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Psychological Treatments for Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis

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Abstract

Meta-analyses of the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in childhood and adolescence are restricted to specific trauma, selected interventions, and methodologically rigorous studies. This large meta-analysis quantifies the effects of psychological treatments for PTSD symptoms in children and adolescents. An extensive literature search yielded a total of 13,040 articles; 135 studies with 150 treatment conditions (N = 9562 participants) met the inclusion criteria (psychological interventions with children and/or adolescents with PTSD symptoms that report quantitative measures of symptom change). The mean effect sizes (ESs) for PTSD symptoms ranged from large to small, depending on the control condition. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) yielded the highest ESs. Age and caretaker involvement were identified as moderators. CBT, especially when conducted in individual treatment with the inclusion of parents, is a highly effective treatment for trauma symptoms. Psychological treatments need to be modified to address younger patients’ specific needs.

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Notes

  1. For the sake of comparability, pre-post ESs (rather than pre-follow-up effects) are reported.

  2. For detailed information, see Electronic supplementary material 1.

  3. This figure is based on 107 studies that provided data on mean age.

  4. Deblinger et al. (1990), Habigzang et al. (2009), Habigzang et al. (2013), and Ronholt et al. (2013)—see Electronic supplementary material 3 for references.

  5. Cohen and Mannarino (1997), Lesmana et al. (2009), and Trowell et al. (2002)—see Electronic supplementary material 3 for references.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this work was partly provided (Jana Gutermann, Julia Deppe, and Laura Schwartkopff) by Grant 01KR1204C from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Simone Matulis and Regina Steil received honoraria for supervision, workshops, and presentations on different treatments, including developmentally adapted cognitive processing therapy (D-CPT). The authors would like to thank Marie Landenberger for her help with data collection.

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  1. Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Goethe University, Varrentrappstr. 40-42, 60486, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Jana Gutermann, Franziska Schreiber, Simone Matulis, Laura Schwartzkopff, Julia Deppe & Regina Steil

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  1. Jana Gutermann
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  2. Franziska Schreiber
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Correspondence to Jana Gutermann.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1. Detailed information on quantitative data synthesis (DOCX 37 kb)

Supplementary material 2. Description of conditions with ES sidentified as outliers (DOCX 25 kb)

Supplementary material 3. References of studies included in the Meta-Analysis (DOCX 41 kb)

Supplementary material 4. Table 3: Characteristics of included studies (DOCX 125 kb)

10567_2016_202_MOESM5_ESM.docx

Supplementary material 5. Table 4: Effect size analysis of studies/treatment conditions examining the efficacy of psychological treatment on PTSD, depressive, and anxiety symptoms in PTSD patients (DOCX 93 kb)

Supplementary material 6. Funnel plots (DOCX 144 kb)

Supplementary material 7. Quality scores (DOCX 23 kb)

Supplementary material 8. Prisma Checklist (DOC 67 kb)

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Gutermann, J., Schreiber, F., Matulis, S. et al. Psychological Treatments for Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis. Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 19, 77–93 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-016-0202-5

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