating treatment, at posttreatment, and at one-year follow-up. Symptom severity and improvement ratings were used to categorize patients as "responders" or "remitters" at posttreatment, and "maintained responders" or "maintained remitters" at follow-up. Findings demonstrated that posttreatment success as responder and remitter was significantly maintained at one-year follow-up. Additionally, pre- and posttreatment severity and posttreatment improvement scores were also predictive of maintenance. Furthermore, effect sizes were used to compare the effectiveness of CBT in the present clinical sample to research treatment outcomes demonstrated by previous efficacy studies.

Maternal control behavior and locus of control: examining mechanisms in the relation between maternal anxiety disorders and anxiety symptomatology in children.

This study tested components of a proposed model of child anxiety and examined the mediational roles of (1) maternal control behavior, (2) maternal external locus of control, and (3) child external locus of control in the association between maternal and child anxiety. Thirty-eight clinically anxious mothers and 37 nonanxious mothers participated along with one of their children aged 6 to 14 (52.0% female; 78.7% Caucasian). Path analysis indicated that the overall model fit the data very well. Analyses also indicated that child external locus of control mediated the associations between (1) maternal and child anxiety and (2) maternal control behavior and child anxiety. Maternal anxiety was not related to maternal control behavior and maternal external locus of control was not associated with child anxiety. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical models (e.g., Chorpita and Barlow 1998) regarding the transmission of maternal anxiety to their children and the specific roles of maternal behavior and child locus of control.