Evaluating empirically based psychotherapy research for children and adolescents

Psychotherapy research improved its methodological rigor in the last half of the past century and as we begin a new millennium and a new generation of research it is important to evaluate its effectiveness. In this article the historical perspective of psychotherapy evaluation is reviewed, followed by the presentation of the Child Task Force criteria for evaluating psychotherapy outcomes. The results of the American Psychological Association Task Force review of well-established and probably efficacious treatments for depression, anxiety, disruptive behavior disorders and attention deficit hyperactivity for child and adolescent disorder are presented. Finally, the advantages and disadvantages of these very structured criteria for evaluating psychotherapy research with children and adolescents are discussed, and future directions are proposed.