A Review and Empirical Comparison of Two Treatments for Adolescent Males With Conduct and Personality Disorder: Mode Deactivation Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy

This research study compared the efficacy of two treatment methodologies for adolescent males in residential treatment with conduct disorders and/or personality dysfunctions and documented problems with physical and sexual aggression. The results showed that Mode Deactivation Therapy, an advanced form of cognitive behavioral therapy based on Beck’s theory of modes, was superior to CognitiveBehavioral Therapy in reducing both physical and sexual aggression. At the same time, Mode Deactivation Therapy was the only treatment of the three that significantly reduced sexual aggression for these youth. The results also showed that MDT was superior to CBT in reducing external and internal psychological distress as measured by DSMD and CBCL.