Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:30:42.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Mindfulness Training for Adolescents with Externalizing Disorders and their Parents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2008

Susan Bögels ,
Bert Hoogstad ,
Lieke van Dun ,
Sarah de Schutter  and
Kathleen Restifo
Susan Bögels*
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Bert Hoogstad
Affiliation:
Community Child and Youth Mental Health Center of Maastricht, The Netherlands
Lieke van Dun
Affiliation:
Community Child and Youth Mental Health Center of Maastricht, The Netherlands
Sarah de Schutter
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kathleen Restifo
Affiliation:
Maastricht University, The Netherlands
*
Reprint requests to Susan Bögels, University of Amsterdam, Department of Education, PO Box 94208, 1090GE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Mindfulness training was evaluated as a new treatment for attention and impulsivity problems in adolescents with a variety of different externalizing disorders: attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, oppositional-defiant and/or conduct disorder, and autism spectrum disorder if characterized by externalizing problem behaviour. It was argued that the large overlap between these three disorders may be partially explained by common underlying attention and behaviour control deficits. Fourteen clinically referred adolescents suffering from externalizing disorders followed mindfulness training in a group format. Parallel, their parents received mindful parenting training. Adolescents and their parents were measured before and after waitlist, after 8-week training, and at 8-week follow-up. No improvement occurred during waitlist on most variables. After mindfulness training, children self-reported substantial improvement on personal goals, internalizing and externalizing complaints, attention problems, happiness, and mindful awareness, and performed better on a sustained attention test. Likewise, parents reported improvement on children's goals, externalizing and attention problems, self-control, attunement to others and withdrawal. In addition, parents improved on their own goals. Improvement was maintained 8 weeks after the training. Consistent with mindfulness theory, increased child awareness after training predicted longer-term improvement in parent-rated child symptoms. Concomitant parent and child mindfulness training appears to be a promising approach for clinic-referred adolescents with attention and impulsivity problems.

