Evidence-Based Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents: Data from the Present and a Model for the Future.

What is the best way to help children cope with behavioural and emotional problems? This question has been a focus of concern - to children and the adults who care for them - across many centuries and in cultures around the world. In this article we examine the current state of efforts to help children by means of an array of non-medical interventions designed to alleviate psychological distress, reduce maladaptive behaviour, and/or increase adaptive behaviour. We refer to these interventions, collectively, as 'psychotherapy'.

Depressive symptoms and bias in perceived social competence among young adults.

We examined associations between depressive symptoms and young adults' self-perceptions of social competence to explore whether higher symptoms are associated with self-evaluations that are more accurate (i.e., depressive realism), negatively biased (i.

Prospective associations from family-of-origin interactions to adult marital interactions and relationship adjustment.

To test the social learning-based hypothesis that marital conflict resolution patterns are learned in the family of origin, longitudinal, observational data were used to assess prospective associations between family conflict interaction patterns during adolescence and offspring's later marital conflict interaction patterns. At age 14 years, 47 participants completed an observed family conflict resolution task with their parents. In a subsequent assessment 17 years later, the participants completed measures of marital adjustment and an observed marital conflict interaction task with their spouse.

Long-term effects from a randomized trial of two public health preventive interventions for parental depression.

This article presents long-term effects of a randomized trial evaluating 2 standardized, manual-based prevention strategies for families with parental mood disorder: informational lectures and a brief, clinician-based approach including child assessment and a family meeting. A sample of 105 families, in which at least 1 parent suffered from a mood disorder and at least 1 nondepressed child was within the 8- to 15-year age range, was recruited. Parents and children were assessed separately at baseline and every 9 to 12 months thereafter on behavioral functioning, psychopathology, and response to intervention.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease and subsyndromal depression.

Objective: To examine the feasibility and efficacy of a manual-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in reducing depressive symptomatology in adolescents with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Primary and Secondary Control Enhancement Therapy-Physical Illness (PASCET-PI) modified for youths with IBD was compared to treatment as usual (TAU), plus an information sheet about depression, without therapist contact using assessable patient analysis.

Method: Following assessment, participants 11 to 17 years old with IBD and mild to moderate subsyndromal depression were randomly assigned to PASCET-PI (n = 22) or comparison treatment (n = 19).

Developing positive behavior at camp: contain-discuss-plan.

Effective work with children is the cornerstone of camper retention in any summer program. The quality of this work depends, in part, upon an effective program for maximizing positive behavior and minimizing behavioral difficulties or crises. This article describes the unique context of the camp environment in relation to the establishment of good child-centered practices for behavior and prosocial development.

Being close and being social: peer ratings of distinct aspects of young adult social competence.

The present study had three main objectives: (1) to develop and validate scales of young adult social competence in two domains, close relationships and social groups, using peer ratings of California Q-sort (Block, 1974; Kremen & Block, 2002) items; (2) to test the hypothesis that social competence is associated with young adult well-being and ego development; (3) to test the hypothesis that close relationship competence aligns more closely than social group competence with young adult functioning. Psychometric data on peer ratings of social competence are presented. For 133 young adults, peer ratings of social competence were correlated in expected directions with indices of functioning (e.

Depressive symptoms in early marriage: predictions from relationship confidence and negative marital interaction.

The authors proposed a model of depressive symptoms in early marriage in which relationship confidence, defined as perceived couple-level efficacy to manage conflicts and maintain a healthy relationship, mediates the effect of negative marital interactions on depressive symptoms. The model was tested in a sample of 139 couples assessed prior to marriage and 1 year later. As predicted, relationship confidence demonstrated simple negative associations with negative marital interaction and depressive symptoms for all participants.

Adolescent Ego-Development Trajectories and Young Adult Relationship Outcomes.

Adolescent ego-development trajectories were related to close-relationship outcomes in young adulthood. An adolescent sample completed annual measures of ego development from ages 14 through 17. The authors theoretically determined and empirically traced five ego-development trajectories reflecting stability or change.

Narrative in the study of resilience.

The authors trace the contribution of narrative studies to the study of resilience. Narrative studies infiltrated the mental health field more slowly than they did the medical and social sciences, despite its long reliance on "talking therapies. " With the development of the Adult Attachment Interview, however narrative studies began to come into their own in developmental psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis.

Evidence-based youth psychotherapies versus usual clinical care: a meta-analysis of direct comparisons.

In the debate over evidence-based treatments (EBTs) for youth, one question is central: Do EBTs produce better outcomes than the usual interventions employed in clinical care? The authors addressed this question through a meta-analysis of 32 randomized trials that directly compared EBTs with usual care. EBTs outperformed usual care. Effects fell within the small to medium range at posttreatment, increasing somewhat at follow-up.

