More and more children are diagnosed with various emotional disorders, especially anxiety disorders, with prevalence figures reaching 15%. Cross-cutting treatment based on education and emotional management (EDTP) aims to teach children and adolescents how to manage the emotions and circumstances of daily life.
The pace of life agitated, academic demands, stress of parents and genetic vulnerability to emotional disorders are some of the factors that can lead children to develop psychological disorders.
From this perspective, there are several treatments to find a solution to these disorders.
It was common to have some form of cognitive behavioral treatment for a particular pathology, for example, for childhood depression, was the Méndez PEAC or Stark ACTION program, among the most relevant.
Interest in treating various cross-cutting psychological disorders has increased today. The starting point is the knowledge that many of these disorders have a common nucleus.
In this sense, and for the adult population, we can cite Norton’s transdiagnosis behavioral cognitive treatment or the Barlow Unified Protocol.
Both programs look for factors common to various emotional pathologies (anxiety, depression, somatomorphic disorders?), to be treated with the most effective and efficient techniques and strategies.
This practice has now spread to the field of child psychology, with programs such as cross-cutting treatment based on education and emotional management (EDTP).
Jill Ehrenreich, a psychologist at the University of Miami and director of the Anxiety and Mood Treatment Program for Children and Adolescents, has developed an innovative cross-cutting program to address emotional problems in children: Cross-cutting treatment based on education and emotional management (EDTP).
Part of the basis that has the line that separates the various disorders that children may present is very tenuous, in fact, as in adults, it is very common for anxiety and depression to be morbid disorders.
According to a study published in the journal Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, the severity of anxiety and depression has been significantly reduced in children who have been treated with EDTP.
The main objective of the intervention is to identify the weaknesses of each patient, as well as to develop a plan so that they do not represent an insurmountable obstacle when it comes to solving problems.
The innovative treatment program is mainly based on cognitive techniques, but also includes effective behavioral strategies, the pillars of which are:
Researchers recruited 22 children between the age of 7 and 12 to participate in the study, each of whom had a primary diagnosis of anxiety disorder and a secondary depression problem.
Once a week, study participants attended EDTP group therapy sessions for a total of 15 weeks. The results showed that of the 18 children who completed the program, 14 no longer met the criteria for anxiety disorder.
In addition, only 1 of the 5 children diagnosed with depression prior to treatment continued to meet these criteria after the program.
One of the most surprising results was the improvement of depression concomitant with anxiety. Depression, linked to any other psychological disorder, is common to delayed or hinder its treatment.
This is a fundamental problem, as most current therapies are not designed to treat various emotional problems together.
The researchers’ hypothesis, based on Peter Norton’s results, stated that if the main disorder were addressed from a broader perspective, including strategies for depression, it would also improve.
The key point, as Norton shows, would be to find the core underlying all the problems and distance ourselves from the “artificial distinctions”.