AUTHOR=Dixius Andrea , Michael Tanja , Altpeter Adriana , Ramos Garcia René , Möhler Eva 

TITLE=Adolescents in acute mental health crisis—Pilot-evaluation of a low-threshold program for emotional stabilization

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

VOLUME=2

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/child-and-adolescent-psychiatry/articles/10.3389/frcha.2023.1177342

DOI=10.3389/frcha.2023.1177342

ISSN=2813-4540

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Referrals for child and adolescent acute psychiatric treatment have spiked in the last two years. To provide these adolescents with a fast-acting intervention, a novel treatment approach for acute emotional dysregulation was evaluated in this study.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>156 adolescents between the age of 13 and 18 years who were admitted to a psychiatric unit for acute emotional or behavioral dysregulation participated in a 5-week-group program (Stress-Arousal- Regulation-Treatment, START) which consisted of two sessions per week (60 min/session). Pre- and post intervention psychometric measures were derived for each participant applying the Self-Control Scale (SCS-13), the FEEL-KJ capturing adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), as well as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The mean score of maladaptive emotion regulation strategies of the FEEL-KJ significantly decreased post treatment (<italic>d = </italic>−0.24<italic>, p = </italic>.001), while there was an increase in adaptive emotion regulation strategies (<italic>d </italic>= 0.25, <italic>p = </italic>.001<italic>).</italic> The post- intervention-assessment revealed significantly lower scores in the PSS-10 (<italic>d = </italic>−0.34<italic>, p &lt; 0</italic>.001), as well as SDQ mental health problems (<italic>d </italic>= −0.17<italic>, p = </italic>.018) and disorders (<italic>d = </italic>−0.15<italic>, p </italic>= .015). The Self-Control Score increased significantly after the <italic>intervention (d = </italic>0.21, <italic>p = </italic>.001<italic>)</italic>.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>In this large sample, the low-threshold intervention START significantly improved emotion regulation and self-control and reduced perceived stress as well as several scales of the strengths and difficulties questionnaire, pointing to a good feasibility and indicating efficiency to provide support to adolescents with acute mental health problems when applying this short-term treatment.</p></sec>