Keywords

Mindfulnessexternalizingchildren and adolescentsmindful parentingmeditation
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 193 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1991a). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4-18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T. M. (1991b). Manual for the Youth Self-report and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont.Google Scholar
Angold, A. and Costello, E. J. (2001). The epidemiology of disorders of conduct: nosological issues and comorbidity. InHill, J. and Maugham, B. (Eds), Conduct Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence (pp.126–168). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Barkley, R. A. (1990). Hyperactive Children: a handbook for diagnosis and treatment (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Bastiaansen, D., Koot, H. M., Bongers, I. L., Varni, J. W. and Verhulst, F. C. (2004). Measuring quality of life in children referred for psychiatric problems: psychometric properties of the PedsQLTM 4.0 generic core scales. Quality of Life Research, 13, 489–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bates, M. E. and Lemay, E. P. (2004). The d2 Test of attention: construct validity and extensions in scoring techniques. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 10, 392–400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bauminger, N. (2007). Group social multimodal intervention for HFASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 1605–1615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bear, R. (2003). Mindfulness training as a clinical intervention: a conceptual and empirical review. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 125–143.Google Scholar
Bennet, D. S. and Gibbons, T. A. (2000). Efficacy of child cognitive-behavioral interventions for antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 22, 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Biedermann, J., Newcorn, J. and Sprich, S. (1991). Comorbidity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with conduct, depressive, and other disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 148, 564–577.Google Scholar
Bishop, S. R. (2002). What do we really know about mindfulness-based stress reduction? Psychosomatic Medicine, 64, 71–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brickenkamp, R. (1994). Test d2. Aufmerksamkeits-Belastungs-Test (8. auflage). Gottingen: Hogrefe.Google Scholar
Brown, K. W. and Ryan, R. M. (2003). The benefits of being present: mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822–848.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derezotes, D. (2000). Evaluation of yoga and meditation trainings with adolescent sex offenders. Child and Adolescent Social work Journal, 17, 97–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dodge, K. A. and Pettit, G. S. (2003). A biopsychological model of the development of chronic conduct problems in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 39, 349–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dumas, J. (2005). Mindfulness-based parent training: strategies to lessen the grip of automaticity in families with disruptive children. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 34, 779–791.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fergusson, D. M., Horwood, L.J. and Lynsky, M. (1994). The comorbidities of adolescent problem behaviours: a latent class model. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 22, 339–354.Google ScholarPubMed
Ford, T., Goodman, R. and Meltzer, H. (2003). The British child and adolescent mental health survey 1999: the prevalence of DSM-IV disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 42, 1203–1211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, U. (1989). Autism: explaining the enigma. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Ghazziuddin, M., Tsai, L. and Ghazziuddin, N. (1992). Comorbidity of autistic disorder in children and adolescents. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 4, 209–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ghazziuddin, M., Weidmer-Mikhail, E. and Ghazziuddin, N. (1995). Comorbidity of Asperger syndrome: a preliminary report. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 42, 279–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glasson, E. J., Bower, C., Petterson, B., de Klerk, N., Chaney, G. and Hallmeyer, J. F. (2004). Perinatal factors and the development of autism: a population study. Archives of General Psychiatry, 61, 618–627.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Graham, P. (2000). Treatment interventions and findings from research: bridging the chasm in child psychiatry. British Journal of Psychiatry, 176, 414–419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Green, J., Gilchrest, A., Burton, D. and Cox, A. (2000). Social and psychiatric functioning in adolescents with Asperger's syndrome compared with conduct disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, 30, 279–293.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrison, L. J., Manocha, R. and Rubia, K. (2004). Sahaja yoga meditation as a family treatment programme for children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 9, 479–497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hartman, C. A., Luteijn, E., Serra, M. and Minderaa, R. (2006). Refinement of the Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ): an instrument that describes the diverse problems seen in milder forms of PDD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2006 Apr 15; [Epub ahead of print].Google Scholar
Jonkman, L. M., Kemner, C., Verbaten, M. N., Koelega, H. S., Camfferman, G., Van Der Gaag, R., Buitelaar, J. K. and Engeland, H. (1997). Effects of Methylphenidate on event-related potentials and performance of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder children in auditory and visual selective attention tasks. Biological Psychiatry, 41, 690–702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Where Ever You Go, You Are: mindfulness meditation in everyday life. New York: Hyperion.Google Scholar
Kabat-Zinn, M. and Kabat-Zinn, J. (1997). Everyday Blessings: the inner work of mindful parenting. New York: Hyperion.Google Scholar
Kendall, P. (1979). Self Control Rating Scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 1020–1029.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, J., Szatmari, P., Bryson, S., Streiner, D. and Wilson, F. (2000). The prevalence of anxiety and mood problems among children with autism and Asperger syndrome. Autism, 4, 117–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiresuk, T. J. and Sherman, R. E. (1968). Goal Attainment Scaling: a general method for evaluating comprehensive community mental health programs. Community Mental Health Journal, 4, 443–453.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Linehan, M. M. (1993). Skills Training Manual for Treating Borderline Personality Disorder. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Luteijn, E., Luteijn, F., Jackson, S., Volkmar, F. and Minderaa, R. B. (2000). The Children's Social Behavior Questionnaire for milder variants of PDD problems: evaluation of the psychometric characteristics. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 317–330.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lyubomirsky, S. and Lepper, H. S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oord, Van Den, S., Prins, P. J. M., Oosterlaan, J. and Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2006). Efficacy of Methylphenidate, psychosocial treatment, and their combination in school-aged children with ADHD: a meta-analysis. Submitted.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1995). Coercion: a basis for early age of onset of arrest. InMcCord, J. (Ed.), Coercion and Punishment in Long-Term Perspective (pp. 81–105). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeves, J., Werry, J. S., Elkind, G. S. and Zametkin, A. Z. (1987). Attention deficit, conduct, oppositional, and anxiety disorder in children: II. clinical characteristics. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 87, 144–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlosser, R. W. (2004). Goal attainment scaling as a clinical measurement technique in communication disorders: a critical review. Journal of communication disorders, 37, 217–239.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G. and Teasdale, J. D. (2002). Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Semple, R. J., Lee, J. and Miller, L. F. (2006). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for children. In Baer, R. A. (Ed.), Mindfulness-based Treatment Approaches: clinician's guide to evidence base and applications. Amsterdam: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Serketich, W. J. and Dumas, J. E. (1996). The effectiveness of behavioral parent training to modify antisocial behavior in children: a meta-analysis. Behavior Therapy, 27, 171–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverman, W. K. and Nelles, W. B. (1980). The Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 27, 772–778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Sonneville, L. M. J. (1999). Amsterdam neuropsychological tasks: a computer-aided assessment program. Inden Brinker, B. P. L. M., Beek, P. J., Brand, A. N., Maarse, S. J. and Mulder, L. J. M. (Eds), Cognitive Ergonomics, Clinical Assessment and Computer-assisted Learning: computers in psychology, Vol. 6 (pp. 187–203). Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger.Google Scholar
Varni, J. W., Seid, M. and Kurtin, P. S. (2001). PedsQL(tm) 4.0: reliability and validity of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory(tm) Version 4.0 Generic Core Scales in Healthy and Patient Populations. Medical Care, 39, 800–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Werry, J. S., Reeves, J. C. and Elkind, G. S. (1987). Attention deficit, conduct, oppositional, and anxiety disorders in children: I. a review of research on differentiating characteristics. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 87, 133–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whalen, C. K. and Henker, B. (1984). Hyperactivity and the attention deficit disorders: expanding frontiers. Pediatric Clinic North America, 31, 397–427.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wolff, S. (1991). “Schizoid” personality in childhood and adult life III: the childhood clinical picture. British Journal of Psychiatry, 36, 793–817.Google Scholar
Wolff, S. and McGuire, R. J. (1995). “Schizoid” personality in girls: a follow-up study - what are the links with Asperger's Syndrome? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 36, 793–817.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yoshida, Y. and Uchiyama, T. (2004). The clinical necessity for assessing Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) symptoms in children with high-functioning Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 13, 307–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.