Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Children and Adolescents
Creswell C., O’connor TG.
Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a treatment approach based on the general notion that a psychological disorder is caused or maintained by ‘dysfunctional’ thought patterns and lack of positively reinforced adaptive behavioural coping strategies. After decades of extensive research on CBT in adult populations, CBT is now well established as an effective treatment for psychological disorders in child and adolescent populations. CBT interventions seek to break the cascade of maladaptive thoughts and feelings that lie between the cognitive distortion and the destructive behaviour. This chapter shows how the cognitive behavioural model and its clinical application may differ for children and adolescents. Children's cognitions about their social world reflect developmental histories that shape behaviour. CBT is concerned with how these cognitive processes may be altered and, when altered, if there are consequential reductions in psychiatric symptoms and improvements in social functioning.