Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Adolescent Anxiety

Abstract

Purpose of review Adolescent anxiety is a pressing and debilitating mental health concern. The gold standard treatment, traditional cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), often does not benefit all youth. Therefore, the present review discusses the available research on a nascent form of modern CBT, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), for anxiety in adolescents. There is a particular emphasis placed on the evidence base for DNAV, a developmentally adapted form of ACT where each letter of the acronym represents an ACT component: the Discoverer, Noticer, Advisor, and Values. Recent findings Across a range of studies, adolescents receiving ACT or DNAV reported improvements in anxiety, along with other relevant symptoms. Additionally, in the handful of comparisons to traditional CBT, ACT has resulted in similar outcomes. Summary The current state of research suggests that ACT and DNAV are promising interventions for youth anxiety worthy of further exploration. Future research should focus on understanding which components of ACT might be most beneficial for which youth, along with increasing sample diversity and utilizing more controlled formats.