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Effectiveness of complementary and self-help treatments for anxiety in children and adolescents

Ruth Parslow, Amy J Morgan, Nicholas B Allen, Anthony F Jorm, Colin P O’Donnell and Rosemary Purcell
Med J Aust 2008; 188 (6): 355-359. || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2008.tb01654.x
Published online: 17 March 2008

In Australia, relatively low priority has been given to assessing the prevalence of anxiety disorders in children and adolescents or to identifying efficacious interventions for such mental health problems in these age groups. However, studies from other countries have assessed anxiety disorders as among the most common psychiatric illnesses in these age groups, estimated to affect between 12% and 20% of young people.1,2 Common to all anxiety disorders is a state of fear, worry, or dread that greatly impairs the child’s ability to function normally and is disproportionate to the circumstances at hand. Some disorders, such as school phobia and separation anxiety, are commonly experienced over a relatively short period in childhood, cause significant subjective distress for the child, and can contribute to persistent functional impairment through difficulties at school, with peers or at home. Other disorders, including social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder, which develop in childhood or more typically adolescence, can result in serious negative consequences for the child’s or adolescent’s development and self-esteem and cause severe and persistent disability.3

A systematic review of controlled trials concluded that cognitive behaviour therapy appears to be effective as an intervention for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents, although just over half of patients will improve with this treatment.4 Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are recognised as an efficacious treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder in this age group.5 It has been suggested that the increased risk of suicidal behaviour linked to depressed children’s and adolescents’ use of SSRIs may not apply in treating those with mental disorders other than depression.6 Little is known about the efficacy of other pharmacological interventions for anxiety disorders in this age group.1

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and self-help treatments that claim to relieve anxiety symptoms are more readily available to the individual, either by purchase in supermarkets, health food stores, and on the Internet, or by undertaking particular activities. Such treatments may be used by children and adolescents or given by their parents. There are few CAM and self-help treatments for anxiety in adults with evidence of efficacy,7 and only minimal information is available publicly on the efficacy of such alternative treatments in reducing anxiety in children and adolescents.

Another reason for examining these treatments is that they are commonly used with children and adolescents. For example, a United States survey of children and adolescents attending an outpatient psychiatry clinic showed that 11% were using herbal medicines.8 This use has implications for compliance with conventional treatments, as well as for potential drug interactions and adverse events.

This review summarises the evidence on CAM and self-help interventions as effective treatments for children and adolescents with anxiety disorders or situationally specific symptoms of anxiety, including test anxiety, anxiety relating to medical treatments, and specific children’s fears (eg, fear of the dark). CAMs are treatments that are usually not supported in the dominant medical systems in Western countries, while self-help treatments are those which the individual is able to use without first seeking advice from a health care professional.

Methods

A literature search was performed of CAM and self-help treatments previously reviewed for anxiety in adults.7 PubMed, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library were searched using the following terms: name of treatment AND (anxiety OR panic OR phobi* OR agoraphobi* OR post traumatic stress OR posttraumatic stress OR acute stress OR obsessive compulsive) AND (adolescen* or youth or young or children or juvenile or pediatric). The list of treatment terms used in the searches is available on request. The literature searches were performed up to February 2006, except for bibliotherapy, which was searched up to June 2006. Studies were included if participants were identified as children or adolescents, or if the mean age of participants was 19 years or younger. Included studies were required to assess interventions for anxiety disorders (formally diagnosed or highly symptomatic samples) or assess interventions for situational anxiety such as test anxiety, preoperative anxiety and specific children’s fears. Studies were excluded if participants were healthy volunteers or had anxiety secondary to other problems (eg, learning disabilities, juvenile delinquents, and psychiatric inpatients).

The literature on each treatment was independently evaluated by a pair of reviewers according to the Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine levels of evidence (see Box 1), who then reached a consensus. The level of evidence refers to the certainty with which conclusions can be drawn, rather than whether the evidence is supportive of a particular treatment. As such, an intervention that has been shown in a well designed study to be ineffective would be described as having a high level of evidence.

Results

A large number of treatments either had no evidence or had evidence that failed to meet the inclusion criteria (Box 2). Only Level 4 or 5 evidence was available for some treatments (Box 3). Treatments with evidence at Level 3 or higher are reviewed below.

Bibliotherapy

Description: Bibliotherapy involves the use of books to reduce anxiety. Books include both stories read to the child and instruction manuals for adults on how to reduce the child’s anxiety.

