Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy for Anxiety and Depressive Disorders in Children and Adolescents: An Evidence-Based Medicine Review.
COMPTON, SCOTT N; MARCH, JOHN S M.D., M.P.H.; BRENT, DAVID M.D.; ALBANO, ANNE MARIE V PH.D. ; WEERSING, ROBIN PH.D. ; CURRY, JOHN PH.D.
[Miscellaneous Article]
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
43(8):930-959, August 2004.
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Objective: To review the literature on the cognitive-behavioral treatment of children and adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders within the conceptual framework of evidence-based medicine.
Method: The psychiatric and psychological literature was systematically searched for controlled trials applying cognitive-behavioral treatment to pediatric anxiety and depressive disorders.
Results: For both anxiety and depression, substantial evidence supports the efficacy of problem-specific cognitive-behavioral interventions. Comparisons with wait-list, inactive control, and active control conditions suggest medium to large effects for symptom reduction in primary outcome domains.
Conclusions: From an evidence-based perspective, cognitive-behavioral therapy is currently the treatment of choice for anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adolescents. Future research in this area will need to focus on comparing cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy with other treatments, component analyses, and the application of exportable protocol-driven treatments to divergent settings and patient populations.
Copyright 2004 (C) American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry