Behavioral assessment and treatment of overanxious disorder in children and adolescents.

Strauss (1988) looked at every paper on over-anxious disorder in kids and teens. The author wrote a story-style review and said we need clearer ways to spot and treat this problem.

The review found lots of worried kids, but no solid tests or step-by-step plans to help them. In short, we knew the kids were anxious, yet had no proven tools.

Saunders et al. (1988) wrote the same year about childhood OCD. Both papers say behavioral fixes help a little, but proof is weak and studies are tiny.

Coe et al. (1997) later checked 233 charts of youths with developmental delays. They showed anxiety is common across many diagnoses, backing up C’s call to watch for it everywhere.

Johnson et al. (2021) did a stricter, systematic review on pathological demand avoidance. They still found fuzzy rules and weak tools, proving C’s 1988 worry is alive today.

You will still meet kids who worry too much and don’t fit neat boxes. Use solid behavior interviews and track what triggers the worry, because clear data are still missing. Watch for new studies and keep your measures simple, direct, and repeatable.