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There is a high degree of comorbidity between anxiety and depressive disorders among treatment-seeking adolescents. Comorbid youth often present with greater diagnostic severity, worse social functioning, and more severe anxiety and depressive symptoms, compared with anxiety-disordered youth without depression. However, the degree to which these populations may differ in underlying affect and emotion regulation (ER) is largely unknown. This study compared 44 anxiety-disordered adolescents (ages 12-18 years) with a comorbid depressive disorder (ANX + DEP) and 32 anxiety-disordered adolescents without a comorbid depressive disorder (ANX) on several clinical and emotion-related variables. Results indicated that ANX + DEP adolescents were assigned higher clinician-rated diagnostic severity ratings, and reported greater functional impairment and more severe social anxiety and depressive symptoms, compared with ANX adolescents. In addition, ANX + DEP adolescents demonstrated higher levels of negative affect, lower levels of positive affect, and poorer self-reported and parent-reported ER. Implications for assessment and treatment, as well as directions for future research, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The frequent co-occurrence of anxiety disorders and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in youth has spurred study of intervention practices for this population. As anxiety disorders in the absence of ASD are effectively treated using cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) protocols, an initial step in evaluating treatments for comorbid youth has necessarily centered on adaptation of CBT. One primary limitation of this research, to date, is that interventions for adolescents with anxiety disorders and ASD have not been systematically tested. In this study, 20 adolescents (90% male) with ASD and a comorbid anxiety disorder, between ages 11 and 14 years (M = 12.2 years, SD = 1.11 years), participated in an open trial of modified CBT targeting anxiety with ASD. Findings demonstrated significant reductions in anxiety severity, as assessed by clinician and parent ratings, from baseline to post-treatment. In addition, reductions in parent-rated externalizing symptoms were observed. Gains were maintained at a 1-month follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]