To assess the effectiveness of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy for children and adolescents who have been sexually abused.
Method:
The Cochrane Collaboration’s criteria for data synthesis and study quality assessment were used. Electronic bibliographic databases and web searches were used to identify randomized and quasi-randomized trials comparing psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy with treatment as usual or no treatment/waiting list control for children and adolescents up to the age of 18 who had experienced sexual abuse at any time prior to the intervention.
Results:
There are no randomized and quasi-randomized trials that met the inclusion criteria.
Conclusion:
As no eligible studies were identified, we cannot draw any conclusion as to the effectiveness of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy for this population. This important gap emphasizes the need for further research into the effectiveness of psychoanalytic/psychodynamic psychotherapy in this population. Directions for future research in this area are discussed.
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