85. Anxiety in Kids: When Is Therapy Enough—and When Should You Add an SSRI? (And why Remission Matters)

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Episode 85 of ADHD, Anxiety & More is for pediatric clinicians who want to know when to prescribe medication for children and teens with anxiety. 

In this episode, you will learn about:

• Which treatment (therapy, medication, or combination of both) offers the highest response for child and teen anxiety 
• Why it is important to treat anxiety to remission 
• The 3 things to do when referring to CBT

She explains why remission matters, citing follow-up findings that remission is associated with better long-term outcomes including lower suicidal behavior and substance use problems. 

She also advises clinicians to ensure therapy is true CBT, track symptoms over time with tools like the SCARED, and revisit treatment within 4–6 week intervals if improvement is not robust.

00:00 Anxiety Treatment Choices

03:01 CBT vs SSRI vs Both

03:35 Evidence From CAMS

04:26 Why Remission Matters

07:43 Option One CBT Done Right

12:20 Option Two SSRI When Therapy Is Hard

14:07 Option Three Combination Gold Standard

15:49 Take Home Points and Wrap Up

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