Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety Disorders in Autism: Adapting Treatment for Adolescents

June 27, 2014 updated by: Eric Storch, University of South Florida

CBT for Anxiety Disorders in Autism: Adapting Treatment for Adolescents

Comorbid anxiety disorders affect as many as 80% of youth with autism spectrum disorders, causing substantial distress and impairment over and above the autism spectrum diagnosis alone. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the gold standard treatment among typically developing youth with an anxiety disorder and when adapted, shows promise in children with ASD and comorbid anxiety. However, there is currently no psychotherapy protocol tailored to meet the unique needs of young adolescents with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and comorbid anxiety. Given this, the present study seeks to develop and test a new CBT therapy in adolescents with autism and comorbid anxiety.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) affect approximately 1 out of 150 children and adolescents in the United States, making them one of the most common neurobiological conditions. Comorbid anxiety disorders affect as many as 80% of youth with ASD, causing substantial distress and impairment over and above that caused by an ASD diagnosis alone. While cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) has been established as the gold standard treatment for anxiety disorders among typically developing youth, a protocol does not exist for early adolescents with ASD and comorbid anxiety disorders. Accordingly, we are proposing to develop a CBT protocol for anxiety and comorbid ASD in early adolescence.

Initial protocol development efforts will focus on adapting relevant treatment elements from an effective CBT program for younger children with ASD and comorbid anxiety to the characteristics and clinical needs of early adolescents. Thereafter, protocol and measure development will be refined during Phases I and II of this study through our experiences treating a total of 20 young adolescents (ages 11-14 years - 10 will be treated at USF; 10 at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)) with ASD and comorbid anxiety disorder(s). The CBT protocol will then be examined in a trial comparing CBT to a waitlist condition (N = 32 total; 16 at each study site).

The two recruitment sites for this study are the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of South Florida. The University of Miami will assist with quality assurance checks. Considering the rising number of youth diagnosed with ASD, and the lack of tested treatment options for those young adolescents with comorbid anxiety, our proposed work toward an efficacious CBT protocol will provide a timely contribution to public health efforts.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

33

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Los Angeles, California, United States
        • Univeristy of California at Los Angeles
    • Florida
      • St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, 33701
        • University of South Florida

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

7 years to 10 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Outpatient adolescents with ASD (see below) between the ages 11-14 years.
  • Meets criteria for a diagnosis of autism, Asperger syndrome (AS), or Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified .
  • Meets criteria for a diagnosis of one of the following anxiety disorders: separation anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social phobia, or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
  • Child has a Full Scale and Verbal Comprehension IQ≥85.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Receiving concurrent psychotherapy, social skills training, or behavioral interventions (e.g., applied behavior analysis). Families will have the option of discontinuing such services to enroll in the study.
  • Has started an antidepressant within 12 weeks before study enrollment or an antipsychotic 6 weeks before study enrollment.
  • Has changed established psychotropic medications (e.g., antidepressants, anxioloytics) within 8 weeks before study enrollment (6 weeks for antipsychotic).
  • Is currently suicidal or has been actively suicidal in the last 6 months.
  • Has been diagnosed with bipolar, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders; or Substance abuse in past 6 months.
  • Presence of a significant and/or unstable medical illness which might lead to hospitalization during the study.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
The form of treatment will involve 16 weekly meetings of about 90 minutes each. Sessions involve both the child and parent and involve teaching youth how to cope with their anxiety through a variety of behavioral techniques.
Behavioral: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
The form of treatment will involve 16 weekly meetings of about 90 minutes each. Sessions involve both the child and parent and involve teaching youth how to cope with their anxiety through a variety of behavioral techniques.
Other Names:
  • CBT
  • Exposure therapy
Placebo Comparator: Wait-list
A wait-list essentially involves not receiving treatment for a specified period of time (in this case 16 weeks). No active treatment is provided; rather, the family 'waits'.
Behavioral: Wait-list
A wait-list essentially involves not receiving treatment for a specified period of time (in this case 16 weeks). No active treatment is provided; rather, the family 'waits'.
Other Names:
  • Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale.
Time Frame: Post-treatment, which is an average of 16 weeks after Baseline
The Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale is a clinician-rated scale assessing anxiety symptoms and the associated severity and impairment in children over the past week. The scale includes 5 items which are summed to form a total score, which represents anxiety severity. The scale score ranges from 0 to 25 with higher scores indicating more severe anxiety symptoms.
Post-treatment, which is an average of 16 weeks after Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule: Child and Parent Versions
Time Frame: Post-treatment, which was an average of 16 weeks after Baseline
The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule: Child and Parent Versions are clinician-rated scales assessing anxiety symptoms and the associated severity and impairment in children over the past month. The clinician interviewer interviews the child and parent separately about the nature and severity of the child's anxiety. If a child meets criteria for an anxiety disorder, a single item is rated by the interviewer, which represents anxiety severity. The scale score for this single item ranges from 0 to 8 with higher scores indicating more severe anxiety symptoms.
Post-treatment, which was an average of 16 weeks after Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of South Florida

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Miami

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Eric Storch, PhD, University of South Florida

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

November 1, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 5, 2010

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 6, 2010

First Posted (Estimate)

August 9, 2010

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

July 1, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 27, 2014

Last Verified

June 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 1R34HD065274-01 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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