Dataset Information

Complementary Features of Attention Bias Modification Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:In the treatment of anxiety disorders, attention bias modification therapy (ABMT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may have complementary effects by targeting different aspects of perturbed threat responses and behaviors. ABMT may target rapid, implicit threat reactions, whereas CBT may target slowly deployed threat responses. The authors used amygdala-based connectivity during a threat-attention task and a randomized controlled trial design to evaluate potential complementary features of these treatments in pediatric anxiety disorders. METHOD:Prior to treatment, youths (8-17 years old) with anxiety disorders (N=54), as well as healthy comparison youths (N=51), performed a threat-attention task during functional MRI acquisition. Task-related amygdala-based functional connectivity was assessed. Patients with and without imaging data (N=85) were then randomly assigned to receive CBT paired with either active or placebo ABMT. Clinical response was evaluated, and pretreatment amygdala-based connectivity profiles were compared among patients with varying levels of clinical response. RESULTS:Compared with the CBT plus placebo ABMT group, the CBT plus active ABMT group exhibited less severe anxiety after treatment. The patient and healthy comparison groups differed in amygdala-insula connectivity during the threat-attention task. Patients whose connectivity profiles were most different from those of the healthy comparison group exhibited the poorest response to treatment, particularly those who received CBT plus placebo ABMT. CONCLUSIONS:The study provides evidence of enhanced clinical effects for patients receiving active ABMT. Moreover, ABMT appears to be most effective for patients with abnormal amygdala-insula connectivity. ABMT may target specific threat processes associated with dysfunctional amygdala-insula connectivity that are not targeted by CBT alone. This may explain the observation of enhanced clinical response to CBT plus active ABMT.

SUBMITTER: White LK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6343478 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Complementary Features of Attention Bias Modification Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders.

White Lauren K LK Sequeira Stefanie S Britton Jennifer C JC Brotman Melissa A MA Gold Andrea L AL Berman Erin E Towbin Kenneth K Abend Rany R Fox Nathan A NA Bar-Haim Yair Y Leibenluft Ellen E Pine Daniel S DS

The American journal of psychiatry 20170414 8

<h4>Objective</h4>In the treatment of anxiety disorders, attention bias modification therapy (ABMT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) may have complementary effects by targeting different aspects of perturbed threat responses and behaviors. ABMT may target rapid, implicit threat reactions, whereas CBT may target slowly deployed threat responses. The authors used amygdala-based connectivity during a threat-attention task and a randomized controlled trial design to evaluate potential compleme ...[more]

PMID: 28407726

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Project description:ObjectiveRandomized clinical trials of augmentation strategies for youth with treatment-resistant anxiety disorders do not exist. This report presents findings from an efficacy trial of attention bias modification treatment (ABMT) as an augment for this population compared with attention control training (ACT).MethodSixty-four youths (34 boys; mean age 11.7 years) who continued to meet for anxiety diagnoses after completing cognitive-behavioral therapy were randomized to ABMT or ACT. ABMT and ACT consisted of dot-probe attention training trials presenting angry and neutral faces; probes appeared in the location of neutral faces on 100% of trials in ABMT and 50% of trials in ACT. Independent evaluators, youths, and parents completed ratings of youth anxiety severity, and youths completed measures of attention bias to threat and attention control at pretreatment, post-treatment, and 2-month follow-up.ResultsThe 2 arms showed significant decreases in anxiety severity, with no differences between arms. Specifically, across informants, anxiety severity was significantly decreased at post-treatment and decreases were maintained at follow-up. Primary anxiety disorder diagnostic recovery combined across arms was 50% at post-treatment and 58% at follow-up. Attention control, but not attention bias to threat, was significantly improved at post-treatment in the 2 arms.ConclusionThis is the first study to show anxiety can be decreased in youth who did not respond to cognitive-behaviorial therapy, and that the anxiety-decreasing effect is found using these 2 attention training contingency schedules. These findings and increases in attention control in the 2 arms raise intriguing questions about mechanisms of decreasing anxiety in treatment-resistant youth with attention training that require further research.Clinical trial registration informationAttention Bias Modification Training for Child Anxiety CBT Nonresponders; https://clinicaltrials.gov/; NCT01819311.

Dataset Information

Complementary Features of Attention Bias Modification Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders.

Publications

Complementary Features of Attention Bias Modification Therapy and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy in Pediatric Anxiety Disorders.

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