Cognitive-behavioral therapy fund effective for traumatized kids

Individual and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were the only interventions found effective in an evaluation of seven commonly-used approaches to reduce the psychological harm to youth who experience trauma.
Evidence for the five other interventions evaluated—play therapy, art therapy, psychodynamic therapy, pharmacologic therapy, and psychological debriefing—was found insufficient to judge effectiveness. The evaluation is one of a series of reviews of community health interventions carried out by the Task Force on Community Preventive Services, an independent, nonfederal group convened by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Task Force recommendations based on the reviews are incorporated in the Guide to Community Preventive Services, which summarizes what is known about the effectiveness, economic efficiency, and feasibility of interventions to promote community health and prevent disease.
The number of children and adolescents in the U.S. exposed to trauma each year is substantial. National survey data from 2002 to 2003 on children ages 12 to 17 indicate that one in eight children experienced a form of child maltreatment, such as abuse or neglect; one in 12 experienced sexual victimization; and one in three witnessed or indirectly experienced violence or victimization, including rioting, assault, and theft. The psychological harm that can result from exposure of children to trauma includes post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and thoughts of suicide, risk-taking and aggressive behavior, and substance abuse.