Rationale: Bibliotherapy relies on standard anxiety-reduction principles, such as exposure to anxiety-provoking situations, modelling of desired behaviour, and teaching of anxiety-coping strategies, but uses a book rather than a therapist.

Anxiety disorders or highly symptomatic samples

Review of effectiveness: There has been one randomised controlled trial (RCT) of bibliotherapy for anxiety disorders.17 This involved children aged 6–12 years with a variety of disorders, who were randomly assigned to receive either standard group cognitive behaviour therapy, a bibliotherapy version of the same therapy which instructed parents in how to administer the treatment, or a wait-list control. The bibliotherapy for parents produced significant improvement in clinically assessed anxiety compared with wait-list control, but smaller effects than for standard group therapy. Gains were maintained at a 24-week follow-up.

Level of evidence: 1b.

Situational-specific anxiety

Review of effectiveness: One RCT has been carried out with primary school children with high school anxiety.18 Children were randomly assigned either to sessions where they were read stories based on feelings and attitudes toward school or they were read control stories not about school. The children receiving bibliotherapy were found to have significantly higher school anxiety after therapy as indicated by a self-report questionnaire. However, there were no clinician or teacher assessments and intention-to-treat analysis was not conducted. A series of small trials has been reported on bibliotherapy for fear of the dark,19 but no details of results are given, so the findings are impossible to evaluate.

Level of evidence: 2b.

Conclusion: Bibliotherapy instructing parents in how to treat anxiety disorders using cognitive behaviour therapy has a small benefit, but much less than therapist-delivered treatment.

Distraction techniques

Description: Distraction involves introducing an external stimulus (eg, audio or visual material), or using an internal technique (eg, thinking pleasant thoughts) to both compete and be incompatible with the anxiety response.

Rationale: The psychological and physiological mechanisms that regulate distraction are not clearly understood; however, distraction is hypothesised to divert attention away from the sensations and reactions to a noxious stimulus.

Situational-specific anxiety

Review of effectiveness: There have been three RCTs of distraction for managing anxiety during medical and dental procedures. In the first, children (aged 5–12 years) undergoing minor day surgery were randomly assigned to be accompanied to the pre-operative room by a clown doctor and a parent (n = 20) or parent only (n = 20).22 The group exposed to the clown doctor reported lower anxiety during the induction of anaesthesia, and no change in anxiety between the waiting room (baseline) and preoperative room, which significantly increased for the control group. In the second trial,23 89 children (aged 3–8 years) undergoing a genital examination as part of a larger study of normal hymenal anatomy were randomly assigned to one of three distraction techniques: passive play (eg, being read to; n = 26), active play (singing, blowing bubbles; n = 28) and watching a movie via video eyeglasses, with audio delivered through an earpiece (n = 35). The subjects’ behavioural distress was rated by a researcher not blind to the condition. The results indicated no differences between groups for verbal distress or requests for emotional support; however, physical distress (eg, body movements in reaction to the examination) were significantly less frequent for children in the active play and video eyeglasses conditions. In the final RCT,24 45 children (aged 4–6 years) who had undergone restorative dentistry (including local anaesthesia) in the previous weeks were randomly assigned on their second visit to receive upbeat music, relaxing music, or no music. At the conclusion of the session, there were no significant group differences on self-reported anxiety and pain, or heart rate.

Level of evidence: 1b.

Conclusion: There is currently no consistent evidence that distraction is an effective treatment for reducing immediate situational anxiety in children. However, the trials to date have used small samples and often failed to include appropriate control conditions.

Massage

Description: Massage involves the external manipulation of soft tissue for therapeutic purposes.

Rationale: Massage is a traditional therapy, but there is research demonstrating that it can decrease the stress hormone cortisol.26

Anxiety disorders or highly symptomatic samples

Review of effectiveness: There has been one RCT of massage therapy.27 Sixty children (mean age, 7.5 years) who were identified as manifesting classroom behaviour problems in the weeks following Hurricane Andrew, and who subsequently reported severe post-traumatic stress symptoms, were assigned to receive 30-minute massages or to watch relaxing videos for 30 minutes twice a week for a month. Massage was superior to the control condition for reducing self-reported state anxiety after the first and last sessions, and these benefits were sustained over the 4 weeks of the trial. No follow-up assessments were conducted.

Level of evidence: 1b.

