Keynote 3

Conduct disorder (CD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder in youth. Symptoms are patterns of aggressive behavior towards people or animals, destruction of other people’s property, norm-violating behavior and deceitfulness or theft. CD in youth often has an unfavorable prognosis as it can lead to arrest in development and long-lasting effects in the psychological, interpersonal and functional domains. With respect to individual and societal burden, feasible and effective treatment programs for adolescents with CD are needed. Yet, treatment programs and research in this patient group are scarce. In order to take a step towards improving psychotherapeutic care for adolescents with CD, the institute for psychosocial prevention at the university hospital Heidelberg (Germany) developed a mentalization-based treatment program for adolescents with CD (MBT-CD). The acceptability of the intervention was analysed during a pilot trial. Results showed that the treatment is feasible and leads to a reduction in empathy dysfunction and positive effects on the diagnosis. The talk will focus on the rationale behind MBT-CD and how mentalizing deficits can be treated with these patients.