Between 30 to 50 percent of youth diagnosed with anxiety in the U.S. fail to respond to cognitive behavioral therapy. “CBT is the leading evidence-based psychosocial treatment. So there is a critical need to have other treatment options available,” says clinical psychologist Jeremy Pettit of FIU.

“Persistent anxiety is associated with distress, impairment in functioning, and [an] elevated risk for other psychiatric disorders and suicide," Pettit says. He used computer-based attention training to reduce anxiety in youths that had already received CBT. After four weeks of attention training, 50 percent of participants no longer met the criteria for their primary anxiety diagnosis.

• Jeremy Pettit