Review of the evidence base for treatment of childhood psychopathology: Externalizing disorders.

Abstract

This article reviews controlled research on treatments for childhood externalizing behavior disorders. The review is organized around 2 subsets of such disorders: disruptive behavior disorders (i.e., conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The review was based on a literature review of nonresidential treatments for youths ages 6-12. The pool of studies for this age group was limited, but results suggest positive outcomes for a variety of interventions (particularly parent training and community-based interventions for disruptive behavior disorders and medication for ADHD). The review also highlights the need for additional research examining effectiveness of treatments for this age range and strategies to enhance the implementation of effective practices.

The severely impaired do profit most: short-term and long-term predictors of therapeutic change for a parent management training under routine care conditions for children with externalizing problem behavior

“…Principles and techniques that are considered in the program are common with other programs that also have a behavior-based foundation. Correspondingly, the results concerning the magnitude of the treatment effects are comparable to those found in other trials [13,18,20,42,46]. PEP was originally conceived as an indicated prevention program.…”

“…The efficacy of behavior-based treatment of externalizing behavior problems has been well investigated [9,13,18,20,42]. However, determining the efficacy of a particular treatment is just one crucial step in psychotherapy research.…”

Antisocial behavioral syndromes and DSM-IV drug use disorders in the United States: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions

“…Several prevention curricula have demonstrated effectiveness against CD, substance use, or both, among children and adolescents (e.g., Bierman et al, 2002;Botvin and Kantor, 2000;Brotman et al, 2005;Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2002;Farmer et al, 2002;Hawkins et al, 1999;). To our knowledge, however, their effects on fully diagnosable substance use disorders have not been evaluated.…”

“…Many treatments for CD have demonstrated limited effectiveness and even iatrogenic effects (Frick, 2001). Others, however, particularly those that address multiple facets of targeted children's lives, have yielded more encouraging results (Farmer et al, 2002).…”

Psychotherapy meets neuroscience

“…Further, the observed effects are rarely correlated with changes in putative mediating processes, making unequivocal causal attributions hazardous (e.g. Farmer et al, 2002). Third, psychotherapy researchers and practitioners, alike become attached to methods which they advocate in sometimes quite business-like ways, leading to rapid 'guildification' of even recently developed interventions (e.g.…”