Treatment of every child with anxiety disorder begins with the question of which treatment to
start first. Both fluoxetine and CBT have strong empirical support, but few studies have
compared their initial effectiveness head-to-head, and none has investigated what to do if
the treatment tried first isn't working well-whether to optimize the treatment already begun
or to add the other treatment.
Aims of the study:
1. The study will assess whether beginning with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) or
fluoxetine medication is more effective in improving youth-rated anxiety symptoms over
the 24-week intervention
2. If the initial intervention fails to induce clinical remission by week 12, the study
will assess whether optimizing the initial treatment modality alone, or adding the other
modality to the first, yields better symptom improvement by week 24
3. The study will assess whether one sequence of treatment modalities - i.e., CBT followed
by optimized CBT; CBT followed by optimized CBT+ medication; medication followed by
optimized medication; medication followed by optimized medication + CBT -- is
significantly better or worse than predicted from the two main effects
4. The study will assess the stability of treatment response for ≥12 months following
completion of the 24-week trial