Alan E Kazdin

Parent Management Training: Treatment for Oppositional, Aggresive, and Alan E Kazdin

Currently in the mental health professions, there is keen interest in evidence-based treatments. Among the psychotherapies for children and adolescents, parent management training (PMT) is without peer. No other treatment for children has been as thoroughly investigated, and as widely applied as has PMT. In this book, Dr Alan Kazdin brings together the conceptual and empirical bases of this treatment, as applied to children and adolescents with oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behaviour. The book's first half provides the background, principles, and concepts underlying PMT, detailing the clinical application of treatment with concrete examples of how therapists should work with parents and children. Kazdin also highlights the wide body of research on PMT to demonstrate the empirical basis of this intervention, to convey what is understood about how PMT works, and to identify what can be done to enhance the effects of treatment. The book's second half is a treatment manual of PMT, as applied in outpatient treatment for children and adolescents referred for oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behaviour.
The PMT manual, which in its entirety is included in the book, details the particulars of the therapy: what is done to and by whom, what is said by the therapist, and what to expect at each stage of treatment. It also contains handouts, charts, and aides for parents. Both halves of the book move from the general (background, principles, and theory) to the specific (e.g. techniques; dialogues among the therapist, parent, and child; and materials used in treatment). Informed by research, the book remains concrete and grounded in clinical realities. Alan Kazdin is one of the most respected clinical psychologists in the country and has dedicated over twenty years to research and treatment for children.