RESEARCH ON PSYCHOTHERAPY WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS - AN OVERVIEWOF EVOLVING TRENDS AND CURRENT ISSUES

We present a broad overview of research on psychotherapy with children and adolescents, with a focus on dimensions along which progress has been made over the past 35 years. Research in this area has been incre asingly characterized by the utilization of a greater variety of and m ore focused and better specified interventions, with increasingly homo geneous samples of clients or patients, using methodologically more st ringent approaches. The general consensus in the field is that psychot herapy is effective with younger age groups, as compared to no treatme nt. However, such a conclusion has to be qualified because of the deat h of studies on clinically referred youths, traditional therapies, and modes of treatment other than individual therapy. Several other issue s also require further attention in research, including the need for m ore comprehensive or novel conceptualizations of juvenile-onset psycho pathology to inform treatment efforts. Consideration also should be gi ven to having parents more consistently involved in their children's t herapy, integrating the developmental literature and the design of new interventions, and developing and testing therapies for youths with s pecial needs.