Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for Pediatric Mood and Anxiety Disorders

Aim: To review the literature on randomized clinical trials for pediatric anxiety and depression, and evaluate their quality using the criteria developed by the American Psychological Association. Method: Inclusion of randomized controlled clinical trials in the medical and psychological literature. Results: Research evidence thus far suggests that CBT is a probably efficacious treatment for depression in children. None of the CBT protocols for depressed adolescents (taken independently) meet criteria for a well-established treatment, however, if the different protocols are taken as an aggregate, then CBT meets well-established treatment criteria. In addition, IPT-A is a well-established treatment for adolescent depression. CBT is the best established treatment for a number of child and adolescent anxiety disorders. Conclusion: While there has been an increase in the number of clinical trials of psychotherapeutic interventions for depression and anxiety as well as support for empirically-based treatments, the scope of these studies is still limited and research is still needed to examine the transportability of these treatments to diverse community settings.