Attachment and core relationship themes: wishes for autonomy and closeness in the narratives of securely and insecurely attached adults.

This study examines links between attachment states of mind and relationship schemas in a sample of 40 young adults, half of whom were hospitalized as adolescents for psychiatric treatment. Participants were interviewed about their closest relationships, and, using the Core Conflictual Relationship Theme method, their narratives about these relationships were analyzed for the relative frequency with which they expressed wishes for closeness and for autonomy in relation to others. Participants were also administered the Adult Attachment Interview and were classified with respect to security of attachment.

Spanish-English Bilingual Children with Psychopathology: Language Deficits and Academic Language Proficiency.

BACKGROUND: The aim was to study the language profiles of a well-characterised sample (n = 50) of Spanish-English bilingual children consecutively referred to psychiatric services. METHODS: Spanish and English language profiles were assessed with the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery-Revised (WLPB). Profiles included language ability levels, deficits and dominance in five expressive and receptive/expressive domains, and academic (school-related) language proficiency levels.

Effects of psychotherapy for depression in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis.

Serious sequelae of youth depression, plus recent concerns over medication safety, prompt growing interest in the effects of youth psychotherapy. In previous meta-analyses, effect sizes (ESs) have averaged .99, well above conventional standards for a large effect and well above mean ES for other conditions.

Promoting and protecting youth mental health through evidence-based prevention and treatment.

For decades, empirically tested youth interventions have prevented dysfunction by addressing risk and ameliorated dysfunction through treatment. The authors propose linking prevention and treatment within an integrated model. The model suggests a research agenda: Identify effective programs for a broadened array of problems and disorders, examine ethnicity and culture in relation to intervention adoption and impact, clarify conditions under which programs do and do not work, identify change mechanisms that account for effects, test interventions in real-world contexts, and make tested interventions accessible and effective in community and practice settings.

Differential diagnosis of selective mutism in bilingual children.

Early diagnosis of selective mutism (SM) is an important concern. SM prevalence is higher than initially thought and at least three times higher in immigrant language minority children. Although the precludes diagnosing SM in immigrant children with limited language proficiency (as children acquiring a second language may normally undergo a “silent period”), specific diagnostic boundaries are not clear.

Jousting with straw men: comment on Westen, Novotny, and Thompson-Brenner (2004).

Empirically supported treatments (ESTs) do not cure every patient, and the randomized trial is not a flawless methodology. Upon these often-noted and widely accepted points, D. Westen, C.

Youth psychotherapy outcome research: a review and critique of the evidence base.

Over the past four decades, researchers have produced extensive evidence on psychotherapy for youth mental health problems and disorders. The evidence often has been evaluated through narrative reviews and through meta-analyses assessing the magnitude of treatment effects, but methodological analysis addressing the character and quality of the evidence base itself is an important complement, needed to place treatment effects in perspective and to suggest directions for future research. We carried out such an analysis, focusing on all the methodologically acceptable published randomized trials our search identified involving treatment of anxiety, depression, ADHD and related conditions, and conduct-related problems and disorders.

Food marketing to children in the context of a marketing maelstrom.

Childhood obesity is a major public health problem in the United States, yet US children are targeted as never before with marketing for foods high in sugar, fat, salt, and calories. Food marketing to children is highly sophisticated, increasingly well-funded, and takes place within the context of a barrage of other kinds of child-targeted marketing. The proliferation and sophistication of electronic media, the escalation of marketing in schools, changing families, and a political climate that favors deregulation have allowed marketers unprecedented access to children, including babies and toddlers.

Implications of family income dynamics for women's depressive symptoms during the first 3 years after childbirth.

Objectives: We examined within-person associations between changes in family income and women's depressive symptoms during the first 3 years after childbirth.

Methods: Data were analyzed for 1351 women (mean baseline age = 28.13 years) who participated in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care.

Reading others emotions: The role of intuitive judgments in predicting marital satisfaction, quality, and stability.

This study examined links between emotion expression in couple interactions and marital quality and stability. Core aspects of emotion expression in marital interactions were identified with the use of naive observational coding by multiple raters. Judges rated 47 marital discussions with 15 emotion descriptors.

A family-based approach to the prevention of depressive symptoms in children at risk: evidence of parental and child change.

Objective: Depression in parents is a prevalent and impairing illness that is encountered frequently in medical practice. Children of depressed parents are at risk for psychopathology and other difficulties. A series of recent national reports have recommended the development of prevention efforts targeting children of depressed parents.