This article provides a brief overview of the outcome research on psychotherapy with children and adolescents. Outcome research indicates that psychotherapy can be effective with both children and adolescents, with meta-analyses indicating that youth who participated in this type of intervention tended to score on the outcome measures half of a standard deviation or more above those who did not receive any intervention. Little is known about the process of psychotherapy with children, but there are some indications that the therapeutic relationship is important. Moreover, there is some research that supports the assumption that certain types of treatment are most helpful with specific clinical issues.
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