For the more than two million people worldwide with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), coping with many aspects of daily life can prove challenging. Forty percent of children with autism have frequent and impairing anger outbursts and irritability. One struggle for families of children and adolescents with autism is how to manage these outbursts.
A new study at Yale, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is examining how Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) can help children and adolescents with ASD manage their irritability. “We are testing CBT for anger outbursts in children with autism for the first time in mental health research,” says study leader Denis Sukhodolsky, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Yale Child Study Center.
CBT is an approach to psychotherapy in which patients learn cognitive and behavioral strategies to cope with specific problems. Previous studies have shown that CBT can help autistic children manage anxiety, and Dr. Sukhodolsky is hopeful that CBT will prove as effective with irritability. A small pilot study has been successful. “We saw that children responded to this treatment, they liked it, and they benefitted from it,” says Dr. Sukhodolsky.
The study is seeking children with autism ages eight to 16 who experience anger, aggression, and other disruptive behaviors on a regular basis. Children must be able to participate in verbal psychotherapy, which involves talking one on one with a clinician. As part of the randomized study, participants will receive 12 sessions of either CBT or supportive psychotherapy. Children who are selected for supportive psychotherapy will be offered the opportunity to receive CBT at no charge after their participation in the trial is complete.
Because the study is dedicated to looking at how the biomarkers and neural mechanisms associated with anger and aggression may change in response to CBT, participants in the study will need to be able to complete a functional MRI and an EEG before and after treatment. The study also recruits children with disruptive behavior without ASD to evaluate biomarkers of response to CBT for irritability and aggression across diagnostic categories.
Families can earn up to $400 for participation. If you would like more information about the study, please contact Dr. Sukhodolsky’s lab at (203) 737-7664.