Intensive Treatments for Children and Adolescents with Anxiety or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders have a significant negative impact on youth. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is recommended and established as effective first-step treatment, but persistent symptoms and non-response are common. Intensive psychological treatments deliver more or longer sessions over a shorter time span, with fewer session gaps. However, an understanding of their effectiveness, characteristics, acceptability, and feasibility is lacking. Systematically searching five databases yielded four controlled and 36 uncontrolled studies (N=2707) involving youth with primary anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorders, many of whom received prior treatments. Intensive treatments were acceptable and feasible, with low drop-out rates. Between-group analyses compared intensive treatment with standard treatment (k = 2) or waitlist (k = 2), revealing no significant post-treatment differences in symptom severity or remission. Uncontrolled within-group analyses of intensive treatments showed large improvements from pre- to post-treatment in symptoms (k = 47), remission (k = 17), impairment (k = 22), functioning (k = 5), and quality of life (k = 2), with larger effects at follow-ups. Intensive treatments show promise for youth with anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorders by potentially offering high treatment completion rates and comparable outcomes to standard CBT, aiding earlier recovery and reducing overall suffering. This systematic review/meta-analysis provides a comprehensive overview of intensive treatments, their theoretical considerations, and empirical findings. Future RCTs should compare the effectiveness of standard and intensive treatments and identify optimal populations for their use.