“Youth with serious emotional disturbance and their families have been relatively ignored in the literature, in part because of the complexity of the social, environmental, and clinical conditions that tend to characterize their lives. This book fills a huge gap by describing in clear, cogent, and compelling terms an ecologically grounded intervention model for this population. The authors describe how, when, and why the MST approach can be applied in work with psychiatrically impaired youth, the modifications and refinements that enable it to be tailored to the unique needs of each individual, and the processes a therapist must put in motion to ensure optimal outcomes. The book also describes what has been learned from the results of a rigorous trial of MST with this population. This book is written for therapists and those who train therapists. It is a crucially important text for social work training programs, as well as programs in clinical and counseling psychology, health psychology, and medicine.”

—Kimberly Hoagwood, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons


“This long-awaited text presents one of the most promising and important advances in child and adolescent treatment over the past 30 years. Multisystemic therapy (MST) has a solid empirical and scientific basis, and an ever-growing body of new research support. For youth with multiple comorbid disorders, MST represents a departure from traditional outpatient and inpatient models of service delivery, allowing treatment to occur in natural ecological settings. Written in a clear, comprehensible style, this book describes how to engage families in treatment, identify obstacles to success at various levels of the systems hierarchy, and overcome these obstacles while providing evidence-based interventions. This is a 'must read' for anyone working with youth with serious emotional disturbance and their families. It will be highly instructive for both graduate-level students and practicing clinicians.”

—Russell A. Barkley, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School


“Multisystemic therapy (MST) has already demonstrated effectiveness for youth in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Now the developers of this innovative intervention have ventured forward to a further challenge—adapting and testing MST for youth with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Not unexpectedly, MST, as a comprehensive and home-based intervention, is showing strong promise for those youth requiring intensive mental health care in the community. This fine new text is a priority for anyone who cares about outcomes for such youth, including practicing mental health professionals and practitioners-in-training. It may serve as a text in graduate-level courses across the helping professions, including psychology, child psychiatry, social work, and psychiatric nursing.”

—Barbara J. Burns, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine


“The clinician, scientist, program director, and graduate student will all benefit from carefully reading this manual. The MST approach is empirically based, effective, realistic, and ecologically and culturally sensitive. The book describes how to build collaborative partnerships with caregivers, support improvement in parenting practices, work within an effective mental health team, and most importantly, keep traumatized children safe, sane, and in caring communities.”

—Thomas J. Dishion, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon


“Coming at a time when it is urgently needed, this volume by Henggeler et al. provides definitive information on what is perhaps the single most promising form of mental health treatment available for disturbed youth today. While not intended to replace formal MST training, this volume will be invaluable for mental health practitioners, students, policy makers, researchers, and others who want to understand how MST can be applied to emotional and behavioral disorders in youth”

—Peter S. Jensen, MD, Department of Child Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons