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Cited by 234Autism Spectrum Disorder ResearchAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesChild and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety in Children With High-Functioning Autism: A Meta-analysis

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Sukhodolsky, Denis G., Bloch, Michael H., Panza, Kaitlyn E., Reichow, Brian·2013·Pediatrics
DOI 10.1542/peds.2013-1193PMC PMC3813396
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Anxiety is a common and impairing problem in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is emerging evidence that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) could reduce anxiety in children with high-functioning ASD. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review the evidence of using CBT to treat anxiety in children and adolescents with ASD. Methods for this review were registered with PROSPERO (CRD42012002722). METHODS: We included randomized controlled trials published in English in peer-reviewed journals comparing CBT with another treatment, no treatment control, or waitlist control. Two authors independently screened 396 records obtained from database searches and hand searched relevant journals. Two authors independently extracted and reconciled all data used in analyses from study reports. RESULTS: Eight studies involving 469 participants (252 treatment, 217 comparison) met our inclusion criteria and were included in meta-analyses. Overall effect sizes for clinician- and parent-rated outcome measures of anxiety across all studies were d = 1.19 and d = 1.21, respectively. Five studies that included child self-report yielded an average d = 0.68 across self-reported anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: Parent ratings and clinician ratings of anxiety are sensitive to detecting treatment change with CBT for anxiety relative to waitlist and treatment-as-usual control conditions in children with high-functioning ASD. Clinical studies are needed to evaluate CBT for anxiety against attention control conditions in samples of children with ASD that are well characterized with regard to ASD diagnosis and co-occurring anxiety symptoms.

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  • Adapted CBT interventions, group and individual, have been shown to be clinically effective for ameliorating anxiety in children and young people and adults.

    “Adapted CBT interventions, group and individual, have been shown to be clinically effective for ameliorating anxiety in children and young people and adults. 35,36”

    From Guided self-help for depression in autistic adults: The ADEPT feasibility RCT (2019) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Method table (page not available) includes both group and individual CBT interventions, and the Conclusions report significant reductions in anxiety relative to waitlist or treatment-as-usual controls. The review covers children and adolescents with ASD, not adults, so it does not support the adult portion of the claim. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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  • Animal models of social behavior, including the mice used here, do not fully recapitulate the complexity and natural process in which humans interact, or capture the wide spectrum of behavioral phenotypes that are affected by ASD.

    “animal models of social behavior, including the mice used here, do not fully recapitulate the complexity and natural process in which humans interact, or capture the wide spectrum of behavioral phenotypes that are affected by ASD 14,48,49.”

    From Reduced sociability and social agency encoding in adult Shank3-mutant mice are restored through gene re-expression in real time (2021) · cites this paper as [48]

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1 of the 87 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 8

  1. [19]McDougle CJ, Stigler KA, Erickson CA, Posey DJ. Atypical antipsychotics in children and adolescents with autistic and other pervasive developmental disorders. J Clin Psychiatry. 2008;69(suppl 4):15–20 [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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Authors
Sukhodolsky, D. G., Bloch, M. H., Panza, K. E., & Reichow, B.
Affiliations
Yale University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Pediatrics
Publisher
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
Published
2013-10-28
Volume
132
Issue
5
Pages
e1341-e1350
ISSN
  • 0031-4005 (ISSN-L)
  • 1098-4275
DOI
10.1542/peds.2013-1193
PMC
PMC3813396
OpenAlex
W2110855627
Cited by
234
References
87
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 31 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 1
FWCI
6.56
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PEDIATRICS (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute of Mental Health (K01MH079130, K23MH091240, R25MH077823)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD083881)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
Keywords
cognitive behavioral therapy, anxiety, high-functioning autism, autism spectrum disorder, children, adolescents, treatment efficacy, child self-report, waitlist control
MeSH terms
Anxiety, Autistic Disorder, Child, Humans, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic

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