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NREPP SAMHSA'S National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices
IMPORTANT LEGACY NOTICE: Legacy Programs have not been reviewed by the current National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP). The programs in this database were reviewed only under the previous National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs system. This section is intended to be used for historical reference only. If you would like more information about a program listed here, please contact the program developer directly. The program developer of each Legacy Program listed here agreed to post program information on this site.

Exposure-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Phobic and Anxiety Disorders in Youth

Brief Program Description

The Exposure-Based CBT intervention is designed to help lessen anxiety disorders in youth. The intervention focuses on the use of parent-child contingency management and contracting procedures to help facilitate child exposure to increasingly anxiety-provoking situations, followed by the use of child cognitive self-control training. Children are taught to self-observe, self-talk, self-evaluate, and self-reward. Parents are encouraged to allow their children to use the self-control procedures in the gradual exposure tasks while contingency management and contracting are faded out.

Exposure-Based CBT consists of 12 50-minute weekly group sessions with the child, and an additional 20-minute meeting with children, parents, and therapists at the beginning and end of each session. In both the child and parent sessions, a group format is used to emphasize natural group processes, including peer modeling, feedback, support, reinforcement, and social comparison. All children are gradually exposed to increasingly anxiety-provoking objects or situations, and all children and parents receive training in using behavioral and cognitive procedures. The intervention is designed for youths aged 6 through 16 who are suffering from phobic and anxiety disorders, and is suitable for implementation in a childhood anxiety disorders clinic. Required resources include the Exposure-Based CBT Intervention manual.

The program primarily has been tested with Hispanic, Latino, and European American youths, aged 6 through 16 years, suffering from phobic and anxiety disorders and living in the Miami, FL, region. Children receiving the exposure-based CBT intervention showed substantial improvement on all the main outcome measures, and these gains were maintained at 3-, 6-, and 12-month followup. Children in the wait-list control condition did not show improvements from the prewait to the postwait assessment point.

Contact Information

For indepth information on this program, please use the contact listed below.

Program Developer

Wendy K. Silverman, Ph.D., ABPP
Department of Psychology
Florida International University
University Park
Miami, FL 33199
Phone: (305) 348-2064
Email: silverw@flu.edu
Website: www.fiu.edu/~capp

In December 2004, this program was designated as a Promising Program under SAMHSA's previous National Registry of Effective Prevention Programs system.