Coping Cat is a cognitive-behavioral treatment for children with anxiety. The program incorporates 4 components:
- Recognizing and understanding emotional and physical reactions to anxiety
- Clarifying thoughts and feelings in anxious situations
- Developing plans for effective coping
- Evaluating performance and giving self-reinforcement
Coping Cat also has a version for adolescents, ages 14-17, known as the C.A.T. Project which is also available at APS.
The essential components of the Coping Cat program include:
- Psychoeducation, involving information for children and families about how anxiety can develop and be maintained, and how it can be treated
- Exposure tasks, which give the child the chance to be in the feared situation and have a mastery experience
- Somatic management, which teaches relaxation techniques
- Cognitive restructuring which addresses FEAR: Feeling frightened, expecting bad things, attitudes and actions that will help, and results and rewards
- Problem-solving to generate and evaluate specific actions for dealing with problems
- For group sessions, 4-5 participants per group is recommended