“…Quasi-experimental studies: three studies employed quasi-randomised methods of assignment to each treatment arm: -Psychoanalytic child psychotherapy (alongside in-patient medical care) vs in-patient medical care only for children with dangerously uncontrolled diabetes (Moran and Fonagy, 1987;Fonagy and Moran, 1990;Moran et al, 1991) -Brief, focused psychodynamic psychotherapy vs assessment only for children with emotional disorders (Muratori et al, 2002(Muratori et al, , 2003(Muratori et al, , 2005) -Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy vs waiting list control for children and adolescents with a range of disorders Kronmu¨ller et al, 2010) Level 3. Controlled observational studies: eight controlled observational studies were identified, using a range of control groups, including no-treatment control groups, non-matched control groups or the matching of the comparison group on the basis of clinical and demographic characteristics: -Intensive (four times weekly) psychoanalytic child psychotherapy vs once weekly psychoanalytic child psychotherapy for children with learning difficulties and emotional disturbance (Heinicke, 1965;Heinicke and Ramsay-Klee, 1986) -Psychodynamically orientated therapy vs supportive educational therapy for adolescents with OCD (Apter et al, 1984) -Psychoanalytic child psychotherapy vs no treatment control group for adopted children with 'severe difficulties' (Lush et al, 1991;Boston and Lush, 1994;Lush et al, 1998;Boston et al, 2009) -Individual psychotherapy vs untreated control group attending hospital for children with 'hyperactivity and attention deficit' (Jordy and Gorodscy, 1996) -Long-term follow-up of psychoanalytic child psychotherapy vs no treatment control group (Midgley and Target, 2005;Midgley et al, 2006;Schachter and Target, 2009) -Long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for adolescents with a range of disorders vs It should be kept in mind that a study's position in this 'hierarchy of evidence' does not necessarily reflect the quality of the study. There is a great deal of debate about the assumptions built into the idea of a 'hierarchy of evidence' and especially the emphasis placed on randomised controlled trials (RCTs) as the 'gold standard' for psychotherapy research (see, for example, Leichsenring, 2004;Wachtel, 2010).…”