Treatment of depressed mothers with disruptive children: A controlled evaluation of cognitive behavioral family intervention

This study compared the effects of two forms of behavioral family intervention in reducing mothers' depression and disruptive behavior problems in families with a clinically depressed parent and a child with significant conduct problems. Forty-seven parents were randomly assigned to either a Behavioral Family Intervention (BFI) or to Cognitive Behavioral Family Intervention (CBFI) which integrated cognitive therapy strategies to treat depression and teaching of parenting skills. treatments were equally effective in reducing mothers' depression and child disruptive behavior on observational and self-report measures at postintervention. However, at 6-month follow-up more families in CBFI (53%) compared to BFI (13%) experienced concurrent clinically reliable reductions in maternal depression and child disruptive behavior These findings support the value of CBFI in reducing depression in mothers of children with disruptive behavior problems.