[What Did You Like About the Therapy? - A Qualitative Study on the Evaluation of Mentalization-Based Treatment for Adolescents with Conduct Disorder].

Abstract

Psychotherapeutic treatment for adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) is considered difficult for various reasons. On the one hand, patients frequently lack psychological strain, and striving for autonomy is part of typical adolescent development. On the other hand, therapists can react aversively to delinquent and violent behavior, and insufficient psychological models explaining aetiology and maintenance of symptoms can impede treatment of adolescents with CD. Mentalization-Based Therapy for adolescents with CD (MBT-CD) was developed with the aim of addressing these difficulties and improving psychotherapeutic treatment for this patient group. MBT-CD focuses on the promotion of the adolescents autonomy by increasing their scope of action via an improvement of mentalizing ability. The aim of this qualitative study is to investigate the acceptance of MBT-CD by the adolescents in terms of their experience with MBT-CD and thus obtain information about aspects which enhance therapy motivation for this group of patients. For this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews with twelve adolescents after completion of therapy assessing their subjective therapy evaluation. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the data. The results show both helpful and hindering aspects of the mentalization-based interventions. In addition, the monthly family sessions included in the therapy were regarded as important. Adolescents also regarded emotion regulation strategies as helpful. Implications for the treatment of adolescents with CD are discussed.