"Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) was developed by Drs. Anthony Mannarino, Judith Cohen and Esther Deblinger. TF-CBT is an evidence-based treatment that has been evaluated and refined during the past 25 years to help children and adolescents recover after trauma. Currently, 21 randomized controlled trials have been conducted in the U.S., Europe and Africa, comparing TF-CBT to other active treatment conditions. All of these studies have documented that TF-CBT was superior for improving children’s trauma symptoms and responses. TF-CBT is a structured, short-term treatment model that effectively improves a range of trauma-related outcomes in 8-25 sessions with the child/adolescent and caregiver. Although TF-CBT is highly effective at improving youth posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and diagnosis, a PTSD diagnosis is not required in order to receive this treatment. TF-CBT also effectively addresses many other trauma impacts, including affective (e.g., depressive, anxiety), cognitive and behavioral problems, as well as improving the participating parent’s or caregiver’s personal distress about the child’s traumatic experience, effective parenting skills, and supportive interactions with the child.
The federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has recognized TF-CBT as a Model Program due to the extensive outcome data from randomized controlled trials that support its effectiveness in improving a variety of problems. While TF-CBT was originally developed to address the needs of children who experienced sexual abuse, over the past 15 years it has been used and studied for many other populations of traumatized youth. Research now documents that TF-CBT is effective for diverse, multiple and complex trauma experiences, for youth of different developmental levels, and across different cultures." (https://tfcbt.org/about/)
Research Articles
This is a subset of research available
Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology (2013): A Randomized Effectiveness Study Comparing Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With Therapy as Usual for Youth, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2013.822307
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2013.822307
Deblinger, E., Lippmann, J., & Steer, R. (1996). Sexually abused children suffering posttraumatic stress symptoms: Initial treatment outcome findings. Child Maltreatment, 1(4), 310-321.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559596001004003
Deblinger, E., Steer, R. A., & Lippmann, J. (1999). Two-year follow-up study of cognitive behavioral therapy for sexually abused children suffering post-traumatic stress symptoms. Child Abuse & Neglect, 23(12), 1371-1378.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0145-2134(99)00091-5
Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (1996). A treatment outcome study for sexually abused preschool children: Initial findings. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(1), 42-50.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199601000-00011
Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (1996). Factors that mediate treatment outcome of sexually abused preschool children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35(10), 1402-1410.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199610000-00028
Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (1998). Factors that mediate treatment outcome of sexually abused preschool children: Six- and 12-month follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 37(1), 44-51.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199801000-00016
Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (1997). A treatment study for sexually abused preschool children: Outcome during a one-year follow-up. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(9), 1228-1235.3.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-199709000-00015
Cohen, J. A., & Mannarino, A. P. (1998). Interventions for sexually abused children: Initial treatment outcome findings. Child Maltreatment: Journal of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 3(1), 17-26.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559598003001002
King, N. J., Tonge, B. J., Mullen, P., Myerson, N., Heyne, D., Rollings, S., Martin, R., & Ollendick, T. H. (2000). Treating sexually abused children with posttraumatic stress symptoms: A randomized clinical trial. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 39(11), 1347-1355.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200011000-00008
Deblinger, E., Stauffer, L. & Steer, R. (2001). Comparative efficacies of supportive and cognitive behavioral group therapies for children who were sexually abused and their nonoffending mothers. Child Maltreatment, 6(4), 332-343. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559501006004006
Cohen, J., Deblinger, E., Mannarino, A. & R. Steer (2004). A multisite, randomized controlled trial for children with sexual abuse-related PTSD symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(4), 393-402. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200404000-00005
Deblinger, E., Mannarino, A. P., Cohen, J. A. & Steer, R. A. (2006). Follow-up study of a multisite, randomized, controlled trial for children with sexual abuse-related PTSD symptoms: Examining predictors of treatment response. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 45, 12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.chi.0000240839.56114.bb
