Task Force Finds Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Effective
for Children and Adolescents Exposed to Trauma

Individual and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were the only interventions found effective in an evaluation of seven commonly-used approaches to reduce the psychological harm to youth who experience trauma.

Evidence for the five other interventions evaluated—play therapy, art therapy, psychodynamic therapy, pharmacologic therapy, and psychological debriefing—was found insufficient to judge effectiveness. The evaluation is one of a series of reviews of community health interventions carried out by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent, nonfederal group convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Task Force recommendations based on the reviews are incorporated in the Guide to Community Preventive Services , which summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease.

The Task Force evaluated seven interventions commonly used in medical and mental health responses for children in the wake of public health disasters or trauma. Six of the interventions are used in children with psychological symptoms: individual and group cognitive-behavioral therapy, play therapy, art therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and pharmacologic therapy. The seventh, psychological debriefing, is typically used before screening for symptoms.

The review concluded that, for both individual and group CBT, there was strong evidence, demonstrated in published studies, that the use of these interventions in children exposed to trauma reduced overall psychological harm. With the five other interventions, there were too few studies of each that met the standard set for Community Guide reviews. Assessment of studies was based on such features as prospective vs. retrospective data collection, whether there was a control group, and the degree of follow-up. Eleven studies of individual CBT and ten studies of group CBT met criteria for use in the review, in contrast to one or two studies for each of the remaining interventions.

References
Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Recommendations to reduce psychological harm from traumatic events among children and adolescents. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2008 Sep;35(3):314-316.
Wethington, H.R. et al. The effectiveness of interventions to reduce psychological harm from traumatic events among children and adolescents: a systematic review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2008 Sep;35(3):287-313.

About The Community Guide

The Guide to Community Preventive Services serves to filter scientific literature that can often be inconsistent, uneven in quality, and inaccessible. The Task Force on Community Preventive Services makes recommendations for the use of various interventions based on the evidence gathered in the rigorous and systematic scientific reviews of published studies conducted by the review teams of the Community Guide .

- From: “ Task Force Finds Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Effective for Children and Adolescents Exposed to Trauma; Evaluation Focuses on Behavioral and Psychological Interventions”, cited in e-mail Newest Items on the National Institute of Mental Health Web Site - November 5, 2008, at: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2008/task-force-finds-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-effective-for-children-and-adolescents-exposed-to-trauma.shtml

 

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