Evidence-Based Therapies for Children and Adolescents: Where Are We, and How Did We Get Here?

Mental health disorders are among the leading causes of disability and functional impairment among children and adolescents worldwide. Only a fraction of youth in need of services receive them and there is particular need for the development, dissemination, and implementation of services with proven efficacy for a range of mental health conditions. Evidence-based therapies have demonstrated beneficial outcomes across multiple samples, ideally in a range of settings. As handbook editors, we placed particular emphasis on the identification and interpretation of meta-analytic effect sizes (standardized mean difference scores) as a means of considering and choosing interventions that have the greatest probability of positively affecting children and adolescents. The authors of the chapters in the present volume have captured the advances in the evidence-base for psychological therapies. The field of clinical child and adolescent psychology has shown tremendous growth in recent years. As presented by these chapter authors, clinicians have a range of treatment options for a number of different conditions and presenting problems to help fulfill the immense need for competent clinical services for children, adolescents, and their families.