In 1952, Eysenck published a groundbreaking paper, The effects of psychotherapy: An evaluation, which sparked a bitter controversy when he reported that “only” 64% of cases improved significantly with treatment. Five years later, Levitt found that 67% of children were much or partially improved. Unfortunately, today’s values are the same as they were seven decades ago. Weisz et al. (2017), after reviewing four hundred and forty-seven studies published between 1960 and 2013, involving 30,431 children and adolescents, estimated the probability of a child improving significantly at the end of treatment at 63%. Essau et al. (2019) reviewed studies by leading researchers in cognitive behavioural therapy for anxiety and depression, including Philip Kendall, Thomas Ollendick, Martin Seligman, Lars-Göran Öst or Paula Barrett, and concluded that up to 65% of children respond to treatment. Méndez et al. (2021) identified one hundred and twenty-three studies on the treatment of depression, carried out between 1986 and 2020, in which 3,501 adolescents participated, and found an average response rate to psychological treatment of 61%. We are still stuck in the 60-70% efficacy range, so it is inevitable to ask: Are we making progress or are we stagnating?

Xavier Méndez

University of Murcia, Spain

Xavier Méndez is a professor at the University of Murcia, tutor professor at the associated centre of Elche of the National Open University, and Specialist in Clinical Psychology. He is a guest lecturer at Spanish and foreign universities, author and coordinator of numerous books on psychological treatment in childhood and adolescence, including, among others, Ansiedad por separación: Psicopatología, evaluación y tratamiento (Separation anxiety: Psychopathology, assessment and treatment), Depresión infantil y adolescente; Psychopathology, assessment and psychological treatment, Psychological therapy with children and adolescents: Clinical case studies; Therapeutic procedures in children and adolescents. He is the Director of the collections “Ojos Solares”, “Guías para Padres y Madres” and “Psicocuentos”, published by Pirámide. One of his lines of research is the effectiveness of psychological treatment for children and adolescents. In 2014, he was awarded the AITANA Prize for his contribution to child and adolescent clinical psychology.