Archive

Morrison, A. P., Pyle, M., Maughan, D., Johns, L., Freeman, D., Broome, M. R., ... & Norrie, J. (2020). Antipsychotic medication versus psychological intervention versus a combination of both in adolescents with first-episode psychosis (MAPS): a multicentre, three-arm, randomised controlled pilot and feasibility study. The Lancet Psychiatry. This attempt to compare medication, therapy and combined approaches for young people with first episode psychosis did not identify any clear differe...

Clementi, M. A., & Alfano, C. A. (2020). An integrated sleep and anxiety intervention for anxious children: A pilot randomized controlled trial. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104520933936. Children with both anxiety and sleep problems may benefit from a new therapy called Targeted Behaviour Therapy (TBT). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359104520933936

O’Dea, B., Han, J., Batterham, P. J., Achilles, M. R., Calear, A. L., Werner‐Seidler, A., ... & Christensen, H. (2020). A randomised controlled trial of a relationship‐focussed mobile phone application for improving adolescents’ mental health. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. A new Australian single session, relationship-focussed, cognitive-behaviour therapy-based app called We Click did not reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, but was acceptable to users and did...

Byrne, G., Murphy, S., & Connon, G. (2020). Mentalization-based treatments with children and families: A systematic review of the literature. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359104520920689. The evidence base regarding mentalisation based treatments is growing.  This review includes 34 studies and finds some benefits, particularly with regard to improving mentalising ability. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359104520920689

Bal, V. H., Fok, M., Lord, C., Smith, I. M., Mirenda, P., Szatmari, P., ... & Bennett, T. (2020). Predictors of longer‐term development of expressive language in two independent longitudinal cohorts of language‐delayed preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(7), 826-835. This study found that 3-year old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who had poor fine motor skills were at greater risk of longer-term language delays. �...

Sneddon  H, Gojkovic Grimshaw  D, Livingstone  N, Macdonald  G. Cognitive‐behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions for young people aged 10 to 18 with harmful sexual behaviour. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2020, Issue 6. Art. No.: CD009829. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009829.pub2. Despite many interventions for young people who engage in harmful sexual behaviour being based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), this Cochrane review found only four studies with limited evidence...

Cuijpers P, Karyotaki E, Eckshtain D, et al. Psychotherapy for Depression Across Different Age Groups: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2020;77(7):694–702. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.0164. Despite concerns about side effects of antidepressant medication and recommendations to use talking therapies (psychotherapies) first line to treat childhood depression, this systematic review and meta-analysis found that the effect sizes for psychotherapies in children (g=0....

Brent, D.A., Porta, G., Rozenman, M.S., Dickerson, J.F., Iyengar, S. Weersing, R. Brief Behavioural Therapy for Pediatric Anxiety and Depression in Primary Care: a follow up Child Adoles Psychiatr (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2019.06.009. This study found that a new primary care-based therapy, Brief Behavioural Therapy (BBT), was more effective than a waitlist control at improving anxiety and depression.  Prior to wider clinical use, further studies are needed using more larger s...

Wenden, E.J., Lester, L., Zubrick, S.R. et al. The relationship between dog ownership, dog play, family dog walking, and pre-schooler social–emotional development: findings from the PLAYCE observational study. Pediatr Res (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-020-1007-2. Living with a dog during preschool years can reduce the likelihood of conduct and social problems, according to the results of this study. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41390-020-1007-2

Gee, B., Reynolds, S., Carroll, B., Orchard, F., Clarke, T., Martin, D., Wilson, J. and Pass, L. (2020), Practitioner Review: Effectiveness of indicated school‐based interventions for adolescent depression and anxiety – a meta‐analytic review. J Child Psychol Psychiatr, 61: 739-756. doi:10.1111/jcpp.13209. This systematic review found that school-based interventions for students with some symptoms of anxiety or depression were mildly effective in the short term for the former group and ...