Transforming Childhood Anxiety: Insights from SPACE Treatment
As parents, witnessing your child struggle with anxiety can be deeply distressing. We understand the critical role parents play in their child's mental health journey. Today, we're exploring a transformative approach known as the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) treatment, developed by Dr. Eli Leibowitz and colleagues at Yale University. This method provides a new perspective on managing childhood anxiety, focusing on how parents can effectively support their anxious children.
Parent accommodation refers to the modifications parents make to their behavior to help alleviate their child's anxiety. While these actions are always well-intentioned, they can inadvertently maintain or even increase the child's anxiety over time. SPACE treatment stands out by shifting the focus from the child as the patient to the parents as agents of change. This parent-based intervention teaches strategies to reduce accommodating behaviors in a supportive and gradual manner. The goal is not to eliminate anxiety but to empower children to face and manage their anxieties effectively.
The Impact of SPACE Treatment on Childhood Anxiety
Research has shown that SPACE is as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating childhood anxiety disorders. The beauty of SPACE lies in its ability to involve parents directly in the treatment process, which not only improves anxiety symptoms in children but also enhances the overall family dynamics.
Empowerment: SPACE empowers parents to help their children in a meaningful and lasting way.
Flexibility: This treatment accommodates various family structures and needs.
Evidence-Based: Developed through rigorous research, SPACE is backed by scientific evidence.
At the Center for Pediatric Neurodiversity, we are committed to providing families with cutting-edge, effective strategies for managing childhood anxiety. If your child struggles with anxiety, and you find yourself constantly adjusting your behavior to help them cope, consider how the SPACE treatment could transform your approach and restore confidence to your child’s life.
For more information or to schedule a session, visit our website or contact us directly. Together, we can face childhood anxiety with renewed hope and effective strategies.
Research:
Lebowitz, E. R., Omer, H., Hermes, H., & Scahill, L. (2014). Parent Training for Childhood Anxiety Disorders: The SPACE Program. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 21(4), 456-469. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2013.10.004
Lebowitz, E. R., & Majdick, J. M. (2020). The SPACE program, a parent-based treatment for childhood and adolescent anxiety: Clinical case illustration. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy.
Lebowitz, E. R., Marin, C., Martino, A., Shimshoni, Y., & Silverman, W. K. (2020). Parent-based treatment as efficacious as cognitive-behavioral therapy for childhood anxiety: A randomized noninferiority study of supportive parenting for anxious childhood emotions. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(3), 362-372.
Rozenblat, S., Shimshoni, Y., Lebowitz, E. R., Perez, M., & Koller, J. (2025). A pilot trial of SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) in autism. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, 56(1), 249-263.
Lebowitz ER (2013) Parent-based treatment for childhood and adolescent OCD. J Obsessive-Compuls Relat Disord 2:425–431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2013.08.004