Approaching Medication as a Treatment for Children and Teens with Anxiety

Contemporary Clinic® interviewed Susan Van Cleve, DNP, RN, CPNP-PC, PMHS, FAANP, FAAN, Clinical Professor and Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program director, University of Iowa College of Nursing, on identifying and treating anxiety in children and teens who present comorbidities. The discussion includes whether medication is always a viable option for treatment and whether there are situations in which it is obvious that medication is the best option for children and teens.

Van Cleve noted that periodically, there are situations in which the best option is to pursue medication. She said, “There will be a patient who has received lots of therapy, and the therapist has been working with that child or the teen, and they feel that they're at a standstill, and that the only next step would be medication. That's when we would just start with medication and encourage that child to continue with a therapist.”

Van Cleve also discussed whether identifying anxiety as a disability in academic settings is important for the success of treatment, whether anxiety being seen as more commonplace today is advantageous or disadvantageous when approaching treatment, and how the treatment of anxiety in children and teens may be progressing in the future.