Psych CASC / OSCE · Child and adolescent psychiatry — anxiety disorders
Explain youth anxiety treatment and school return plan to parents — CASC communication station
MRCPsych/FRANZCP-style communication station: youth anxiety psychoeducation, CBT, SSRI monitoring, school plan, collaborative family framing.
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Study tools
Target exams
FRANZCPMRCPsychABPNMD-DNB
Prompt
Parents of an 11-year-old with separation anxiety and school refusal want a plain-language explanation of the diagnosis, why exposure-based CBT is recommended, when an SSRI such as sertraline might be added (including CAMS combination evidence in simple terms), how you monitor for activation and suicidal thoughts, and how a graded return-to-school plan will work without blaming them.
Station brief
Format. Communication station, approximately 7–10 minutes active time after reading. You are the psychiatry registrar in the CAMHS clinic. [2]
Candidate instructions. Explain separation anxiety and school refusal behaviour to the parents, outline exposure-based CBT and reducing accommodation, discuss when sertraline might be used and how you monitor safety, agree a graded school return, check understanding, and respond to guilt (“Did we cause this by being soft?”). The examiner plays a parent. [1][2][4]
References5ShowHide
- [1]Walkup JT, Albano AM, Piacentini J, et al. Cognitive behavioral therapy, sertraline, or a combination in childhood anxiety N Engl J Med, 2008.PMID 18974308
- [2]Walter HJ, Bukstein OG, Abright AR, et al. Clinical Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Anxiety Disorders J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry, 2020.PMID 32439401
- [3]Bridge JA, Iyengar S, Salary CB, et al. Clinical response and risk for reported suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in pediatric antidepressant treatment: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials JAMA, 2007.PMID 17440145
- [4]Kearney CA, Albano AM. The functional profiles of school refusal behavior. Diagnostic aspects Behav Modif, 2004.PMID 14710711
- [5]James AC, Reardon T, Soler A, et al. Cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety disorders in children and adolescents Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2020.PMID 33196111