Treatment manuals: Pros and cons

During recent decades numerous treatment manuals for mental disorders in childhood and adolescence have been published, both internationally and in German-speaking countries. While there is substantial debate over the potential advantages and disadvantages of working with therapy manuals, both widespread acceptance and flexible use of therapy manuals have been shown in a survey with licensed child and adolescent psychologists. Requirements for the improvement of manuals regarding flexibility, individualization, user-friendliness, attractiveness of the material as well as empirical evidence are outlined in this paper. Behavior therapy for children and adolescents and, presumably, its efficacy, have been improved by therapy manuals. The risks of therapy manuals can be handled if their limitations are properly respected. Individual therapy planning and case supervision should be included as further components of quality assurance in child and adolescent psychology.