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Treatment and Family

The Truth in Their Experience: The Evidence from Youth and Families

Relationships are the foundation of all successful helping, and the perspectives of youth and families are crucial and bona-fide sources of evidence. Those who define evidence solely in quantitative terms are clinging to an illusion of reality.

Aggression Replacement Training Stands the Test of Time

Developed by Arnold Goldstein, Aggression Replacement Training® (ART) is a leading psychoeducational approach for working with challenging youth. This article examines underlying evidence-based principles that contribute to success of the ART model.

Conduct Disorders: Are Boot Camps Effective?

Youth diagnosed with “conduct disorder” are often placed in programs using forced compliance and coercive control. This article highlights confusion about this
diagnosis and the lack of evidence for punitive interventions in popular use.

Measuring the Impact of Re-ED

From its origins nearly a half century ago, the Re-ED model has generated a series of research studies evaluating its efficacy. This article provides a historical perspective on the evidence base for this early strength-based model for working with troubled youth.

Medicating Our Youth: Who Determines Rules of Evidence?

There is increased use of medications with troubled youth and a corresponding increase in research about these drugs. However, even the most exhaustive efforts to demonstrate the effectiveness of medication strategies have resulted in less than robust outcomes. A critical review of the most prominent studies highlights this
questionable trend in the common diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and pediatric bipolar disorder.

Weighing the Evidence

A flood of contradictory publications claim widely different methods to be “evidence-based.” What then are the key principles for success with challenging youth? Amidst all the confusion, how do we identify powerful universal truths? The answer lies in a “consilience,” which involves drawing information from multiple fields of knowledge. Consilience combines research from the natural sciences and the social sciences with wisdom from experience and values. The authors propose twenty evidence-based principles meeting this test for truth.

Teens Who Intimidate Adults: Understanding Symptom Estrangement

This story gives a brief overview of the possibilities and opportunities of the Symptom Estrangement Reclaiming Intervention. It is the history of a three-year effort with a child caught in this self-defeating pattern of behaviour.

Kids Who Carry In Problems from Home

Stressful events in the home or community often spill over into the school.

King of Cool

Many teenagers get involved in criminal activity. This tendency is so pervasive that psychologist Terrie Moffitt, one of the world’s leading experts on the development of antisocial behavior, has described delinquent behavior as a normal part of teenager life (Scott & Steinberg, 2008). Adults, even those in the justice system, are often at a loss of what to do when these “tendencies” find their way into the justice system. Most do not like the idea of adult prison time for adolescents yet many are left wondering what to do when all other options fail.

Shifting Gears: From Coercion to Respect in Residential Care

A curriculum for building social, emotional, and moral competence transformed the staff and youth culture. Staff responded to the youth with respect and empathy and young people gained in responsibility and self-worth.