Therapy for children and teenagers: statistics worldwide

Updated October 2026

Therapy helps many children and teenagers, though not every young person responds ¹. Pooling five decades of trials, one review found a young person given psychological therapy had a 63% chance of doing better than one in a control group (a comparison group in the same trial) ¹.

The figures below come from trials and reviews that pooled many studies.

For how common mental health problems are among young people, see our youth mental health statistics. For adults, see how well therapy works.

Getting help

If something on this page reflects what you are going through, you do not have to manage it alone. Our guide to finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified, and the TherapyRoute directory lists therapists in many countries.

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide gives free services by country. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

Does therapy help children and teenagers?

Reviews that pool many trials find that young people given psychological therapy do better than those who are not ¹.

• Across five decades of trials, children and adolescents given psychological therapy did better than those in control groups at the end of treatment (effect size 0.46). An effect size is a standard measure of how much better one group did than another. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2017, study years not stated) ¹

Anxiety

Cognitive behavioural therapy is the most tested treatment for anxiety in children. Many children no longer meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder after it; researchers call this remission ⁵. A placebo group gets a dummy treatment for comparison.

• Across trials, 57% of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders were in remission at the end of standard cognitive behavioural therapy. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2017, study years not stated) ⁵
• In placebo groups, 26% of children and adolescents with anxiety disorders were in remission at the end of treatment. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2017, study years not stated) ⁵
• For autistic children and young people with anxiety, cognitive behavioural therapy reduced anxiety at the end of treatment more than control conditions, as rated by clinicians (effect size 0.88). The benefits did not last to follow-up. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2021, study years not stated) ⁶

Depression

Therapy helps young people with depression, though fewer than half respond within about two months ⁷. Response means a clear drop in symptoms; recovery means the person no longer meets the criteria for depression.

• In trials of therapy for depression in children and adolescents, 39% of those given therapy responded within about two months. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2021, study years not stated) ⁷
• In the control groups of trials of therapy for depression in children and adolescents, 24% had responded about two months after starting. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2021, study years not stated) ⁷
• In trials of therapy for depression in children and adolescents, an estimated 58% of those given therapy recovered. The review estimated recovery rates from average scores rather than counting cases. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2021, study years not stated) ⁷
• In the control groups of trials of therapy for depression in children and adolescents, an estimated 36% recovered. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2021, study years not stated) ⁷
• An earlier review of therapy for depression in children and adolescents found an average benefit (effect size 0.34) smaller than for therapy for other conditions in young people. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2006, study years not stated) ⁸

Trauma

Trauma-focused therapies reduce post-traumatic stress in children and young people ⁹.

• Among treatments for children and young people with post-traumatic stress disorder, cognitive therapy for PTSD showed the largest reduction in PTSD symptoms straight after treatment, compared with a waiting list (standardised mean difference -2.94). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2019, study years not stated) ⁹
• In the Netherlands, EMDR therapy reduced clinician-rated post-traumatic stress in refugee children and adolescents aged eight to eighteen more than a waiting list (Cohen's d 1.31). (randomised trial published 2026, data year not stated) ¹⁰

Self-harm and suicidal thoughts

Some therapies lower the risk of self-harm and suicide attempts in teenagers, though results differ between studies ¹¹. Suicidal ideation means thoughts of suicide. If a young person is in danger now, our helplines and crisis lines worldwide list free services by country.

• In a trial in the United States among 114 Latinx adolescents recruited after a suicidal crisis, socio-cognitive behavioural therapy halved suicide attempts at six months against usual care (relative risk 0.50). There was no difference at twelve months. (randomised trial published 2026, data year not stated) ¹²
• An umbrella review found high-certainty evidence that psychotherapy alone had a small effect on self-harm in adolescents and young adults aged ten to twenty-four (effect size 0.13). (systematic review of studies, published 2026, study years not stated) ¹¹
• In the Maule Region of Chile, a blended school-based programme reduced suicidal ideation more than usual care among students in grades 9 to 11 screened as at risk of suicide (Cohen's d 0.49). (randomised trial, recruited 2023) ¹³

Should parents be involved?

Involving parents or the wider family adds a further, modest benefit to a child's own therapy ⁴; that review's estimate is in Key figures. A separate review looked at involving families in therapy for depression ¹⁴.

• In therapy for depression in children and adolescents, involving the family added a small benefit at the end of treatment compared with active control conditions without family involvement (effect size 0.34). An effect size is a standard measure of how much better one group did than another. (meta-analysis of trials, published 2022, study years not stated) ¹⁴

Therapy, medication, or both?

Two large trials in the United States compared therapy, medication and both together, one for anxiety and one for depression ^{15 16}. In both, the combination helped the most young people. The anxiety trial used the medicine sertraline, and the depression trial used fluoxetine. Decisions about medicine are best made with a doctor. Young people starting these medicines should see their doctor regularly, especially in the first weeks. Tell the doctor straight away about any new or worsening thoughts of self-harm.

