Loading clinical trials...

COMPLETEDNA

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Disruptive Behavior in Children and Adolescents

Using CBT to Examine Circuitry of Frustrative Non-reward in Aggressive Children

NCT01965184•Yale University

Summary

This is a randomized controlled study of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for disruptive behavior such as irritability, anger and aggression in children and adolescents. CBT will be compared to Supportive Psychotherapy (SPT) and participants of this study will be randomly assigned (like the flip of a coin) to receive CBT or SPT. Participants will be also asked to complete functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological (EEG) tasks (recordings/images of brain activity) before and after treatment.

Detailed Description

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a behavioral intervention that consists of 12 weekly sessions. During CBT children are taught various skills for coping with frustration and parents are taught various strategies for managing situations that can be anger provoking for their child. This study is conducted to examine whether reduction of behavioral problems including anger outbursts, irritability, aggression and noncompliance after CBT may be paralleled by changes in areas of the brain responsible for emotion regulation and social perception.

Eligibility

Age

8 - 16 years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion Criteria

•1. Boys and girls, 8 to 16 years of age.
•2. T-Score \> 65 on the parent-rated Aggressive Behavior Scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL).
•3. Unmedicated or on stable medication for aggression, ADHD, anxiety, or depression for at least 6 weeks, with no planned changes for duration of study.
•4. Children can speak English sufficiently enough to participate in CBT and study assessments.
•5. Children should have 1) no metal medical implants, 2) a body weight of less than 250 lbs. and 3) no claustrophobia. \[These are necessitated by the safety requirements of the fMRI.\]
•6. Children should be able to meet fMRI data quality requirements at baseline \[to enable pre- to post-treatment comparison.\]
•7. Families can commute to the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, CT for weekly visits.

Exclusion Criteria

•1. IQ below 85.
•2. Children across various DSM diagnoses will be eligible for participation. However, significant levels of psychopathology that require immediate clinical attention such as severe depression or psychosis will be exclusionary because it will require alternative treatments.
•3. Significant medical condition such as heart disease, hypertension, liver or renal failure, pulmonary disease, seizure disorder, brain injury based on medical history which can interfere with participation in the study.
•4. Concurrent psychotherapy can continue, but CBT for aggression is exclusionary. Subjects will be asked not to initiate any new child psychotherapy during the study.

Locations (1)

Yale University

New Haven, Connecticut, United States

Key Dates

Start Date

November 14, 2013

Primary Completion Date

August 3, 2018

Completion Date

November 3, 2018

Last Updated

November 18, 2023

Enrollment

101

ACTUAL participants

Conditions

Disruptive BehaviorAggressionAngerIrritabilityNoncompliance

Interventions

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anger and Aggression

BEHAVIORAL

Supportive Psychotherapy (SPT)

BEHAVIORAL

Evaluation of the Invest in Play Program - a New Parent Intervention for Children With Problem Behavior

NCT06984809

Problem BehaviorAttention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders

View study

RECRUITINGNA

Mobile Anger Reduction Intervention

NCT06094933

Posttraumatic Stress DisorderAnger

View study

Data Source & Attribution

This clinical trial information is sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

ClinicalTrials.gov last update: November 18, 2023Data synced to Clareo: March 29, 2026

Modifications: This data has been reformatted for display purposes. Eligibility criteria have been parsed into inclusion/exclusion sections. Location data has been geocoded to enable distance-based search. For the authoritative and most current information, please visit ClinicalTrials.gov.

Neither the United States Government nor Clareo Health make any warranties regarding the data. Check ClinicalTrials.gov frequently for updates.

View ClinicalTrials.gov Terms and Conditions

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Disruptive Behavior in Children and Adolescents

Inclusion Criteria

Exclusion Criteria

Evaluation of the Invest in Play Program - a New Parent Intervention for Children With Problem Behavior

Mobile Anger Reduction Intervention

Wise Intervention for Reducing Aggressive Behaviors and Promoting Prosocial Behaviors Toward LGB-TNB Individuals

Cobimetinib in Refractory Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH), and Other Histiocytic Disorders

Addressing Root Causes for Gun Violence Prevention (ARC-GVP)

Basic and Applied Research on Extinction Bursts