We really do not know the etiology of what makes a child violent or antisocial. But there are so many successes in medicine—leukemia, many of the cancers—where we do not know etiology yet, but we still have effective treatments.
Anxiety disorders are common in young people, affecting 4%–7% of children. It appears that the majority of “adult” anxiety disorders begin in childhood and are stable and often chronic conditions, so an effective intervention can have lifelong benefits.
Anxiety disorders, in general, for children and adolescents, can be a very big problem. A big issue is that anxiety disorders are often not the first diagnoses considered and they are often overlooked.
In the US, 60% of children report exposure to violence, abuse or other trauma in the past year. Traumatized children like Karina can present to treatment with a range of symptoms, including anxiety, irritability, disruptive behaviors, mood dysregulation, and developmental regression.
EMDR stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” Created by psychologist Francine Shapiro in 1989, EMDR was first used for posttraumatic stress symptoms associated with military combat and sexual assault, and the treatment has a strong base of support.
Dr. Andrew Christensen, distinguished research professor of psychology at UCLA and co-developer of Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT), explains how IBCT balances...