Читать книгу Introduction to Abnormal Child and Adolescent Psychology - Robert Weis - Страница 185

Although it is encouraging to know that child therapy works, we also want to know which system of therapy works best. Researchers who study adult psychotherapy have concluded that all forms of therapy are equally efficacious. No single system of psychotherapy works best under all circumstances (Norcross & Lambert, 2020). Some researchers refer to this phenomenon as the dodo verdict (Parloff, 1984; Rosenzweig, 1936). In Alice in Wonderland, Alice watches a race in which each contestant starts in a different position, each races in a different direction, and all contestants win. One of the characters in the story, the dodo bird, concludes, “Everybody has won, and all must have prizes.” So, too, in adult psychotherapy, there is little evidence that any form of therapy is superior to any other form of therapy, overall (Image 4.1).

Is the dodo verdict also true for child psychotherapy? The results are mixed (Weisz et al., 2017). On one hand, children responded equally well to all of the approaches to therapy that the researchers examined. For example, behavioral and cognitive therapies were as efficacious as other approaches to therapy (e.g., interpersonal therapy, family therapy). Furthermore, therapies that focused chiefly on caregivers and other family members were as efficacious as therapies that focused mostly on children and adolescents themselves. These findings largely support the dodo verdict.

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On the other hand, the efficacy of each approach to therapy depended on who reported children’s outcomes. Overall, behavioral and cognitive therapies were associated with the best outcomes as reported by parents, teachers, and children themselves. Other forms of therapy (e.g., interpersonal, family systems) were not as efficacious when outcomes were reported by teachers or other adults outside the family. These findings do not support the dodo verdict; instead, they suggest that behavioral and cognitive therapies involving children yield the most robust effects across home and school settings.

The effects of therapy did not vary as a function of children’s age, gender, or ethnicity. Children and adolescents responded equally well to therapy. Similarly, the effects of therapy were similar for boys and girls. Therapy also seems to be equally efficacious for White and non-White youths, although more research examining psychotherapy with ethnic minority children and families is needed.