Cognitive-behaviour therapy with youth: Advances, challenges, and future directions

Cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) is one of the most widely-researched th erapies for children and adolescents. In this paper, the general tenets of CBT are described, followed by a review of the treatment outcome literature . Overall, there is strong empirical support for CBT with internalizing dis orders such as anxiety and depressive disorders whereas more moderate empir ical support exists for CBT with externalizing disorders such as attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder. The relative efficacy of individual, family, and group forms of CBT is also examined. Finally, fu ture directions for research on CBT are discussed, including (a) determinin g the focal person(s) of treatment; (b) the importance of field effectivene ss trials; and (c) the integration of CBT with other approaches (e.g. funct ion analytic techniques, acceptance-based approaches). Copyright (C) 2000 J ohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd.