Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an active, problem-focused, and time-sensitive approach to treatment that aims to reduce emotional distress and increase adaptive behaviour in patients with a host of mental health and adjustment problems. Cognitive behavioural therapists deliver interventions in a strategic manner, such that interventions emerge from the customized case formulation of the patient’s clinical presentation, are delivered in a collaborative manner with the patient, are designed to move patients forward and directly towards meeting their treatment goals, It has been shown to be effective for a wide variety of mental health disorders, including anxiety disorders, Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), insomnia, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), social anxiety, autism, depression in children and adolescents. CBT has also been associated with improvements in quality of life in all the mental health disorders. CBT is typically conceptualized as a short-term, skills-focused treatment aimed at altering maladaptive emotional responses by changing the patient’s thoughts, behaviours, or both. It is the combination of one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Cognitive therapy focuses on changing cognitions, which is proposed to change emotions and behaviours. Subsequently, the terms cognitive therapy, behavioural therapy, and cognitive-behavioural therapy have emerged. For the purposes of parsimony and to facilitate discussion of this diverse set of treatments, in this article we group the cognitive and behavioural therapies under the umbrella term “CBT” while acknowledging that the relative emphasis of cognitive vs behavioural techniques differs across treatment programs.