Comparable to the treatment of Anxiety Disorder in adults, children’s treatment for Anxiety Disorder combines three fundamental phases. Education, application and relapse prevention are the three specific phases. Before administrating treatment, the base for conducting treatment should be laid first. For this purpose, the efficiency of the therapist involved in the treatment is first evaluated.

Following this a therapeutic alliance is established and rationale for therapy, particularly exposure, is designed. The design of the rationale for the exposure therapy ensures that exposures would be conducted slowly, from the least frightening to the most frightening, both in the area of reality and imagination’s.

The Importance of Exposure

Exposure is important in the sense that it allows the child patient to re-experience the same fear-provoking stimuli in a more safe and controlled environment. In addition, it allows the child victim to organize his thoughts in a better fashion. It helps in cognitive restructuring by addressing the traumatic past, while eliciting frightening thoughts at the time of imaginational exposure. Moreover, physiological symptoms are also addressed during the exposure therapy.

Content of Exposure

The exposure therapy contains genuine fear-provoking memories; so it should be conducted in a safe and secure environment. Exposure Therapy reminds the child the advantages of the exposure exercise. It is the responsibility of the therapist to maintain balance between conditions that elicit fear and the way to cope up with the condition. Throughout the application, the therapists must be aware of under-engagement; the children may react quite unusually, since they may experience difficulty in addressing emotional components during the exposure.

Few Common Myths about Exposure

There are a few common misbeliefs about Exposure Therapy. Many people believe exposure therapy is rigid and is not at all receptive to child’s needs. The fact is: exposure therapy needs to be flexible and designed to meet individual needs of each child. Furthermore, many individuals have a wrong belief that exposure therapy is not sufficient to meet the complex cause of the problem. In most of the cases, exposure therapy worsens the condition. On the contrary, Exposure Therapy is useful to meet the multifaceted needs of a child and many researchers have demonstrated that Exposure Therapy does not worsen the case.

Administrating Therapy

During the facilitation of the therapy, therapists depend on two strategies. The behavioral and the cognitive are both utilized. Identification of thoughts and challenges meeting the accuracy and reliability of negative thoughts are two key elements of Exposure Therapy. The adjunctive strategies involved in the exposure Therapy are parent training, social skills training, study skills training, relaxation, communication training and time management. Relaxation techniques involve controlled breathing exercises and progressive muscle relaxation. By learning relaxation techniques, a child learns how to control muscular tension associated with symptoms of Anxiety Disorder.