An overview of evidence-based psychotherapy for children and adolescents

Research on psychotherapy outcomes, particularly with children, has a short but evolving history. Studies in the 1950s and 1960s suggested therapy was no more useful than no treatment and the passage of time. There were many flaws in the research upon which this conclusion of no improvement from psychotherapy was based and it has taken the next half century to generate more studies and to reconsider the evidence for efficacy of psychotherapy. While problems continue to exist with the quantity, strength, and generalizability of research on child psychotherapies, it is increasingly accepted that efficacious treatments do exist for child and adolescent disorders. This article provides an overview of evidence-based psychotherapies for the two chief domains of psychiatric problems in children and adolescents: externalizing and internalizing disorders. The concurrent challenge of integrating research findings into typical treatment settings and promoting their adoption with clinical practitioners will be highlighted.