TREATMENT PLAN FOR ADOLESCENT ANXIETY
The Adolescent Psychotherapy Treatment Planner (2000), Arthur E. Jongsma Jr., et al., Wiley Pub.
DIAGNOSTIC SUGGESTIONS:
Axis I: 309.24 Adjustment Disorder With Anxiety
300.02 Generalized Anxiety Disorder
314.01 Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder, Combined Type
309.21 Separation Anxiety Disorder
BEHAVIORAL DEFINITIONS
1. Excessive anxiety, worry, or fear that markedly exceeds the level for the client's stage of
development.
2. High level of motor tension such as restlessness, tiredness, shakiness, or muscle tension.
3. Autonomic hyperactivity such as rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, dizziness, dry mouth,
nausea, or diarrhea.
4. Hypervigilance such as feeling constantly on edge, difficulty concentrating, trouble falling or
staying asleep, and a general state of irritability.
5. Specific fear that has become generalized to cover a wide area and has reached the point
where it significantly interferes with the client's and the family's daily life.
6. Excessive anxiety or worry due to a parent's threat of abandonment, over use of guilt, denial
of autonomy and status, friction between parents, or interference with physical activity.
LONG TERM GOALS
1. Reduce the overall frequency and intensity of the anxiety response so that daily functioning
is not impaired.
2. Stabilize the anxiety level while increasing the ability to function on a daily basis
3. Resolve the key issue that is the source of the anxiety or fear.
4. Reach the point where the client can interact with the world without excessive fear, worry, or
anxiety.
SHORT TERM OBJECTIVES
1. Develop a working relationship with the therapist in which the client openly shares thoughts
and feelings.
2. Verbally identify fears, worries, and anxieties.
3. Implement positive self-talk to reduce or eliminate the anxiety.
4. Increase the coping behaviors of peer socialization, physical activity, and self-reassurance.
5. Increase participation in daily social and academic activities.
6. Develop and implement appropriate relaxation and diversion activities to decrease the level
of anxiety.
7. Identify areas of conflict in the client's life.
8. The parent's verbalize an understanding of the client's anxieties and fears.
9. The parents develop specific ways to empathically help the client with the anxiety and fear.
THERAPEUTIC INTERVENTIONS
1. Refer the client's parents to a parenting class or support group.
2. Assist the client in developing anxiety coping strategies (e. g., increased social involvement,
contact with peers, physical exercise).
3. Advocate and encourage over thinking. Monitor weekly results and redirect as needed.
4. Educate the client's parents to increase their awareness and understanding of what fears and
anxieties are developmentally normal for children or teens at each age.
