Efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy in the treatment of children withADHD, with and without aggressiveness

The objectives of this study were twofold: to show the efficacy of a cognit ive-behavioral self-control therapy on children with ADHD and to determine whether the combination of training in self-control with training in anger management has better outcomes on two subgroups of hyperactive children, ag gressive and nonaggressive. Thirty-two children with ADHD, 16 aggressive an d 16 nonaggressive, participated in the research. We applied a cognitive-be havioral self-control training, which included self-instructional training via modeling and behavioral contingencies, to 16 of the 32 hyperactive chil dren. The other 16 hyperactive children were taught the same program, but c ombined with anger management training. The interventions were carried out by two therapists each taking care of four groups, one of each in the follo wing conditions: hyperactive with the cognitive-behavioral self-control the rapy, hyperactive with the combined treatment, hyperactive-aggressive with the cognitive-behavioral self-control therapy, and hyperactive-aggressive w ith the combined treatment. The results indicated important improvements on several measures in all treated groups. Furthermore the improvements of ch ildren with aggressiveness were slightly better, according to the parents, with the combined treatment than without it. The data provide support for i ncluding anger management training in the cognitive-behavioral intervention s for hyperactive-aggressive students. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.