Commentary: Why treatment is the best choice for childhood mental disorders – a commentary on Roest et al. (2022)

Tycho J. Dekkers, Annabeth P. Groenman, Pim Cuijpers, Pieter J. Hoekstra, Marjolein Luman, Bram Orobio de Castro, Geertjan Overbeek, Arne Popma, Nanda Rommelse, Elske Salemink, Yvonne A. J. Stikkelbroek, Barbara J. van den Hoofdakker, Saskia van der Oord, Patty Leijten

Research output: Contribution to journalComment/Letter to the editorAcademic

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An important question in mental healthcare for children is whether treatments are effective and safe in the long run. Here, we comment on a recent editorial perspective by Roest et al. (2022), who argue, based on an overview of systematic reviews, ‘that there is no convincing evidence that interventions for the most common childhood disorders are beneficial in the long term’. We believe that the available evidence does not justify this conclusion and express our concern regarding the harmful effects of their message. We show that there is evidence to suggest beneficial longer term treatment effects for each of the disorders and explain why evidence-based treatment should be offered to children with mental disorders.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)470-473
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
Volume64
Issue number3
Early online date2 Nov 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2023

Keywords

  • Child psychopathology
  • evidence-based treatment
  • long-term effects
  • mental healthcare

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