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., Perel, M.D. & Staron, V. (2007). A pilot randomized controlled trial of combined trauma-focused CBT and sertraline for childhood PTSD symptoms. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 46, 811-819. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/chi.0b013e3180547105
Jaycox, L. H., Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., Walker, D. W., Langley, A. K., Gegenheimer, K. L., et al. (2010). Children’s mental health care following Hurrican Katrina: A field trial of trauma-focused psychotherapies. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23, 223-231.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jts.20518
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., & Iyengar, S. (2011). Community treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder for children exposed to intimate partner violence: A randomized controlled trial. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 165(1), 16-21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.247
Deblinger, E., Mannarino, A. P., Cohen, J. A., Runyon, M. K., & Steer, R. A. (2011). Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children: Impact of the trauma narrative component and treatment length. Depression and Anxiety, 28, 67-75.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/da.20744
Mannarino, A. P., Cohen, J. A., Deblinger, E., Runyon, M. K., & Steer, R. A. (2012). Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children sustained impact of treatment 6 – 12 months later. Child Maltreatment 17(3) 231-241. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559512451787
O’Callaghan, P., McMullen, J., Shannon, C. , Rafferty, H., Black, A. (2013). A randomized controlled trial of Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for sexually exploited, war-affected Congolese girls. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(4), 359-369.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2013.01.013
McMullen, J., O’Callaghan, P., Shannon, C., Black, A., & Eskin, J. (2013). Group Trauma-focused Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy with former child soldiers and other war-affected boys in the DR Congo: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, (Epub ahead of print).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12094
Dorsey, S., Pullmann, M. D., Berliner, L., Koschmann, E., McKay, M., & Deblinger, E. (2014). Engaging foster parents in treatment: A randomized trial of supplementing Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with evidence-based engagement strategies. (Child Abuse and Neglect, 38, 1508-1520).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.03.020
Dorsey, S., Kerns, S. E., Trupin, E., Conover, K. A., & Berliner, L. (2012). Child welfare social workers as service brokers for youth in foster care: Findings from Project Focus. Child Maltreatment, 17(1), 22-31.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559511429593
Jensen, T. K., Holt, T., Silje, M., Ormhaug, K. E., et al. (2013). A randomized effectiveness study comparing Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with therapy as usual for youth. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2013.822307
Ormhaug, S. M., Jensen, T. K., Wentzel-Larsen, T., & Shirk, S. R. (2013). The therapeutic alliance in treatment of traumatized youths: Relation to outcome in a randomized clinical trial. American Psychological Association.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033884
Diehle, J., Opmeer, B. C., Boer, F., Mannarino, A. P., & Lindauer, R. J. L. (2014). Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: what works in children with posttraumatic stress symptoms? A randomized controlled trial. Eur. Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (online).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00787-014-0572-5
Murray, Laura K., Skavenski, Stephanie, Kane, Jeremy C., Mayeya, John, Dorsey, Shannon, Cohen, Judy A., Michalopoulos, Lynn T., Imasiku, Mwyla, and Bolton, Paul A. (2015). Effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy among trauma-affected children in Lusaka, Zambia – A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatrics (online). http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0580
Salloum, A., Small, B. J., Robst, J., Scheeringa, M. S., Cohen, J. A., &Storch, E. A. (2015). Stepped and Standard Care for Childhood Trauma: A Pilot Randomized Clinical Trial. Research on Social Work Practice (Online First), 1-11.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049731515601898
Salloum, A., Wang, W., Robst, J., Murphy, T. K., Scheeringa, M. S., Cohen, J. A., & Storch, E. A. (2015). Stepped care versus standard trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy for young children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (online).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12471
Cohen, J. A., Mannarino, A. P., Jankowski, K., Rosenberg, S., Kodya, S., & Wolford II, G. L. (2016). A Randomized Implementation Study of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adjudicated Teens in Residential Treatment Facilities. Child Maltreatment (online).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1077559515624775
Goldbeck, L., Muche, R., Sachser, C., Tutus, D., & Rosner, R. (2016). Effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Eight German Mental Health Clinics. Psychotherapy and Psychomatics 16, 159-170.