Early Interv Psychiatry. 2026 Mar;20(3):e70146. doi: 10.1111/eip.70146.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Impulsive aggressive behaviour is highly prevalent among children and adolescents referred to mental health clinics. However, there is limited evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for its treatment. This study examined the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) for adolescents with intermittent explosive disorder (IED).
METHODS: This randomised controlled trial employed a pre-test/post-test design with a 3-month follow-up. Forty-two adolescents diagnosed with IED were recruited through purposive sampling and randomly assigned to either a CBT intervention group or a wait-list control group. Assessments were conducted at baseline, post-treatment and follow-up. The intervention group received 12 weekly CBT sessions.
RESULTS: ANCOVA analyses showed significant group differences in overt aggression, hostile automatic thoughts, emotion dysregulation, impulse control and global functioning. Compared with the wait-list group, adolescents receiving CBT demonstrated lower levels of aggressive behaviour, hostile cognitions, hostile bias and emotion regulation difficulties, along with shorter stop-signal reaction times and longer stop-signal delay times. They also exhibited improved global functioning. Repeated-measures ANOVA confirmed that these therapeutic gains were maintained over the 3-month follow-up period.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that when CBT is delivered comprehensively in a multicomponent format targeting maladaptive cognitions, emotion dysregulation and self-control deficits, it can serve as an effective intervention for adolescents with IED.
PMID:41797297 | DOI:10.1111/eip.70146
