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CNN Live Saturday
New Way to Treat Anxiety Disorder in Children
Aired April 28, 2001 - 16:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: It may start as simple separation anxiety with kids who don't want to part from their parents. But for some, it is more serious and requires medical attention. CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric illness in children. Christopher knows this firsthand. He was diagnosed with a general anxiety disorder one year ago.
KRISTINA, CHRISTOPHER'S MOTHER: It was a relief to get the diagnosis because there was treatment, and there is effective treatment. But it was also heart-breaking to know that he was going to deal with that.
GUPTA: Children like Christopher often go through behavioral therapy as a first approach, but many times that's not enough. And drugs are prescribed, drugs typically used to treat adults.
Problem is, little is known about how well these drugs work in children. New research has been published in "The New England Journal of Medicine." It shows one popular drug used in children, Fluvoxamine, also known as Luvox, appears effective.
DR. LAURENCE GREENHILL, NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE: Fluvoxamine is one of the number of drugs on the market now that affect the level -- the brain levels of a chemical called serotonin. Serotonin is a special chemical in the brain that acts to regulate a lot of the basic elements of mood, sleep, eating, appetite.
GUPTA: Dr. Laurence Greenhill studied 128 children ages 6 to 17, diagnosed with an anxiety disorder or social phobia. None of them had responded to behavioral therapy. He gave one group Luvox, the other only a placebo. After two months, 76 percent of the children taking Luvox showed significant improvement, versus the 29 percent who improved with only the dummy pill.
Luvox is in the class of drugs called selective serotonin re- uptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. These also include Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil. All of them are already widely used to treat anxiety disorders and other mental health illness in children.
Christopher takes one such medication to treat his anxiety disorder.
CHRISTOPHER, ANXIETY DISORDER PATIENT: And now, like, if someone goes, want to come to movies, and a piece of pie, or something like that, do you want to go? Yes, let's go.
GUPTA: While Luvox is the only SSRI approved by the FDA for children, the long-term effect of these drugs is not yet known.
DR. SUVRAT BHARGAVE, CHRISTOPHER'S PSYCHIATRIST: My goal is always that the medication be a stepping stone to helping this child do well later on in his life. Therefore, the medications tend to be temporary.
GUPTA (on camera): So the message for parents? If a child is behaving in a way that interferes with normal functioning, it is time to seek help. This study shows that doctors can now have confidence that at least one medication may be an effective option. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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