Cognitive-Behavioral and Dialectical Behavior Therapy in High-Intensity Settings.

Youth mental health is a major public health concern. Adolescents experiencing mental health crises are increasingly presenting to high-intensity settings such as inpatient and partial hospitalization programs. These services offer a multimodal approach involving medication management, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).1 Treating these distressed youth in intense settings is challenging due to their high acuity, limited lengths of stay, and frequent lack of resources. However, CBT/DBT are typically evaluated in outpatient settings, leaving clinicians in high-intensity programs to adapt models with limited guidance.2 While traditional CBT/DBT interventions are not new or unfamiliar, and various literature reviews report their effectiveness, few reports offer specific guidance and practical tips for implementing these procedures.1-6 This Clinical Perspectives article highlights the necessary adaptations of traditional CBT/DBT for these intense settings in which high acuity, shorter stays, limited resource allocation, and a lack of staff involvement/training are limiting factors.

Temperament Traits in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Relation to Tourette Syndrome and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

INTRODUCTION: Pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Tourette syndrome (TS) are often concurrent. This study explores the temperament profile of complex OCD phenotypes. METHODS: A clinical registry recorded demographic data, psychiatric diagnoses, and temperament traits, including novelty seeking (exploratory behaviors), harm avoidance (fear of uncertainty), reward dependence (sentimentality), and persistence (perseverance). Temperament data were accrued from the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI). Participants were divided into (1) OCD only; (2) OCD+ADHD or TS; and (3) OCD+ADHD+TS to compare temperament. RESULTS: Participants include 126 youths with OCD (61.9% male, 88.9% white) between the ages 6 and 18 years (12.7 ± 3.1). Among the three groups, the complex neurodevelopmental disorder group OCD+ADHD+TS expresses the highest novelty seeking and lowest persistence. Harm avoidance is increased in all groups compared to reference controls, irrespective of concurrent ADHD or TS. For the OCD+ADHD+TS group, contamination and washing symptoms have higher novelty seeking (p < 0.01), while counting and ordering have lower novelty seeking (p < 0.05). Harm avoidance is increased with aggressive, somatic, and checking symptoms in OCD only (p < 0.01), while persistence is increased with repeating and counting symptoms in the comorbid groups (OCD+ADHD or TS, OCD+ADHD+TS). DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: The complex subtype, OCD+ADHD+TS, is associated with high novelty seeking and low persistence, while high harm avoidance is linked to pediatric OCD irrespective of ADHD or TS co-occurrence. In sum, pediatric OCD with ADHD and TS confers a unique temperament profile, further refining complex phenotypes of pediatric OCD for future research.