Kids get exposed to all sorts of traumatic events in their young lives and for most, they can escape from serious emotional harm. One way to do that is through treatment of the trauma.
But like treatment for many mental health issues, the variety of treatments available can be a little overwhelming. Treatment experts will extol the virtues of their own preferred modality of treatment, regardless of research findings or what-not. “This is what I learned, so this is what you get.”
Every now and again, researchers conduct large meta-analyses to try and answer the question, “Treatment-wise, what works for this concern?” A set of researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led a study to examine this question as it relates to treating childhood trauma:
The seven evaluated interventions were individual cognitive–behavioral therapy, group cognitive behavioral therapy, play therapy, art therapy, psychodynamic therapy, and pharmacologic therapy for symptomatic children and adolescents, and psychological debriefing, regardless of symptoms. The main outcome measures were indices of depressive disorders, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder, internalizing and externalizing disorders, and suicidal behavior.
Strong evidence showed that individual and group cognitive–behavioral therapy can decrease psychological harm among symptomatic children and adolescents exposed to trauma. Evidence was insufficient to determine the effectiveness of play therapy, art therapy, pharmacologic therapy, psychodynamic therapy, or psychological debriefing in reducing psychological harm.
It doesn’t mean these other types of interventions are completely ineffective or don’t work… Just that this particular scientific analysis of the interventions did not find any significant impact of them.
What was clear to the researchers however was the effectiveness of good ol’ cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This stuff can apparently cure everything from depression to childhood trauma. (And it cuts through butter better than a hot knife!)
It is good stuff, but only when wielded in the hands of an experienced and well-trained cognitive behavioral therapist. Too many therapists adapt only a small set of CBT techniques and call it “CBT,” when in fact it probably has little resemblance to actual CBT. So if you’re going to find a good CBT therapist, make sure you ask about the therapist’s specific training and credentials in cognitive-behavioral therapy.
For kids grappling with childhood trauma, this is the first type of intervention I would seek out.
Reference:
Wethington, H.R. et al. (2008). The Effectiveness of Interventions to Reduce Psychological Harm from Traumatic Events Among Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 35(3), 287-313.
Read the news article: Unproven therapies used on traumatized kids: study
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4 Comments to
“Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Best to Treat Childhood Trauma”
Were the various methods matched for length of treatment? What measures were used? What length of follow-up? Lots of information missing here.
It never ceases to amaze me that people who expouse this CBT fraud will show the gleaming results of a short time frame scenerio. If you look at any number of longitudinal studies a very different picture emerges. There is in fact a “spike” initially with the CBT while the other remain flat. However, as time passses this spike falls flat and the other types of therapry starts rising above the CBT. This of course is always left out in these program statements.
Okay. GET REAL the very same journal this study came out of published a review of treatment strategies for Childhood Sexual Trauma. Frank Putnam, a well respected writer and researcher says, “Preliminary research indicates that CBT is effective for some symptoms, but longitudinal follow-up and large-scale effectiveness studies are needed.” AND DO NOT YET EXIST. To consider that CBT is “evidenced based” and other forms of treatment are not, is absurd. To consider CBT as the only treatment of choice for trauma is absurd. That’s like saying the only way to deal with severing an artery is to put pressure on it. Yes, short term, that is effective, but its only the first step.
So what would you suggest as treatment for trauma if not evidence-based psychotherapies like CBT? There’s no other psychotherapy that has a greater evidence base in trauma, and there are no psychiatric medications approved for the treatment of trauma.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 11 Sep 2008
