Antisocial Adolescents: Our Treatments do not Work — Where do we go from Here?

Abstract

The dramatic increase in antisocial adolescent behaviour is shown through statistics outlining the increase in juvenile crime for Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. This paper presents a review of evaluative studies of conventional treatments available for antisocial adolescents. Studies involving Case Work, Individual Psychotherapy, Behaviour Modification, Group Counselling, Family Therapy, Milieu Therapy and Therapeutic Community are discussed. Findings indicate that, in general, these treatments are inadequate for the rehabilitation needs of adolescents with conduct disorders. One question arising from this review is whether the unsatisfactory results with present treatment approaches may be due to the perception of antisocial behaviour as a sickness rather than a lack of socialization. The Social Learning Theory is investigated as a means for teaching social norms. A number of studies are cited as showing the effectiveness of social learning types of programs. Success has also been achieved with antisocial adolescents in a behavioural-employment intervention program; this area is also explored. The impact of evaluative studies on clinical practice is reported as minimal. Some of the reasons which could explain this lack of impact are explored. The paper emphasizes the need for discarding those treatments which have been shown to be ineffective and adopting those which show promise.