ECT has been administered to infants, children and teenagers between the ages of two and eighteen, in Europe, North America and Australasia. There are several alternate forms of effective behavioural and cognitive interventions for the range of problems experienced by minors. In this paper, some of the reasons for the contemporary popularity of ECT administration with children and teenagers are explored, via a critical evaluation of the published literature.

In reply to Jones and Baldwin's paper, the current practice of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is described with a retrospective case study. Particular reference is made to: indications, consent, immediate and longer term outcome. It is argued that the treatment is beneficial, but systematic audit is necessary.

Comprehensive evaluation of the risks and benefits of applying ECT to young minds would probably not support the practise. This paper explores why some practitioners continue to choose ECT over viable alternative interventions, and argues for improved safeguards against unnecessary and potentially harmful treatments. Ethical decision making must look beyond rapidity of treatment effects, and consider the pros and cons of all available treatments.

In a diverse therapeutic context, multiple interventions are available for use with disordered or dysfunctional minors. With this population, electroshock administration is always inappropriate.

The introduction of two sessions a day on two days a week of cognitive and physical stimulation was found to reduce the stereotypic behaviour of a woman with a profound learning disability. The effect was shown to last for several hours with indications that it may have lasted several weeks.

A randomized controlled trial of a new intervention based on motivational interviewing and cognitive approaches to psychosis (Compliance Therapy) has shown improvements in insight, attitudes to medication and compliance in an unselected sample of consecutively admitted patients with acute psychotic disorders. In the introduction, previous research focusing on cognitive interventions in psychosis and systematically tested psychoeducational approaches to compliance are reviewed. The content of our intervention is described with examples of the principal techniques used, together with a description of the progress of therapy in two individual cases. We conclude that the intervention is eminently applicable in the typical clinical setting.

A cognitive behavioural model for the development of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is outlined. Six patients with CFS are described who were treated as in-patients using cognitive behaviour therapy. Treatment consisted of graded consistent exposure to activity and cognitive restructuring. Substantial improvements were made in all but one patient up to three months after discharge.

The wonder-rabbi of Kuzmir provided a troubled person with advice that was consonant with the Judaic tradition and also with behavioural therapy that led this person to overcoming his problems.

Stimulus modification procedures involve changes to the task materials that are intended to facilitate the response. Their application in teaching stimulus discriminations has been extensively investigated. Less attention has been given to their use in teaching response topography, and there is little evidence relating to their effectiveness in this context. Previous studies have failed specifically to target the response topography and/or to include an appropriate control condition. The present study compared the effectiveness of a physical guidance procedure with a combination of this procedure and stimulus modifications in teaching response topographies to three individuals with severe developmental disability. The combination proved more effective, suggesting that stimulus modification procedures can, indeed, facilitate the acquisition of response topography. They may be particularly useful when teaching those with a more severe developmental disability.