.
CBT therapy for children and adolescents is based on behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy and the gradual fading of the attachment figure farther away from the child (Carruth, 2000). Both the parent and child are engaged through the therapy sessions. The child is engaged in behavioral therapy and play therapy, in which the child engages in systematic desensitization and operant conditioning, in order to produce the optimal results of separating the child from the attachment figure without distress (Carruth, 2000). Parents are trained on discipline encouragement, immediate response avoidance, on how to treat separation as a normal occurrence, and finally on how to encourage longer intervals of baby-sitting involvement (Carruth, 2000). The succeeding literature review presents the trajectory of the usage of cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment plan for separation anxiety disorder. .
Separation anxiety and CBT: The Trajectory.
When planning treatment plans for separation anxiety disorder (SAD), not only does the therapist play an integral role in the assessment, but also so do the parents, the child, and the teachers. Due to this all-encompassing model, a growing body of research suggesting that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques are efficacious for treating anxiety disorders, such as SAD, in youth (see Barrett, Dadds, & Rapee, 1996; Kendall, 1994; Kendall et al., 1997; Silverman, Kurtines, Ginsburg, Weems, Lumpkin, et al., 1999) and its detailed structuring to target cognitive distortions and behavior change, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) has become a go to therapy choice for those children suffering from separation anxiety (Weems & Carrion, 2003). As Beck, Bush, Shaw, & Emery (1979) stated, "[CBT's] cognitive model hypothesizes that a person's thinking influences his or her mood and thus, modification to thinking will result in changes in mood and behavior.