• In a US trial, 59.7% of children aged seven to seventeen with common anxiety disorders (separation, generalised or social anxiety) given cognitive behavioural therapy alone improved much or very much at twelve weeks. (randomised trial, recruited 2002-2007) ¹⁵
• In a US trial, 80.7% of children aged 7 to 17 with common anxiety disorders (separation, generalised or social anxiety) given cognitive behavioural therapy and sertraline improved much or very much at twelve weeks. (randomised trial, recruited 2002-2007) ¹⁵
• In a US trial, 54.9% of children aged 7 to 17 with common anxiety disorders (separation, generalised or social anxiety) given sertraline alone improved much or very much at twelve weeks. (randomised trial, recruited 2002-2007) ¹⁵
• In a trial at thirteen clinics in the United States, 71.0% of adolescents aged twelve to seventeen with major depressive disorder given both fluoxetine and cognitive behavioural therapy responded after twelve weeks of treatment. (randomised trial, 2000-2003 data) ¹⁶
• In a trial at thirteen clinics in the United States, 60.6% of adolescents aged twelve to seventeen with major depressive disorder given fluoxetine alone responded after twelve weeks of treatment. (randomised trial, 2000-2003 data) ¹⁶
• In a trial at thirteen clinics in the United States, 43.2% of adolescents aged twelve to seventeen with major depressive disorder given cognitive behavioural therapy alone responded after twelve weeks of treatment. (randomised trial, 2000-2003 data) ¹⁶
• In a trial at thirteen clinics in the United States, 34.8% of adolescents aged twelve to seventeen with major depressive disorder given a placebo responded after twelve weeks. (randomised trial, 2000-2003 data) ¹⁶

Do the benefits last?

After anxiety treatment, most young people who reach remission stay well; depression comes back more often ^{3 17}. The anxiety relapse figure is in Key figures.

• Of 196 adolescents with major depression followed for five years from entry into a US treatment trial, 96.4% recovered from that episode. The follow-up included all four groups of the trial, including the placebo group. (cohort study published 2011, data year not stated) ¹⁷
• Of 189 adolescents who recovered from major depression after a treatment trial in the United States, 46.6% had another episode during five years of follow-up. (cohort study published 2011, data year not stated) ¹⁷
• At twelve-month follow-up in rural Kenya, bereaved children aged seven to thirteen given trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy still had less post-traumatic stress than those given usual care (Cohen's d 0.86). (randomised trial, recruited 2013-2015) ¹⁸

The relationship with the therapist, and stopping early

A good working relationship between the young person and the therapist goes with better outcomes ¹⁹. A correlation (r) shows how closely two things go together: zero means no link and one a perfect link. Some young people stop before therapy ends; how many depends on the setting. The Brazilian figure is the share of children discharged from treatment, which the study treats as different from dropping out ²⁰.

• In therapy with children and adolescents, a stronger working relationship with the therapist went with better outcomes (correlation r 0.19). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2018, study years not stated) ¹⁹
• In a trial in the Netherlands, 20.8% of refugee children and adolescents aged eight to eighteen given EMDR stopped before the end. (randomised trial published 2026, data year not stated) ¹⁰
• In a non-randomised evaluation of creative-arts therapy for traumatised children aged seven to thirteen at a child abuse clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa, 62.4% of the 125 children referred dropped out. The figure covers the treatment and control conditions together. (non-randomised controlled trial, 2014-2016 data) ²¹
• In the clinical records of three institutions in Porto Alegre, Brazil, that offer graduate courses in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, 24.2% of children ended treatment through discharge. (retrospective review of clinical records, published 2015, data year not stated) ²⁰

Online and app-based therapy

Internet and app-based cognitive behavioural therapy can help young people with anxiety and depression ²². For anxiety, cognitive behavioural therapy delivered with technology, such as by video call, phone or an online programme, can work about as well as face to face ²³. In one free online programme in New Zealand, few young people who started it finished every module ²⁴. Psychoeducation means giving information about mental health.

• Internet and computer-based cognitive behavioural therapy reduced anxiety and depression in young people up to the age of twenty-five more than control conditions at the end of treatment (Hedges' g 0.72). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2015, study years not stated) ²²
• A review of trials in adolescents aged eleven to nineteen found small effects of computerised cognitive behavioural therapy on anxiety at follow-up against control conditions (standardised mean difference -0.21). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2022, study years not stated) ²⁵
• For children and young people with anxiety, cognitive behavioural therapy with technology worked about as well as face to face (difference d 0.06). (meta-analysis of trials, published 2024, study years not stated) ²³
• In New Zealand, 3.1% of adolescents aged twelve to nineteen who started the free SPARX online programme completed all of its modules. (cohort study, 2014-2021 data) ²⁴
• In Santiago, Chile, therapist-guided computer-assisted cognitive behavioural therapy in primary care reduced depression in adolescents aged fifteen to nineteen at four months, compared with enhanced usual care (Cohen's d 0.39). (randomised trial published 2019, data year not stated) ²⁶
• In Brazil, a brief internet-delivered cognitive behavioural intervention reduced emotional symptoms more than psychoeducation in children and adolescents aged eight to seventeen with raised symptoms, as they reported them (standardised mean difference 0.25). (randomised trial, recruited 2021-2023) ²⁷

Therapy for children around the world

Researchers have also tested therapy for children in low- and middle-income countries ². The review of trials in low- and middle-income countries found a significant risk of bias in the trials it pooled and called for better-quality trials ². A post hoc analysis is one the researchers did not plan before the trial.

How to read these figures

Most figures come from randomised trials or from reviews that pooled them. Trials test therapy under research conditions, which can differ from everyday services. Where a figure compares groups, it names the comparison: a waiting list, usual care or another treatment.

An effect size compares how much better one group did than another. Cohen's d, Hedges' g and a standardised mean difference are all effect sizes. Values near zero mean little difference. Most figures on this page say in words which group did better.

Several country figures come from single trials, some of them small. They show where researchers have tested therapy, not national rates.

Studies measure response, remission and recovery differently, so compare figures only within the same study.

Children and teenagers often do well with the right help, and the right help depends on the child. A first conversation with a therapist who works with young people can clarify what might help. Our guide on finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Therapy for children and teenagers: statistics worldwide. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/therapy-for-children-and-teenagers-statistics-worldwide-by-therapyroute. Last updated 26 October 2026.

References

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