I want to share research that stopped me in my tracks when I first found it. The largest meta-analysis of school refusal treatment looked at eight studies and 435 children. CBT improved attendance in some of them. It did not reduce their anxiety. The effect size for anxiety reduction? Statistically zero. Eight studies. Same result. I’m not sharing this to attack therapists. The professionals recommending CBT are not bad at their jobs. They’re working within a system that funds what it measures - and CBT is measurable. And to be clear - CBT and graded exposure have a place. They’re part of the picture. My books cover both. But here’s what the system almost never addresses first: The nervous system. You cannot cognitive-restructure a body that is in alarm. CBT works - but only after the nervous system has learned what safe feels like. That’s the sequence the research now supports. And it’s the sequence almost nobody is talking about. The Australian and New Zealand Journal...