Editorial: Are Group-Based Interventions Effective for Treating Trauma-Related Psychopathology in Children and Young People?

Abstract

Trauma-exposed young people are about twice as likely as their unexposed peers to develop mental health problems, which, if left untreated, can have long-term negative consequences.¹ There is robust evidence for the effectiveness of individual trauma-focused psychological therapies to improve trauma-related psychopathology, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in young people.² However, there are minimal services that provide such specialist treatments in low/middle-income countries where most young people live,³ and services may be severely disrupted at times of extreme stressors, such as war, natural disasters, and other humanitarian crises, when need is greatest.⁴ Moreover, even in high-income stable regions where child mental health services are established and treatments are available, these health care resources are limited, and can only be accessed by a minority of affected trauma-exposed young people.⁵ There is therefore a need for research to indicate effective interventions that are more accessible and can be delivered on a greater scale to treat more young people with trauma-related psychopathology.⁶ The recent meta-analysis by Davis et al.⁷ focused on the more accessible intervention of group-based psychological treatment for child PTSD symptoms, and found evidence of effectiveness compared with control conditions. The study provides an important advancement in this field, and also highlights the need for further research to better understand how group interventions can be most usefully implemented.