Discussion

Similar to findings of a review of CAM and self-help treatments for depression in children and adolescents,38 there are few studies of adequate quality that have examined CAM and self-help treatments that assist these age groups in dealing with situational anxiety or anxiety disorders. Situational-specific anxiety may be reduced by providing massage, relaxation training or melatonin supplements, and bibliotherapy instructing parents in how to deal with children’s anxiety disorders may assist in reducing anxiety. However, there have been case reports of melatonin lowering seizure threshold. There is some weak evidence to suggest that other treatments may be effective; for example, autogenic training for situational anxiety and mineral–vitamin supplements for anxiety disorders, but without controlled trials, recommendations concerning these treatments cannot be made.

A recent Australian study found that use of CAMs for a range of health conditions experienced by children is relatively common.39 The lack of good quality research on this topic will not deter families and individuals using CAM and self-help treatments in attempts to alleviate health problems, including symptoms of anxiety, but will mean that decisions concerning use of these types of treatments are likely to be poorly informed and inaccurate. The potential for such self-selected treatments to interact with more orthodox treatments prescribed by medical practitioners is also an issue of concern. Clinicians’ regular enquiries concerning their patients’ use of CAM and self-help treatments, including discussions concerning such treatments that could be potentially harmful, may help reduce this risk. However, the benefits of such discussions depend on their being informed by accurate information drawn from soundly conducted trials concerning the efficacy of such treatments. The information on the benefits of CAM and self-help treatments for mental health problems that is most easily accessed at present through the Internet is commonly not of such quality.40

2 Treatments that did not have relevant evidence

Medicines and homoeopathic remedies

5-Hydroxy-l-tryptophan; American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius); ashwagandha (Withania somnifera); astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus); Bach flower remedies (including Rescue Remedy); Berocca; biotin; black cohosh (Actaea racemosa and Cimicifuga racemosa); borage (Borago officinalis); brahmi (Bacopa monniera); California poppy (Eschscholtzia californica); catnip (Nepeta cataria); cat’s claw (Uncaria tomentosa); chamomile (Anthemis nobilis); chaste tree berry (Vitex agnus castus); Chinese medicinal mushrooms (reishi or Lingzhi) (Ganoderma lucidum); choline; chromium; coenzyme Q10; combined preparations (Empowerplus [Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd], euphytose, Mindsoothe Jr [Native Remedies], Sedariston, Suanzaorentang, Worry Free), cowslip (Primula veris); damiana (Turnera diffusa); dandelion (Taraxacum officinale); flax seeds (linseed) (Linum usitatissimum); γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA); ginger (Zingiber officinale); Ginkgo biloba; ginseng (Panax ginseng); gotu kola (Centella asiatica); glutamine; hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata); homoeopathy; hops (Humulus lupulus); hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis); inositol; kava (Piper methysticum); lecithin; lemon balm (Melissa officinalis); lemongrass leaves (Cymbopogon citratus); licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra); magnesium; milk thistle (Silybum marianum); mistletoe (Viscum album); motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca); nettles (Urtica dioica); oats (Avena sativa); omega-3 fatty acids; para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA); passionflower (Passiflora incarnata); peppermint (Mentha piperita); phenylalanine; potassium; rehmannia (Rehmannia glutinosa); S-adenosylmethionine (SAM-e); schisandra (Schisandra chinensis); selenium; Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus); skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora); spirulina (Arthrospira platensis); St Ignatius bean (Ignatia amara); St John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum); taurine; tension tamer; tissue salts; tyrosine; valerian (Valeriana officinalis); vervain (Verbena officinalis); vitamins B and C; wild yam (Dioscorea villosa); wood betony (Stachys officinalis; Betonica officinalis); yeast; zinc; ziziphus (Ziziphus spinosa).

Physical treatments

Acupuncture; aromatherapy; hydrotherapy.

Psychological and lifestyle treatments

Adequate sleep; exercise; meditation; pleasant activities; prayer; tai chi; yoga.

Dietary and other changes

Alcohol avoidance; alcohol for relaxation; avoiding certain foods (barley, rye, wheat, sugar, dairy foods); caffeine avoidance; carbohydrate-rich protein-poor diet; ketogenic diet; nicotine avoidance.

  • Ruth Parslow1
  • Amy J Morgan2
  • Nicholas B Allen3,2
  • Anthony F Jorm2
  • Colin P O’Donnell2
  • Rosemary Purcell2

  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 2 ORYGEN Research Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.
  • 3 Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: rparslow@unimelb.edu.au

Acknowledgements: 

This work was supported by NHMRC Program Grant 179805 and publication costs were sponsored by beyondblue: the national depression initiative.

Competing interests:

None identified.

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