Is CBT Helpful for Conduct Disorders?
Conduct disorder is the most common childhood diagnosis, and it is one that is easily understood. After all, all people get angry sometimes, especially children. People with a conduct disorder, however, take this anger and frustration to a new level. For example, people with a conduct disorder are verbally and physically aggressive, are cruel and destructive towards people and animals, and commit dishonest acts such as lying, vandalism, and stealing. A meta-analysis of 27 studies of the effect of CBT on disruptive behavior was published in 2004 at the University of California. It found that CBT is helpful when treating disruptive childhood behaviors in general, but even more interestingly, using CBT with conduct disorder children is even more effective. Children in the study who had been diagnosed with conduct disorder had even greater success with CBT than children who had been diagnosed with other disorders. Research also shows that the best way to treat conduct disorder is with a mu
