Intensive In-Home Family Treatment for Severe Adolescent Mental Illness: Theoretical Model and Case Study

Abstract

Family-based treatments for specific disorders have been shown to be efficacious and cost-effective. However, there is no transdiagnostic model for treatment-resistant, severely ill children and adolescents. This article describes a new family-based model, Intensive In-Home Family Treatment (IIFT) designed to fill this gap. IIFT is based on the theory that children and their families are in a state of bidirectional mutual influence that contributes to the child’s mental health condition, which can be mitigated through clinical interventions. A case study highlights IIFT’s underlying theory and demonstrates the interventions used to achieve significant clinical improvement and prevent higher-level mental health care.