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Behavior therapies-Adolescents
Behavior therapy is mainly used for treating psychological disorders (as opposed to goal setting or behavior alignment for a particular passion) among adolescents. While there is no preexisting information to fully answer your question, we've used the available data to pull together key findings: The behavior therapies cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), as well as the psychotherapy multidimensional family therapy (MDFT), are proven effective with adolescents afflicted with depression and behavior problems.
Below you'll find an outline of our research methodology to better understand why the information you've requested is publicly unavailable, as well as a deep dive into our findings.
METHODOLOGY
To complete your request, I looked for medical and academic studies around behavior therapies proven successful with adolescents for behavior alignment with a particular goal. I researched academic and medical studies, reports, and resources from industry groups such as the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH). However, I found that behavior therapy is primarily used to treat psychological disorders as opposed to goal setting or behavior alignment for a particular passion.
Nevertheless, I found two behavior therapies as well as a psychotherapy with proven track records of success with adolescents, albeit those primarily afflicted with depression. I focused on finding established therapies for this response as strategies for goal setting with adolescents have been covered in a previous response. Please continue below to see the results of my research.
BEHAVIOR THERAPIES FOR ADOLESCENTS
Research shows that the 2 behavior therapies, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT), have proven efficacy with adolescents dealing with depression.
■ Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
The 2017 study "Depression and Anxiety Prevention Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for At-Risk Adolescents: A Meta-Analytic Review" analyzed a total of 36 studies to investigate the efficacy of CBT-based programs in preventing depression and anxiety in adolescents. Based on their analysis, the study authors reported that CBT is effective in preventing depression for high-risk adolescents in the short term.
An earlier study 'Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Depression and Suicidality' (2012) published in the US National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, also reported that CBT is "a well-established treatment for depression in children and adolescents" but not for suicidality.
■ Interpersonal Psychotherapy
The 2017 paper "Efficacy and Acceptability of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression in Adolescents: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials" analyzed 7 studies that investigated a collective 538 patients. Analysis showed that IPT was "significantly more effective than control conditions in reducing depressive symptoms" among adolescents during post-treatment and follow-up.
Also, the earlier study "Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents" (2008) reported that IPT has been proven effective in treating unipolar depressions in adolescents without bipolar or psychotic disorders.
These 2 behavior therapies were also recommended by the Child Mind Institute as proven effective for childhood and adolescent depression.
However, Behavioral Activation (BA) therapy lacks sufficient research to establish its efficacy with adolescents afflicted with depression.
■ Behavioral Activation Program
The only recent meta-analysis study I found regarding BA was the 2017 paper "Is Behavioural Activation Effective in the Treatment of Depression in Young People? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis". The study authors analyzed 10 studies investigating a collective 170 young patients. Therefore, the studies pooled for analysis were not focused primarily on adolescents but on young people 18 years old and younger. The study authors' conclusion following their analysis was that "BA may be an effective treatment of depression in young people," with no further reports of significant results.
An earlier study in 2016, entitled "Brief Behavioral Activation for Adolescent Depression" reported that a brief program of BA was useful in treating adolescent depression. However, the study focused on only one adolescent patient. The full report is locked behind a paywall.
PSYCHOTHERAPY
I also found the book "What Works with Children, Adolescents, and Adults?: A Review of Research on the Effectiveness of Psychotherapy" that investigates different psychotherapies that work with children, adolescents and adults. Though the book is locked behind a paywall, a keyword search yielded the following psychotherapies for adolescents discussed in the book:
• Dialectical behavior therapy - primarily for suicidal adolescents
• Multidimensional treatment foster care - primarily used for adolescent conduct disorder
• Group therapy - used with self-harming, suicidal adolescents
• Multisystemic therapy - used with adolescent conduct disorder
The book is available for purchase here. I did not find sufficient evidence for some therapies' success rate with adolescents in recent years. However, I have gathered the following findings from isolated studies of the MTFC and MDFT therapies:
The Institute for Innovation and Implementation at the University of Maryland School of Social Work for the Children’s Cabinet reported positive outcomes for multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC). In a 2013 paper (the latest available), the Institute reported that among youths who completed MTFC therapy in 2012, none were involved with further juvenile crimes during the next year. The average age of youths enrolled in the MTFC program was 14.4 years.
The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) reported in 2017 that multidimensional family therapy (MDFT) had a proven track record of success with adolescents showing antisocial behavior and substance abuse. ACAMH reviewed 19 papers that collectively studied nearly 1,500 participants. The Association concluded that "MDFT is effective for adolescents with substance abuse, delinquency, and comorbid behavior problems."
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Here are additional materials for further review:
'Psychotherapy for Children and Adolescents' from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) lists 7 therapies including CBT and IPT.
'Goal-Setting Interventions for Students with Behavior Problems' published in SAGE Journals investigates several interventions for K-12 students with behavior problems.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, we found that behavior therapy is primarily used in treating psychological disorders (as opposed to goal setting or behavior alignment for a particular passion) among adolescents.
Despite lack of available information around behavior therapies successfully used among adolescents for goal setting, we've used available data to pull together the following key findings: The behavior therapies Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), as well as the psychotherapy Multidimensional family therapy (MDFT), have proven track records of success with adolescents afflicted with depression and behavior problems.