"Meds reduce the level of anxiety, we do know that. Jerome Taylor, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania and the lead author on the study, but they have some ideas. Researchers don't know why the combined treatments could do what only one failed, says Dr. "I think what a lot of my colleagues do is say, 'We can try the cognitive behavior therapy or the sertraline or we can try this combination approach.' " "What this study tells me is that it's probably better to lay out a recommendation and why you're making this recommendation based on the evidence," he says. With this new evidence, Strawn says that clinicians should consider offering an unequivocal recommendation for treatment when they see a patient with severe anxiety.
If they only got one, they were no more likely to be than children who only got the placebo," says Lebowitz. "If they got both, they had a good chance of getting better. So if I have generalized anxiety disorder, I have an increased risk of developing social anxiety or a panic disorder," he says.įor many of the study participants with extreme anxiety, the feelings could be reduced but still persisted at a debilitating level even with a specialized psychotherapy called cognitive behavior therapy or when on the antidepressant. "They are at higher risk of developing depressive disorders or secondary anxiety disorders. Jeffrey Strawn, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center who did not work on the study. That's because without treatment, childhood anxiety can stretch into adulthood, says Dr. It's important to address these issues early. The dread of what is coming can literally shake them and make them sweat and vomit. To them, the sources of their anxiety are often not possibilities of what might be, but feeling certain that something bad will happen. The thought of what their peers are saying about them or thinking about them can anchor those with a social anxiety at home when they need to be at school. Fear stops them from talking to another person or, for those with separation anxiety, drives them to avoid being alone at any cost. Shots - Health News YouTube Stars Stress Out, Just Like The Rest Of UsĪccording to the study, the ones who didn't do so well on only one treatment were the ones with the most severe symptoms. "But that's only true for some anxious children and not for others." "Earlier research suggested and medication were effective approaches with an overall similar level of efficacy," says Eli Lebowitz, a psychiatrist at Yale University and an author of the study. Pfizer, which manufactures Zoloft, donated both the sertraline and the placebo pills to the study.
Best anxiety medication trial#
The trial compared therapy, an anti-depressant called sertraline (brand name Zoloft ), the combination of both, and a placebo. The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology on Monday, analyzed data from a large clinical trial of 488 people ages 7 to 17 diagnosed with anxiety disorders.
For them, a study suggests that using both treatments at once can help. For many, either drugs or therapy is enough, but some young people can't find respite from anxious thoughts. Teens and children struggling with anxiety are often prescribed medication or therapy to treat their symptoms. Anxiety medication might make therapy easier for teens who are suffering from severe symptoms.